Use our each-way calculator to check returns and place terms

When you ask for £5 each-way, you are placing two £5 bets, so the total outlay is £10. The win part is an ordinary win bet at the full odds. The place part is a bet on the horse finishing in the paid places, settled at a fraction of the win odds, usually a quarter (1/4) or a fifth (1/5).

Three outcomes are possible. If the horse wins, both parts pay, because a winner has also finished in the places. If it finishes placed but not first, the win part loses and only the place part pays. If it finishes outside the places, both parts lose.

The place odds are worked out from the win odds. A horse at 10/1 with terms of 1/5 has place odds of 2/1, because a fifth of ten is two. The same horse with terms of 1/4 would have place odds of 5/2. The calculator above does this step for you, but it helps to know where the numbers come from.

The table shows what different each-way bets return, and you can check any of them in the each-way calculator above. The stake is the amount per part, so the total staked is always double. Returns include the stake.

Take the first row. The win part returns £55 (£5 at 10/1 is £50 profit plus the £5 stake). The place part is settled at 2/1, so it returns £15. If the horse wins, you collect both: £70. If it is placed, you collect £15 from a £10 outlay.

The last row shows the weakness of each-way on short prices. A placed 4/1 shot at 1/5 terms returns £9 from £10 staked, so you finish behind even though your horse ran well. Our guide to betting odds explains how fractional and decimal prices relate if you want to check the maths another way.

The number of places and the fraction paid depend on how many horses run and whether the race is a handicap. These are the standard terms used by UK bookmakers:

Standard terms follow the number of horses that actually start, not the number declared. If non-runners reduce an eight-runner race to seven, only two places are paid. This is worth checking on the morning of a race, especially when the going changes and trainers withdraw horses.

On big races, many bookmakers go beyond the standard terms and pay an extra place, sometimes more than one. A 20-runner handicap that would normally pay four places might pay five or six. The extra place only matters if your horse finishes in exactly that position, and in a large, open field more horses are close to the places at the finish.

Extra places are most common at the major festivals and on the biggest handicaps, such as the Grand National. When you compare bookmakers, look at the place terms and the price together: an extra place is valuable, but not if the odds on offer are noticeably shorter than elsewhere. Our bookmaker reviews note which firms regularly offer extra places on racing.

A useful rule of thumb, easy to test in the each-way calculator, is to look at what the place part returns on its own. At 1/5 terms, a horse at 5/1 has place odds of evens, so a placed finish returns exactly your total outlay. At 1/4 terms, the break-even price is 4/1. Above those prices, a placed finish shows a profit on the whole bet; below them, it does not.

• Bigger-priced horses with solid form, where finishing in the frame is realistic but winning is less likely.
• Big-field handicaps paying four places at 1/4, or more when extra places are offered.
• Races with eight to eleven runners where one or two horses look short, leaving the third place open.

Before backing a horse each-way, read its recent runs in our form guide. Consistent placed efforts are a better sign for the place part than a single win among poor runs.

Each-way doubles your outlay, so it should earn its place. It rarely does in these situations:

• Short-priced favourites. As the table shows, a placed 4/1 shot at 1/5 terms loses money overall, and at shorter prices the place part returns very little.
• Races of two to four runners. Each-way bets are settled as win bets, so you are simply staking twice as much on the win.
• Small fields of five to seven. Only two places are paid, so a horse needs to finish first or second.

In these cases a smaller win bet is usually the cleaner choice. Whatever you pick, keep the total outlay within the budget you set for the day.

To use the each-way bet calculator, enter the stake per part, the odds and the place terms that apply to the race. The calculator shows the total staked, the return if the horse wins and the return if it is only placed. If a bookmaker is paying an extra place, the fraction stays the same, so the place return does not change; only the chance of collecting it improves.

Remember that a Rule 4 deduction can reduce winnings if a horse is withdrawn late, and that Best Odds Guaranteed can increase them if the starting price is bigger than the price you took. Both are explained in our horse racing betting guide.