Each-way betting explained: place terms, payouts & Rule 4

By Barry Healy EditorPublished: 30 October 2026, 06:34 EDT7 min read

Last reviewed 30 Oct 2026 · Editorial policy

An empty racecourse at dusk, its pale turf stretching toward a distant grandstand, with floodlights just coming on and long shadows falling across the empty track.

How an each-way bet is split into win & place parts, how place terms are set, & how dead heats & Rule 4 deductions change what it pays.

What an each-way bet is

An each-way bet is two bets of equal stake on the same selection: a win part & a place part. Sky Bet’s horse racing rules put it plainly: ‘Each part is an equal stake, i.e. £1 EW will cost a total of £2.’

The win part pays only if the selection wins. The place part pays if the selection wins or finishes in one of the places the bookmaker has agreed to pay, & it is settled at a fraction of the win odds.

According to the Racing Post’s A-Z betting glossary, ‘If the selection is placed but fails to win, the win portion of the stake is lost’, while the place portion is still paid at that fraction. If the selection wins, both parts pay out.

Wikipedia’s entry on each-way betting says the place fraction is commonly 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 or 1/5 of the win odds. It describes the trade-off as a greater chance of a return in exchange for a smaller payoff.

Place terms by field size & race type

Place terms are the two numbers that govern the place part: the fraction of the win odds paid, & how many finishing positions count as a place. Sky Bet publishes a table that depends on the number of runners & whether the race is a handicap.

For non-handicap races, Sky Bet pays win only with 2 to 4 runners, 1/4 the odds for the first two places with 5 to 7 runners, & 1/5 the odds for the first three with 8 or more.

For handicaps, the terms are the same up to 7 runners. With 8 to 11 runners Sky Bet pays 1/5 the odds for three places, with 12 to 15 runners 1/4 the odds for three places, & with 16 or more runners 1/4 the odds for four places.

Wikipedia’s table sets out the same pattern, from ‘win only’ for races of fewer than 5 runners up to 1/4 for four places in handicaps of more than 15 runners. The Racing Post adds that in big handicaps the places may extend to fourth, fifth or sixth.

The field size that counts is the one at the start. Sky Bet says the terms are set by the number of horses coming ‘under starter’s orders’ and ‘not by the number of declared runners when the price was taken’.

Worked example: a winner & a placed horse

Wikipedia works through a £10 each-way single on a 10-1 selection in a horse race, paying 1/4 the odds for places 1, 2 or 3. The bet costs £20.

If the horse wins, the win part returns £110 (£100 winnings plus the £10 stake) & the place part returns £35 (£25 winnings, a quarter of the win odds, plus the £10 stake), a total of £145. If it finishes second or third, only the place part pays, returning £35.

The same method can leave a placed bet showing a loss overall. At 2/1 with 1/5 terms, the place odds are a fifth of 2/1, so a £10 place part earns £4 & returns £14 with its stake, less than the £20 paid for the whole bet.

Each-way in golf & other sports

A Paddy Power guide to each-way golf betting uses example terms of ‘1/5 Odds, 10 Places’, meaning a player finishing second to tenth pays a fifth of the win profit.

Its example is £10 each-way on Rory McIlroy at 11/1 to win the Players Championship. The stake rises to £20, & a win returns £152: £110 profit & £10 stake from the win part, plus £22 profit & £10 stake from the place part.

If McIlroy finishes fourth, Paddy Power says only the place part pays. It divides the £110 win profit by 5 to get £22, & adds the £10 place stake for a ‘£32 total return’.

Wikipedia gives a smaller golf case: £5 each-way at 10-1 paying 1/5 the odds for places 1 to 4 costs £10, & returns £70 if the golfer wins or £15 for second, third or fourth.

Wikipedia also notes each-way terms in football knockout competitions such as the FA Cup, where place terms may be 1/2. Its example of £50 each-way on a team at 15-2, with 1/3 the odds for places 1 or 2, costs £100 & returns £600 if the team wins the cup or £175 if it loses the final.

Extra places & enhanced terms

Bookmakers sometimes improve on their standard terms. Wikipedia says that for big races or as a special promotion, large bookmakers may ‘pay an extra place or pay the place part at 1/4 instead of 1/5’.

Sporting Life’s glossary of bets lists basic terms with the major bookmakers & says ‘most firms offer enhanced versions for the major meetings’.

Sky Bet’s rules describe extra place concessions as something that ‘may be offered as part of a promotion’. It says they depend on the runners that come under starter’s orders, can change if there are non-runners, & can be withdrawn or changed without prior notice.

Sky Bet also says ‘Best Odds Guaranteed does not apply to Extra Place concessions’. The Racing Post defines Best Odds Guaranteed as an offer where the bookmaker settles a bet at the starting price if that is greater than the early price taken.

Dead heats

A dead heat is, in the Racing Post’s words, ‘a tie between two or more horses for first place, or for one of the other finishing positions’.

In a dead heat for first, the Racing Post says ‘half the stake is applied to the selection at full odds and the other half is lost’. If more than two horses dead-heat, ‘the stake is proportioned accordingly’.

On that basis, a £10 win bet at 6/1 in a two-way dead heat for first is settled as £5 at 6/1, which earns £30 & returns £35 with the £5 stake. The other £5 is lost.

Non-runners & Rule 4 deductions

A non-runner is, according to the Racing Post, a horse that was meant to run in a race but has been withdrawn. A withdrawal improves the chances of the horses left in the race, so a price taken earlier becomes more generous than it should be.

Rule 4, or Rule 4(c) in full, is the adjustment. Sporting Life’s Rule 4 guide calls it ‘an industry wide deduction rule created for when there are non-runners’, drafted in the Tattersalls rules. Paddy Power’s Rule 4 guide dates it to 1886, when the Tattersalls Committee issued its rules.

Paddy Power says the deduction runs ‘from 5p up to 90p in the pound’, larger the shorter the withdrawn horse’s price, & that ‘It comes off your winnings, never your stake’.

Sporting Life’s table runs from 90p for a withdrawn horse at 1/9 or shorter down to 5p for one priced 10/1 to 14/1, with no deduction for a horse over 14/1. A withdrawn horse at 8/5 to 7/4 means a 35p deduction. If two or more runners are withdrawn, the maximum deduction is 90p in the pound.

Paddy Power gives a worked example: a £10 bet at 11/4 would earn £27.50 profit, but a favourite priced at Evens is withdrawn, so a 45p deduction in the pound applies. It puts the deduction at £12.37, leaving £15.13 profit & a total return of £25.13 with the £10 stake. Sporting Life says the full stake is returned whatever the deduction.

Sporting Life adds two points relevant to each-way bets. A smaller field may mean fewer places in the reformed market, but a bet struck before the non-runner was declared keeps the original number of places. Ante-post bets, placed well before the race, are not subject to Rule 4 deductions, though a stake on an ante-post selection that does not run is settled as a loss.

What the place part costs

Whatever the race or sport, Wikipedia notes that ‘the total staked is twice the unit stake’, because an each-way wager is two bets. A £5 each-way single costs £10, as does a £5 each-way treble.

Whether the place part returns more than the full outlay depends on the odds & the terms. In the 10-1 example above, a place returns £35 on a £20 stake, while at 2/1 with 1/5 terms a place returns £14 on the same stake.

Questions

How much does a £1 each-way bet cost?

It costs £2. Sky Bet’s rules say each part is an equal stake, so £1 each-way means £1 on the win & £1 on the place.

What happens if my each-way selection finishes second?

If second is within the paid places, the win part is lost & the place part is paid at the agreed fraction of the win odds, according to the Racing Post.

Do non-runners change the place terms?

Sky Bet sets place terms by the number of horses that come under starter’s orders, not the declared runners. Sporting Life says a bet struck before a non-runner was declared keeps the original number of places.

Does Rule 4 reduce my stake?

No. Paddy Power says the deduction comes off winnings, never the stake, & Sporting Life says the full stake is returned whatever the deduction.

How many places are paid in golf?

It varies by bookmaker & event. Paddy Power’s example terms are 1/5 the odds for 10 places, while Wikipedia’s golf example pays 1/5 the odds for four places.

Sources

Sources checked 30 October 2026. Information only. 18+.

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