Each-way extra places
Each-way extra places are a bookmaker’s offer to pay the place half of an each-way bet on more finishing positions than the race’s standard terms, such as five places in a big handicap where four is the norm. The place fraction usually stays the same, so a horse finishing in the added position collects a return that would otherwise be a loss. You meet them mostly on festival handicaps and busy racecards, and the terms vary from one bookmaker to the next.
How standard place terms are set
An extra place only makes sense against the baseline, and the baseline depends on field size and race type. Bookmakers publish a convention: two to four runners is win only, five to seven runners pays two places at 1/4 the odds, and eight or more in a non-handicap pays three places at 1/5.
Handicaps get kinder terms because the result is harder to call. A handicap of twelve to fifteen runners pays three places at 1/4, and one of sixteen or more pays four places at 1/4.
Non-runners can move a race down a band, so an eight-runner race that loses a horse drops to two places. The terms that count are the ones printed on your bet slip, and I always read the fraction there before the number of places.
The sum behind the place half
The place part pays the win odds multiplied by the place fraction. A 20/1 shot at 1/4 the odds pays 5/1 for a place, which moves the implied probability from about 4.8% to roughly 16.7%.
What does an extra place pay?
The table follows a €5 each-way bet, €10 in total, at 20/1 in a twenty-runner handicap. Standard terms pay four places at 1/4; the extra-place offer pays five at the same fraction, and the returns include stakes.
| Finishing position | Standard: 4 places | Extra: 5 places |
|---|---|---|
| Wins | €135 returned | €135 returned |
| Fourth | €30 returned | €30 returned |
| Fifth | Nothing back, €10 lost | €30 returned |
| Sixth | Nothing back, €10 lost | Nothing back, €10 lost |
Extra places versus paid each-way options
The term is used for two different things, and mixing them up costs money. The first is the promotional extra place: the bookmaker adds a position on a selected race and keeps the fraction and the price where they were.
The second is a product where you choose your own place terms. bet365 calls its version Each Way Extra and lets you add places in exchange for a reduced price, or remove places for better odds. William Hill describes a similar option, with one or two extra places typically available beyond standard terms.
Those added places are bought, not given.
In the William Hill example, a 20/1 shot moved from four places at 1/5 to five places at 1/6, and the place odds fell from 4/1 to about 10/3. That is a trade between how often the place half pays and how much it pays, and whether it suits you depends on the sum for that race. bet365’s terms also state that its extra terms follow any change non-runners force on the standard ones.
Where the extra place catches you out
An extra place on one bookmaker does not travel with your bet. Betting exchanges pay the standard number of places, so a horse finishing in the added position wins at the bookmaker and loses on the exchange.
Qualifying rules differ too: some offers need a minimum number of runners, some cover singles only, and some apply online but not in shops. Betfred, for instance, has described extra places on festival handicaps paying five or six where standard terms would be four.
What I check first is whether the win price matches the rest of the market, because a shorter price can quietly cancel the value of the added place.
Where an extra place comes attached to a free bet, remember that free bet returns usually exclude the stake, so the sum in the table above would shrink by the stake on each half.
