How the tote works

JohnnyBrokes is a pari-mutuel tote, not a fixed-odds bookmaker. Everyone's stakes go into one pool. After the race the whole pool is shared among the people who backed the winner, in proportion to what they staked. There is no house commission.

Prices are indicative until betting closes. The price shown for a snail is the current return per $1 including your original stake: total pool ÷ total backed on that snail. Every accepted bet (and every void) changes the price of every snail. The price becomes final when the host closes betting.

Example. $100 in the pool, $20 of it on the winning snail: the return is $5 per $1. A $5 winning ticket collects $25, which includes the $5 stake.

Cash is separate. You log the bet here and pay the host in person. A bet counts in the pool as soon as it's accepted, whether or not the cash has been collected yet. Collecting cash never moves the prices.

Rounding. Payouts are worked out from exact amounts, not the two-decimal display price. Your winning stakes on a race are added together before rounding, so splitting a bet across tickets gains nothing. Winnings are rounded to the race's cash increment (5c by default) so that the total paid out equals the pool exactly.

Edge cases. If nobody backed the winner, all stakes are refunded. If a race is cancelled or abandoned, all stakes are refunded. In a dead heat the pool is split equally between the winning snails, then each share goes to that snail's backers; if a joint winner had no backers, all stakes are refunded. Where no bets were placed, the result is recorded with nothing to pay.

Voids and refunds. The host can void a mistaken ticket while betting is open. If its cash was already paid, you get it back; if not, there's nothing to collect. Once betting is closed, nothing is removed from the pool.

Limits. The host sets a minimum and maximum stake per ticket and a maximum per person per race before betting opens. Adults only for the cash tote; the kids' treats game is run separately.

No snails were harmed in producing these bios.