Horse racing bets in Australia settle on the placings at correct weight, and money on a scratched runner is refunded unless the bet was all in. A late scratching also cuts other winning fixed-odds bets struck before it, by a deduction the Stewards declare.
The betting rules behind this come in layers: Racing Australia's Australian Rules of Racing decide the race and when its result becomes official, while betting rules and each bookmaker's own terms decide how your bet is paid on that result. Bet types and price types are mapped on horse racing betting.
Which rule book settles what
| Rule book | Written by | What it settles |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Rules of Racing, version of 1 October 2026 | Racing Australia | The race: scratchings, the Judge's placings, protests, correct weight, abandonment, and prize money after a dead heat |
| Local Rules | Each state's principal racing authority | State additions, such as the Racing NSW Rules of Betting, which govern on-course bookmakers in NSW |
| Rules of Wagering 2005 | Western Australia | Bookmaker wagering in WA, including scratchings, dead heats and re-run races |
| Tote rules | The tote operator, for example the rules gazetted in WA on 3 August 2010 | Refunds, substitutes, dead heats and abandonment in tote pools |
| Wagering Rule, in effect from 22 September 2026 | Queensland, under the Wagering Act 1998 | Fixed-odds and tote bets with Queensland's licence operator, including deductions (s 75) and dead heats (s 80) |
| Bookmaker terms | Each online bookmaker | Your fixed-odds bets with it, including anything the rule books above leave open |
The Rules of Racing never say what a bet pays. Betting rules cover the bookmakers they name, and an online bookmaker's own terms are the final word on a bet you place with it.
Note: Harness and greyhound racing run under rule books and rule numbers of their own, so the AR numbers above do not apply to them. Greyhound betting rules and harness racing betting rules cover reserves, vacant boxes and false starts.
When a result becomes official
The Judge places at least the first four horses as they pass the post (AR 214). The Stewards declare correct weight once the riders the rules require to weigh in have come back at their weight out or more and any protest is settled (AR 212), and from that point the placings are official for betting.
Bets are settled on those placings. Under AR 214(6), an alteration to the Judge's placings made after correct weight has no effect on orders the Stewards have already given about betting on the race. How a bookmaker treats a change made later is set in its terms. Correct weight and protests covers the protest timetable and the later changes in full.
Scratchings: refunds and deductions
The nominator or trainer (or their authorised agent) must give written notice of a scratching at least 45 minutes before the race's scheduled start, or earlier where the Local Rules say so (AR 181). For a horse accepted for races in different states or territories on the same day, notice for the race it will miss is due by 9.00 am the day before. Without that notice, the Stewards can still permit or order a scratching. They can also scratch a horse that refuses to enter its barrier, and make orders about betting on the race (AR 200). What a scratching does to bets:
- Money on the scratched runner is refunded, unless the bet was all in.
- If the scratching came after betting opened, winning fixed-odds bets on the other runners struck before it are cut by a deduction, in cents in the dollar, that the race-day Stewards declare. Bets struck after it are not reduced.
- On the tote there is no deduction. A bet on the scratched runner is refunded. Under the 2010 tote rules, a quaddie, running or daily double, or Big 6 pick moves to a substitute, and a feature double pick is forfeited.
There is no national deduction formula. At Eagle Farm on 21 September 2019, for example, Racing Queensland's Stewards ordered a 16c win deduction on successful bets placed before a 1:29 pm late scratching, and 0c for the win after another scratching that day. Whether a deduction comes off the face value or only the winnings, and how several scratchings combine, is where bookmakers' terms differ; scratchings and deductions works both readings and the stake floor, and late scratching has the short definition.
Places paid, dead heats, protests and photo finishes
- Places paid: the 2010 tote rules pay three places when 8 or more runners remain at final scratchings, two when 5 to 7 remain, and allow no place pool with 4 or fewer. NSW on-course bookmakers pay three places with 8 or more runners when the bet is made, and two with 5 to 7 (BR 18). Online bookmakers set their own place terms; place betting works the field sizes.
- Dead heat: Racing NSW's on-course rules pay half the ticket's face value for a tie for first or for the last paid place (BR 16). WA's rules for bookmakers divide the return by the number of runners tied (r 58). AR 213 of the Rules of Racing shares prize money and settles no bets, and online bookmakers set their own dead heat terms; dead heat rules works the cases.
- Protest: made to the Steward at the scale before the placed riders weigh in, or later with the Stewards' leave but before correct weight (AR 219). If it is upheld, the horse can be disqualified or placed behind the horse it interfered with (AR 221, as amended on 1 October 2026), and bets follow the placings at correct weight.
- Photo finish: a camera helps the Judge separate a close finish by the horses' noses (AR 214), and settlement waits for the Judge's decision and correct weight. The photo finish entry explains how the image is read.
Abandoned or postponed races, and track or distance changes
The Rules of Racing give the officials several ways to change or stop a race:
- A principal racing authority, or a club with its approval, may cancel, abandon or postpone a race or a meeting, before or after the meeting has started (AR 155).
- For reasons tied to the day's conditions, including safety, the Stewards can postpone races to later that day or to another day, subject to the authority's approval, and can alter a race's distance (AR 21).
- If a race is postponed to another day, scratchings made on the original day are void and the scratching deadline moves to the new day (AR 182).
- The Stewards can declare a race void and order a re-run that day (AR 205), and horses can be scratched up to 15 minutes before the re-run (AR 183).
- A meeting held at a different venue keeps its status unless the authority decides otherwise (AR 152).
How bets settle depends on whose rules apply. On the tote, bets on a race that is cancelled, abandoned, postponed to a later date or declared a no race, and not re-run, are refunded (rule 10.3 of the 2010 tote rules). WA's rules for bookmakers declare bets off and refund them when a race is postponed to another date or abandoned (r 59). They let bets stand when a race is re-run the same day, with a deduction if a runner cannot start. The Racing NSW Rules of Betting refund bets struck after final acceptances on a race postponed to another day (BR 10). Bets on horses that started the first run of a race re-run the same day stand, unless the Stewards decide otherwise.
Online bookmakers set their own rules here, and they take several forms:
- every bet on an abandoned race refunded;
- bets that stand if a postponed race is run within a set period, and are void if it is not;
- bets that stand, or are void, when the track or the distance changes.
Find each clause in your bookmaker's terms before a meeting where the weather is in doubt.
Exotics and multis with a scratched or abandoned leg
Tote pools follow the rules for each bet type. Under the 2010 tote rules:
- A scratched pick in a quaddie, running double, daily double or Big 6 moves to a substitute. That is the runner with the most money in the win pool for that race once its betting closes, or in the Big 6 pool for a Big 6. In a feature double it is forfeited.
- In a trifecta, first four, quinella, exacta or duet, the combinations that include the scratched runner are refunded and the rest of the ticket runs.
- An abandoned leg in a quaddie or Big 6 counts every selection in it as a winner. If every quaddie leg is abandoned, or four or more Big 6 legs, the bets are refunded (rule 10.6), and a double with one abandoned leg is decided on its other leg (rule 10.5).
Queensland's 2026 rule differs on two of these: a Big 6 substitute comes from the win pool (s 163), and a scratched feature double pick moves to the substitute rather than being forfeited (s 123).
Fixed-odds exotics and racing multis follow the bookmaker's terms, which can void a scratched leg and settle the rest at a recalculated price, refund the whole bet, or apply a deduction to the leg. Exotic scratching rules works a quaddie ticket through a scratching.
Futures and all-in bets
A futures bet is struck before the final field is known, and it can be all in: if your horse does not start, the stake is lost. For NSW bookmakers, Racing NSW's futures policy (updated March 2011) puts that window between the closing of nominations and final acceptances, which usually come a few days before a feature race. It allows refunds and deductions on bets struck after final acceptances.
With illustrative prices, $20 at $26.00 struck before final acceptances on those terms is lost if the horse is scratched the day before the race, while the same horse backed at $11.00 after final acceptances would see that stake refunded. Online bookmakers publish their own futures terms, including when a market stops being all in; futures betting on horse racing covers the timeline.
What to look for in your bookmaker's racing rules
Before a bet that matters, find these clauses in your bookmaker's terms:
- Deductions: face value or winnings only, how several scratchings combine, and any cap on the total.
- Dead heats: the formula, and how it treats place bets and each way bets.
- Results: whether a bet settles once at correct weight or follows a change made later.
- Abandoned, postponed and re-run races: refund, a window in which bets stand, or void.
- Track and distance changes: whether bets stand.
- Multis, exotics and same race multis with a scratched or abandoned leg.
- Futures: when bets are all in and when a scratching brings a refund.
Where punters misread the settlement rules
- Treating a futures price as refundable. The $20 at $26.00 struck before final acceptances is lost if the horse is scratched the day before.
- Counting a winning ticket at its full price after a late scratching. A 16c deduction like Eagle Farm's turns an illustrative $10 win at $5.00 from $50 into $42 on the face-value reading.
- Assuming every rule book splits a dead heat the same way. Racing NSW's BR 16 pays half the ticket's face value and WA's r 58 divides the return by the number tied, which agree on a two-way tie, but WA's r 58(3) sets its own fractions for a place bet when three or four runners dead-heat for first in a race paying two places (one-third of the return with three), and online bookmakers write their own rule, so check how yours settles a tie of three or more.
Where B337 fits
B337 does not decide how a bet is paid. It is software, not a bookmaker: your bets sit in your own bookmaker account, and that bookmaker settles them under its own rules.
The Terminal places Betfair back and lay next to prices from 40+ bookmakers across racing and sports, with price history and closing lines for each runner. Because those prices are read on a cycle rather than tick by tick, the bookmaker's own screen is the one to trust when you place a bet. A free account opens a limited view of the Terminal with live odds. Bookmaker names are trade marks of their owners. B337 is not affiliated with them.
Risk: Betting involves risk. Knowing the rules does not change the odds: a scratching, a dead heat or a protest can still cut or end a bet, and there is no guarantee of profit. See responsible gambling for limits and support.