In parimutuel wagering, players wager against each other, not the house. The host tracks take a percentage of the total of each pool, and the rest of the pool is split between the wagering winners. The percentage taken varies from track-to-track, and pool-to-pool. For exact information, we recommend contacting the host track for further clarification regarding their specific takeouts for various wagering pools.
The TVG website only displays Win odds. The odds you see on the TVG website represent an approximation of the ratio of wagers on a particular horse to the total wagered in the Win pool. This also tells you the approximate profit you will receive from a wager on that horse. The horse(s) with the lowest odds will be highlighted in gold, indicating that they are the favorite for that specific race. If more than one horse is highlighted, you can refer to the Win pool on the right-hand side to discern who is the specific favorite based on the Win pool amount between the two horses. The horse with the most money in its Win pool is the favorite. Please note that odds are algorithmic calculations based on a variety of factors, and are not a direct predictor of winning. History tells us, that the favorite horse loses about 2/3 of the time.
TVG displays fractional odds, so if they show as "5" for a particular horse, that would be read as "5 to 1", or "5/1," meaning that for every dollar you wager on that horse, you can expect a profit of about $5 if that horse wins. If you wager $10 on a horse at the same 5/1 odds and that horse wins, your payout will be approximately $60, which is a $50 profit (5 x $10) plus your original $10 stake for a total of $60.
However, if you wager $10 on a horse that is "1 to 5" odds or "1/5" and that horse wins, your payout will be approximately $12, which is a $2 profit (1/5 x $10) plus your original $10 stake.
The payouts we display in our results section are based on a $2 wager unless otherwise stated.