[Nick81aku]

Given: There are Nine horses racing and I place a 10 cent wager on a combination of four horses. Say that my combination (in the correct order) was the actual result. What would the average payout be for this scenario?

Thank you!

[Art Vandeleigh]

Hmmm...let's see.

There are 9x8x7x6= 3024 unique superfecta combinations for 9 runners

So the average payout, in theory, should be (3024 combinations) x (10 cents/combo) * 75% ( % payout returned after track take) = $226

Sound right to you?

[Nick81aku]

Makes sense to me. Is that 75% return payout typical? In otherwords, is 75% the average or is that the standard. Im obviously new to this!

[Art Vandeleigh]

I think it's a reasonable average among North American tracks, win place show wagering is usually less, around 16-18% takeout.

If you're really new you should also consider breakage.

For example if you're making a show wager you may see a payoff of $2.80 for a $2 bet. This would equate to odds of 1.40-1.

However, the actual show calculation made in the betting pools may have been anywhere from 1.40-1 to 1.49-1. The amount paid off is then REDUCED to the lowest 1/10 (and of course the track keeps this extra amount). So in the case where the true mutuel pool odds were 1.47-1, and you should be getting a show payoff of $2.94 for a $2 bet, instead you get $2.80.

Percentage-wise this is a huge loss, in addition to the 16-18% takeout. You are fighting track takeout AND breakage when you bet show (and win & place as well) and a big reason why it is so difficult to profit with these types of bets.

[floridagolfer]

The easiest way to answer the original question is to go to drf.com, find a track and look at the superfecta payouts over the course of a month or so. This can be done in less than an hour.