A punter is someone who places a bet, most often on horse racing or sport. Racing Victoria's Racing 101 glossary defines a punter as "a person placing a bet". The word covers everyone from the person who bets once a year on Melbourne Cup day to the one who bets every Saturday.
Punting is the activity and a punt is a single bet, so putting money on a race is having a punt. Betting accounts in Australia covers the online accounts most punters now bet through.
Where the word punter comes from
Dictionaries trace punt, in its betting sense, to the French ponter, from ponte, the player who bets against the bank in old card games such as basset and faro. The fit with racing is close: a punter at the track bets against the bookmaker, much as the card player bet against the bank.
The same spelling means other things too. Informally, punters can also mean customers or the paying public, the people a shop, venue or show serves. A punt is a flat-bottomed boat pushed along with a pole, and in American football the punter is the player who kicks the ball away. Neither has anything to do with betting.
A punt, worked through
Decimal odds include your stake, so what a winning punt returns and what it earns are different numbers.
Example: Illustrative price. You have a $25 punt on a runner at $4.40. If it wins you collect 25 x 4.40 = $110, which is your $25 back plus 25 x (4.40 - 1) = $85 profit. If it loses, the $25 is gone.
How to bet on horse racing walks through a first bet, from opening an account to a settled ticket.
Punter vs bettor vs gambler
| Word | Where you hear it | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Punter | Everyday Australian and British English, and racing bodies' guides | Someone who bets on racing, sport or other events |
| Bettor | American English and some formal writing | The same person |
| Gambler | General English and gambling help services | Anyone who gambles: betting, pokies, casino games or lotteries |
| Customer | NSW's betting rules for sports and other events | The person who makes a bet with an authorised bookmaker |
| Investor | Western Australia's Rules of Wagering 2005 | A person who makes, offers to make or attempts to make a wager, bettors included |
So every punter is a gambler, but not every gambler is a punter: someone who only plays the pokies is not punting.
Common punting terms
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Fixed odds | Your price, set at the moment the bet is accepted |
| The tote | A pool shared among the winning bets, with the dividend declared after the race |
| Roughie | A runner at long odds |
| Plunge | A rush of money that drives a runner's price shorter |
| Drifter | A runner whose price is lengthening |
| All up | A bet that rolls the whole return from one leg onto the next |
| Exotic bet | A bet needing several results, such as a trifecta or a quaddie |
| Bet slip | Where you put a bet together before you place it |
| Late scratching | A runner withdrawn after the field is set |
| The jump | The start of a race |
Horse racing terms has the longer list, and horse racing betting maps the bet types to the pages that explain them.
Punters in the rules: prices, bowlers and tax
Three official uses of the word say something useful about your rights and limits.
- Racing NSW's minimum bet limits FAQ says every punter is entitled to the price an operator publicly displays in its latest betting market, on the NSW thoroughbred bets its conditions cover.
- The same FAQ calls a person betting on behalf of others a bowler, and lists undisclosed bowlers among the legitimate reasons an operator can still close or restrict an account. Bet only in an account in your own name.
- The ATO's ruling IT 2655 speaks of the "mere punter": for most people, winnings are not assessable income and losses are not deductible, unless betting is carried on as a business. Tax on gambling winnings covers the tests, and becoming a professional punter what betting for a living involves.
Risk: Betting involves risk. Decide what you can afford to lose before a punt, not after it: a punt is a bet you can lose, and there is no guarantee of profit. See responsible gambling for limits and support.