Each-Way Bet or E/W is a type of bet which is offered by various online bookmakers. It’s very popular in horse racing betting, Formula 1, MotoGP, athletics, sports futures, and so on.

It’s pretty obvious why that is the case if you know how this type of bet works. So, what is Each Way betting?

Each Way Betting in a Nutshell

An E/W bet consists of two bets – one that’s called a Win bet and one that’s called a Place bet. The Win bet refers to a selection that needs to win in order for the bettor to win money. If it doesn’t win, the bet is a losing one.

In the case of the Place bet, the bettor wins if the selection wins but also if it finishes in one of the previously-decided places. The more places are in the game, the shorter odds are going to be.

What makes an E/W bet different to other types of bets is that you’re putting equal stakes on each part of the bet. What’s not equal are the odds. The odds on the Place bet are normally calculated as a fraction of the Win bet odds.

How to Make Each Way Bets (E/W)

Whether you can put your money on an E/W bet or not is something that depends on your bookmaker. Not all of them have this bet on offer. Those that do, usually tend to allow each way betting only for certain sports.

What this means is that the first step in making an E/W bet is finding an event on which you can do it. Once you’ve found it, this is what you do next:

1. Decide how much money you want to place on the two parts of your E/W bet.
2. Place the Win bet on the team/player/horse you think is going to finish first.
3. Decide on the number of positions the team/player/horse can finish in order for your Place bet to win.
4. Double-check the odds to see whether there’s any value in your E/W bet.
5. If everything looks good, all that’s left is to confirm your bet.

If the selection you’ve made for your Win bet is a winning one, it automatically means that the Place bet is a winning bet as well. If the selection finishes in one of the positions you’ve picked for your Place bet, you’re going to get a return on the Place bet, but you’re going to lose the Win bet. How big your return is depends on the odds of each bet.

Each Way Bets in Horse Racing Betting

Now that you know the answer to the question of what is Each Way betting, you should understand why this bet is popular in horse racing. If not, let us explain it to you with an example.

Let’s take the Australia Derby 2020 for instance. The races at the Royal Randwick Racecourse features 20 horses. We’re not talking regular horses here – we’re talking some of the best racing horses in the world, all of which have a pretty good chance of finishing the race first.

Picking the winner of the race, therefore, is a difficult task. Even if the horse you’ve set your eyes on is a favorite, the actual chances of it passing the finish line before the others are not very good. In the Australia Derby (and many other horse racing events), favourites don’t win as often as you might’ve thought.

This is why many bettors decide to back their betting selections by placing E/W bets. Even if the horse they wish to win doesn’t win, they can still get a return. The only requirement is for that horse to finish in one of the positions picked by the bettor in the Place bet.

Say you’re putting €100 each way on a horse called Quick Thinker, with the Place bet allowing the horse to finish among the top 4. The odds on this horse winning the race are 10.00 and the odds that the horse will Place are 1.70 (7/10). With this bet, there are three possible scenarios, namely:

1. The horse wins and you win both parts of the E/W bet
2. The horse comes in second, third, or fourth and you win the Place bet
3. Quick Thinker finishes in fifth place or below and you lose your W/W bet

Each Way Bets in Sports Betting

Horse racing is the number 1 pick of those bettors who like placing E/W bets. This, however, doesn’t mean that horse racing is your only option for Each Way betting. Quite contrary – you can do E/W betting on any sport you like.

Sports that involve racing (e.g. Formula 1, MotoGP, cycling, etc.) are the obvious choice. However, you can also do Each Way betting on sports that aren’t based around racing. You can place E/W bets on football, tennis, basketball, and all the other popular sports. How? By focusing on the so-called futures or outright markets.

Once again, it’s best explained through an example. This time, let’s focus on the Premier League. Let’s say you support Arsenal and you would love to see the Gunners winning the next season. The problem is that competition is fierce in the English top division, so you can’t be very certain that Arsenal will be the team to lift the trophy next year.

A good solution, in this case, is to place an E/W bet on Arsenal, with them to Win the Premier League at 15.0 in odds and finish in the Top 4 at 2.0 in odds, let’s say we put €100 on each. Below is are the three possible outcomes that could happen, these odds are not real, they are hypothetical:

1. Arsenal win the league
2. Arsenal finish 2nd, 3rd or 4th
3. Arsenal finish 5th or lower

Each Way Betting and Matched Betting

Should you make E/W bets while doing matched betting? The answer to this question is: why not? It can’t harm your Matched Betting process. However, there are a few problems.

First of all, most Matched Betting tools, Oddshero included, are meant to help you with bets on popular sports like football or basketball for example. Horse racing, Formula 1, and other racing sports are not covered. Sure, you can place E/W bets on football futures, but that brings out another problem – you will have to wait for the entire competition to finish.

Some football competitions can be really long. For instance, most European football leagues start in August and finish in May next year. There are, however, some competitions that last no more than a couple of weeks. We’re talking about football championships like the World Cup, Euros, Olympics, and so on.

The only problem with using E/W in Matched Betting is that most often they don’t cover all the possible outcomes of a sporting event. So, if you place an E/W bet for Matched Betting, make sure your selection is a certainty.

Using E/W bets in Matched Betting might seem unnecessary to you at this moment, but there is one thing it may be useful for. By doing this, you will make yourself appear like a regular bettor in the eyes of the bookmakers. Why this is important is that regular bettors don’t get gubbed.

Of course, each way betting is not the only method for ensuring your account stays free of suspensions. You can read about the best ways to avoid getting limited/suspended in this blog post!