![\"Dutching](\"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/dutching-in-betting-400px.jpg\")
It was the late, great Bill Shankly that said \u2018if you are first, you are first. If you are second, you are nothing.\u2019<\/p>\nIt was the late, great Bill Shankly that said \u2018if you are first, you are first. If you are second, you are nothing.\u2019<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a mindset that punters have to adopt too when they choose to bet \u2018on the nose\u2019, rather than each way, although that\u2019s not to say that you can\u2019t have an all-or-nothing approach without hedging your bets into the process.<\/p>\n
Complete newcomers to sports betting often ask variations of the same question: can I bet on more than one horse in a race? Can I bet on more than one team to win the Premier League? Can I bet on more than one player to win The Masters?<\/p>\n
And the answer is always the same: yes, you can – and in some cases, it actually makes perfect sense to do so.<\/p>\n
![\"How](\"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/how-to-dutch-in-betting-400px.jpg\")
You may have heard the phrase \u2018going Dutch\u2019 before – it was used in relation to dating for a while.<\/p>\n
For those that haven\u2019t heard the phrase, it essentially means paying for your own part of an activity, e.g. when eating a meal at a restaurant. So on a first date, you might go Dutch as opposed to offering to foot the bill… and never see the other person ever again.<\/p>\n
While that has nothing to do with sports betting, \u2018Dutching\u2019 does.<\/p>\n
This is a technique that is used by punters in many different sports, and is the approach that allows you to bet on more than one horse in a race while still securing a return if any of your selections do go on to win.<\/p>\n
If you wanted to back horses at 3\/1 and 4\/1, you would know that a level stake on both would net a positive return should either win \u2013 however, if your two horses are priced at 4\/5 and 5\/4, you will need to be savvy in how you organise your stake in order to ensure that you\u2019re not losing out if the odds-on favourite does oblige.<\/p>\n
To do that, you can apply some simple maths to determine how to split your overall stake\u2026<\/p>\n
![\"Calculator\"](\"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/bigstock-everydayplus-calculator-400px.jpg\")
There are plenty of tools available online that will help you to calculate how to split up your stake for the maths to show an equal return on more than one selection.<\/p>\n
But the math isn\u2019t too hard to do off the top of your head either.<\/p>\n
For example, if you wanted to wager \u00a310 on horses at 3\/1 and 6\/1 respectively, you know that the 3\/1 would need to take up double the stake of a 6\/1 chance for the payouts to be approximately the same.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a quick look that in action.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll back the 3\/1 horse at \u00a36.50 and the 6\/1 horse at \u00a33.50. Let\u2019s play it out, with the 3\/1 horse winning (scenario 1) and then the 6\/1 horse prevailing (scenario 2):<\/p>\n
As you can see, we\u2019ve backed two horses in a race and secured a similar return if either of them wins. Of course, if both lose then we would kiss goodbye to our \u00a310 stake \u2013 but then that\u2019s the nature of sports betting, anyway. By backing two horses, we increase our theoretical chance of winning as well as our risk.<\/p>\n
If the numbers stack up right, we can even Dutch three, four or more horses together.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s imagine we add a 10\/1 chance to the example above, with scenario 3 imagining that this outsider goes on to win:<\/p>\n
As you can see, we\u2019ve skewed our \u00a310 stake towards the horse we most expect to win out of the three, namely, the 3\/1 shot; but the 6\/1 and 10\/1 will still yield a positive return if they win \u2013 even accounting for the lost stakes from the losing selections.<\/p>\n
So hopefully that answers the question of whether you can bet on more than one horse in a race or not. You can do so when the odds are long enough to make Dutching viable and when you split up your stake accordingly. In fact, in highly-competitive races like the Cheltenham Gold Cup or the Epsom Derby, backing more than one runner is a savvy option given the number of potential winners in the field.<\/p>\n
![\"Dutch](\"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/dutch-schultz-400px.jpg\")
If you do opt to \u2018go Dutch\u2019 with your sports betting, you will be in good company \u2013 many professional punters, especially those in horse racing, will typically bet on more than one horse in competitive renewals.<\/p>\n
When you think about it, betting Dutch can be a sensible idea \u2013 and we have a feared Mafia mobster to thank for the logic behind it.<\/p>\n
Arthur Flegenheimer might not sound like the name of an organised crime warlord nor a sports betting mastermind, but the New Yorker had both strings to his bow in the early 1900s.<\/p>\n