What is Tote Betting on Grand National 2025? | Betting Guide
If you asked most people to name a type of bet, they’d either suggest a simple win bet or an each way bet, but another betting option is placing a Grand National Tote bet and you’ve come to the right place to discover exactly how it works.
What is a Grand National Tote Bet?
With the Tote, you’re not betting directly against a bookie, or even against another person like on the betting exchanges. Instead your stake goes into a pool, so the concept is similar to playing the lottery. Your win will therefore depend on how many other winning tickets there are – the more winning Tote pool betting tickets there are, the more the pool has to be shared out, meaning a lower return (returns are worked out at a £1 stake).
If the winner of a race doesn’t have many bets placed on it the return here will be higher. Again, it’s like if the lottery pool was won by 10 people or just one.
The Tote Promo Codes
Tote’s horse racing welcome offer gives new customers £20 in Tote Credit, a further £10 Free Sports bet, plus 50 free spins when they open an account and place a £10 horse racing bet. The table below details the key T&Cs of the current Tote welcome offer.
| Tote Grand National offer | Tote sign-up offer details |
|---|---|
| Minimum Bet | £10 |
| Bonus Amount | £20 Tote Credit, £10 free bet + 50 free spins |
| Offer Eligibility | New customers only |
| Claim Tote Offer |
Key terms and conditions: New customers online only. Eligibility restrictions apply. Only valid with code B10G40 on registration. £10 min qualifying bet at 1/1 (2.0) odds or greater across sports or racing (if EW then min £10 Win + £10 Place). Receive £20 Tote Credit, £10 Free Sports Bet and 50 Free Spins on Big Bass Bonanza within 48 hours of qualifying bet settlement. 7-day expiry on free bets & Tote Credit. Your first bet will be your qualifying bet. One per customer. UK & ROI customers only. 18+. Full T&Cs apply. Gambleaware.org
Customers with The Tote enjoy welcome bonuses across the product range in addition to promotions related to games and totepool. Specific Terms & Conditions are linked to the offer and general Terms & Condition apply.
Grand National Festival – Aintree Racecourse, Liverpool, Britain – April 13, 2018 Racegoers place bets with bookmakers during Ladies Day at the Grand National Festival REUTERS/Andrew Yates @SCANPIX
Tote Bet Types
You can place other bets on the tote, like forecasts, tricasts, placepots, jackpots and quadpots. These bets can be placed on any race, but we’ll look at them primarily from a Grand National perspective.
- Tote Forecasts – To win a Tote forecast you have to pick the first two horses in the race.
- Tote Straight Forecasts – A straight forecast would need the horses to be predicted in the correct order.
- Tote Reverse Forecasts – A reverse forecast allows your two horses to finish with either one first and second.
- Tote Combination Forecasts – A combination forecast is slightly more complicated in that you can pick three or more horses and must have any two of these horses in the Grand National top two to win your bet and receive a payout.
- Tote Tricast Grand National – Here you must pick the first three Grand National horses in the correct order (you can also do a reverse tricast, or combination tricast). Clearly this would be a particularly impressive achievement, so you could expect any payout to be very large.
- Tote Placepot Grand National – To land a placepot, you must pick a horse to finish in the top few places (typically the top three of four) in six successive races. One of these six races will be the Grand National.
- Tote Quadpot Grand National – Winning a Grand National quadpot is slightly easier than a placepot, because here you must pick horses to place in four rather six races.
- Tote Jackpot Grand National – You really will hit the jackpot financially if you win any Tote jackpot bet, especially if the Grand National is included. That’s because you must pick a horse to win each of six races.
Tote Guarantee
At Tote.co.uk, in addition to the new customer sign-up offer, you can now benefit from the Tote Guarantee. This simple promotion works in a similar way to a Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG) offer by guaranteeing to pay whichever is higher of the Tote dividend or the starting price (SP) across all UK race meetings.
Key T&Cs – Tote will always pay at least SP on Win bets and if the Tote dividend is greater, they’ll pay out at that price. Tote.co.uk, Tote.ie, Tote App and selected UK and Irish racecourse customers only. Promotion applies to Tote win bets and the win part of each way bets on all UK & Irish races. Limits apply. Full terms and conditions available at Tote. 18+ Gambleaware.org.
Tote Ten to Follow
Each Tote Ten to Follow competition runs over the core seasons for Flat and National Hunt racing in the UK. There is a guaranteed top prize of £20,000, with players creating their stable of 10 horses from a list of more than 500. Points are awarded based on each performance over the course of the competition.
The entry fee for the main competition is £5, with first prize guaranteed to be at least £20,000 and the rest of the prize fund distributed between the stables that finish 2nd to 10th. The Tote Ten To Follow also has monthly prizes for the jumps version of the competition from December to March, whereas monthly prizes are awarded from June to September for the flat version. There is also a free competition that is expected to offer a pair of tickets to a race day each month.
For other types of betting on the Grand National, visit our Betting Guides.
Download our Grand National Betting Guide
Tote betting FAQs
Here are some frequently asked questions about betting on The Tote.
What is the Tote in betting?
The Tote operates in a similar way to playing the lottery. All of the money people bet on their horses is combined and placed in a cumulative pool. Then, everyone with a winning ticket will shares a percentage of the pot. If less people backed the same horses as you, it is likely that you will win a greater share of the overall pot.
What is the difference between a Tote and a bookie?
Fixed odds are determined and controlled by odds traders. Tote bets are different because the return will vary based on the number of people who have put money into the pool.
Is it better to bet fixed or Tote?
Other useful pages
We hope you now feel more comfortable with Tote bet types and Tote pool betting, but our handy guides can provide more answers to any nagging questions you may have. If you’re used to betting in a bookmakers shop, find out the steps and rewards when you bet online on the Grand National, and bookmark or download our betting guide, which covers everything from terminology to how to collect your Grand National winnings.
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