A night at the races is a fantastic event and a great way to encourage your guests or customers to enjoy your event.
Everyone who participates can pick a horse from the runners in the programme, a horse name they like or their favourite lucky number. If they are lucky, they can collect their winnings as prizes or money.
We aim to offer the very best value for money fundraising race nights. We use real betting slips with our race nights, so it's just like a real night at the races.
In total, there are eight races featuring eight horses. Bets may be placed by as many individuals or groups as you like. All horses are aptly named for an evening of fun and hilarity once the Tote opens. Our Race Nights come complete with compere, Tote Seller and Form Guide.
We can provide our own sound system, if required, and we can either show the races on the venue’s TV screen(s) or we can bring along a large projector and screen for a more cinematic presentation. This will ensure that no-one misses those final photo finishes.
How does it work?
At the start of your event we explain to your customers that we use a 'betting tote system' to calculate the winnings in each race. A betting tote system works by collecting in all of the wagers before the race, a percentage of the income is retained for the bar for additional prizes, and the remainder is divided between the winning betting tote tickets on the night.
The price of the tickets is usually £1.00 or multiples thereof. Once all of the wagers have been placed the betting tote is closed. A race is then shown. This selection is random so nobody knows which race has been selected or which horse is the winner. We have hundreds of races on DVD, so it is not possible to predict which horse will be the winner in advance.
As the lights go down and the compere announces the race and the runners, the betting tote staff calculates the amounts to be paid to the winners and how much is to be retained for additional prizes. After the race is over and all of the winners have collected their money the tote is re-opened and the whole process is repeated for the next race.
Winner From Loser
After each race, all of the punters holding winning tickets take them to the pay-out point to receive their betting tote winnings. All of the losers however, must write their name on the back of the betting slips and put it into a cardboard box.Before the last race takes place, a draw is made and 8 tickets drawn out of the cardboard box. Those whose names are on the back of the tickets are given a horse in that order. These are read out over the microphone so that all of the punters know who the lucky eight people are who have a horse in the last race of the night.
The race is run and the winner is declared. This person will receive a prize or cash.
The advantage of this great game is that it not only keeps people interested until the end of the fundraising event, but it keeps the floor clean of all used betting slips and gives the losers an opportunity to win a prize.
Horse Auction
We select a couple of races during the evening, e.g. the third and sixth and hold an auction.
Everyone can bid for whichever horse they like and the highest bidder takes the horse.
After the eight horses have been auctioned, we deduct a percentage, e.g. 25%, for prize money. The race is run and the balance is paid to the winning owner.
The Raffle Race
This requires the audience to buy tickets for a 'Star Prize'. From the tickets sold, eight are drawn out at random and are awarded a horse in the next race. Whoever owns the winner receives the prize.
Horse Sales
Horses can be bought at the event. After the betting tote is closed, 8 people are welcome to come and buy the horse from the MC for £1 each. The winner receives £5 and £3 goes towards the funds. We must sell all 8 horses to justify this.
Raffles and Tombolas
In between races offers there are ideal opportunities for other activities such as tombolas and raffles. These can contribute to the fun and profit of the event. Typically, we charge £250-300 for private events, but for charity events the tote can be geared so that it becomes self-funding. Please call us for a quote.