About
The Tote dates all the way back to 1928 when it was set up by Winston Churchill and the UK government to provide a more controlled alternative for punters , some of whom were placing bets with illegal bookmakers. UK bookmaker Betfred acquired the Tote in 2011 and then sold it to the UK Tote Group in 2019 who own the site today.
Tote.co.uk isn't your standard bookmaker. If you're a regular at the racecourse then you should be familiar with tote betting but for those who generally bet online with fixed odds bookies, it may be something new.
When betting on the Tote, you are betting to win a share of the pool rather than fixed returns. This means that all of the money bet on each horse goes into a pool and anyone who has backed the winner gets a share of that pool with the amount being dependant on their stake.
Horse racing at Tote.co.uk, with there also being a small selection of football bets available, but don't think you're options are limited as there are several different types of bets you can place.
If you're looking for Tote or pool betting away from the racecourse, then there really isn't a better place to do that online than Tote.co.uk.
This Tote.co.uk review will look at what the betting brand offers and how it works.
New customers online only. Eligibility restrictions apply. Only valid with code B10G40 on registration. £10 min qualifying bet at 1/1 (2.0) odds or greater across sports or racing (if EW then min £10 Win + £10 Place). Receive £20 Tote Credit, £10 Free Sports Bet and 50 Free Spins on Big Bass Bonanza within 48 hours of qualifying bet settlement. 7-day expiry on free bets & Tote Credit. Your first bet will be your qualifying bet. One per customer. UK & ROI customers only. 18+. Full T&Cs apply. Gambleaware.org.Full T&Cs apply. #ad
Is Tote Safe?
As mentioned above, the Tote has been around since 1928 and so is a name widely recognised in the UK betting industry. However, the new Tote website only launched in February of 2020 so that should be the focus here.
Tote is a trading name of TDCO Limited which is a company set up by the UK Tote Group who acquired the Tote from Betfred back in 2019.
Currently, Tote.co.uk is only available to UK residents and is fully licenced and regulated in Great Britain by the UK Gambling Commission which should reassure you that the company is operating to standards set by the UK government.
How To Open An Account With Tote
Opening an account with Tote.co.uk takes just a minute or two by following the steps below.
- Visit Tote.co.uk
- Click on the 'Join' button in the top right corner
- Complete the registration form
Your account should now be ready to be used.
New customers can also claim the Tote Welcome Offer. More details on that below...
Tote
Bet £10 Get £40 in Bonuses
VISIT
SITE!
New customers online only. Eligibility restrictions apply. Only valid with code B10G40 on registration. £10 min qualifying bet at 1/1 (2.0) odds or greater across sports or racing (if EW then min £10 Win + £10 Place). Receive £20 Tote Credit, £10 Free Sports Bet and 50 Free Spins on Big Bass Bonanza within 48 hours of qualifying bet settlement. 7-day expiry on free bets & Tote Credit. Your first bet will be your qualifying bet. One per customer. UK & ROI customers only. 18+. Full T&Cs apply. Gambleaware.org.Full T&Cs apply. #ad
How Good Is Tote's Horse Racing Service?
It's all about horse racing at Tote.co.uk. However, it's important to remember that you can only place tote bets and not fixed-odds bets at Tote.co.uk. Below, we we look at some of the betting options available.
Win/Place Bets
The most common type of bets at Tote.co.uk are Totewin and Toteplace bets. With Totewin bets, you are betting on a horse to win the race and with Toteplace bets, you are betting on a horse to finish in one of the place positions.
Toteplace bets are based on the following criteria:
- 4 runners or fewer: No place betting available
- 5 to 7 runners: The first two places
- 8 or more runners: The first three places
- Handicaps with 16 or more runners: The first four places
Exacta/Trifecta Bets
When placing an Exacta bet, you select two horses that you believe will finish in the first two places on the race. Trifecta bets are similar except that you select three horses to finish in the first three places of the race. With both Exacta and Trifecta bets, you must specify which order they will finish in.
Tote Quinella
Quinella bets are similar to Exacta bets in that you must select two horses to finish in 1st and 2nd place. However, with Tote Quinella bets, they can finish in any order.
Tote Placepot
The Tote Placepot is perhaps the most popular bet at Tote.co.uk.
To enter, you need to select one horse from each of the first six races of the day that you think will place. If all six of your selections place, you will win a share of the pool. The number of places for each race will depend on the number of runners.
You can submit your entry to the Tote Placepot from 9am each day with eligible races being displayed on the website.
Tote Scoop6
Another popular bet at Tote.co.uk is Tote Scoop6 which is available to play every Saturday.
Each week, Tote will select six races and your aim is to predict the winner in each one.
Obviously, it's a very tough task to correctly predict all six winners but with an entry fee of just £2 and a jackpot pool of £15 million, it can be worth a punt!
Tote Quadpot
If you're not having much luck with the Tote Placepot, the Quadpot may be for you. It works in a similar way that you have to select horses that place in nominated races except that there are only nominated four races instead of six.
Tote Quadpot is available to play daily and eligible races are the third to the sixth race of the day.
Tote Jackpot
With an entry fee of just 50p, the Tote Jackpot is another popular bet at Tote.co.uk.
Similar to the Tote Scoop6, you must select a horse from six races that you think will win. The difference is that the nominated races are all races taking place at a selected meeting on that day.
Tote Swinger
With Tote Swinger bets, you select two horses in a race that you believe will finish in the first three places. The order doesn't matter so long as both selections finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd which makes it one of the slightly easier Tote bets to see a return from.
Tote Survivor
Tote Survivor is available every Saturday and is a knock-out style competition between all entrants with the last player(s) remaining sharing the prize pool.
To play, you must select a horse that you think will win the first of six nominated races. If you correctly predict the winner, you will move onto the next round where you must select the winner of the second race. If any of your selections do not win, you are removed from the competition at that point.
How Good is Tote's Sportsbook?
The recent introduction of Tote's sportsbook is a great addition to their existing pools markets. Tote now offers a much wider array of betting markets including cricket, darts, ice hockey, Formula 1, and all of the most popular sports like football and tennis. With a sports book offering 29 sports in total, Tote has broadened their appeal beyond just horse racing enthusiasts.
The sportsbook offers live betting which is complimented by a live tracker that enables punters to visually see what’s going on in a game. The live tracker also features a timeline option, showing everything that's previously gone on in the game, which is really useful if you’ve not been following the game from the beginning. The tracker even shows useful stats such as head-to-head, team standings, and lineups prior to the game, so you have everything you need to make informed betting decisions.
For a newly launched sportsbook, Tote offers an impressive range of betting options that appeal to all kinds of bettors. Punters can place bets on goals scored in certain minutes, diverse player betting options, corner markets, as well as half-time/full-time predictions, alongside all the standard options like correct score. They also allow customers to build their own bets under the ‘Bet Builder’ tab for anyone that likes to create their own unique bets.
One area that could be improved is the platform’s navigation. It’s simple enough if you know your way around, but for new customers it can be difficult to find specific games, as the platform only highlights games in the most popular leagues. It would also be beneficial to show all of today’s games in one place, as a lot of bettors will only want to bet on today’s events.
When it comes to odds, Tote's odds are generally slightly lower than the major players in the market, but their bet boosters and specials are worth talking about. These deals usually offer the highest odds in the market and are definitely worth taking advantage of. Locating them is very easy, simply click on the ‘specials’ tab at the top of the sports categories. At the time of this writing, they’re offering lots of specials on football matches as well as a few golf events.
In summary, Tote’s sportsbook has expanded their offering and widened their appeal beyond just horse racing enthusiasts. The added markets and betting features offer huge benefits to both new and existing customers.
What Makes Tote Different?
Although you can bet on horse racing and place certain Tote bets with a number of bookies, Tote is often the best choice as it is a site solely dedicated to Tote betting.
Returns from betting on the Tote compared to fixed-odds betting can be either greater or smaller depending on the number of other users you are sharing the prize pool with and so it's a personal choice whether or not to bet with fixed odds or with the Tote.
Here are a few things we like about Tote:
- A simple yet generous welcome offer
- A huge range of Tote betting options
- Dedicated to UK customers
As a Tote.co.uk customer, you'll also be eligible for the Tote Guarantee.
Tote Guarantee
As we mentioned above, betting with the Tote can either produce greater or less returns than fixed odds betting. It's great when you pick a winner and the returns are a lot more than if you'd placed the same stake on the horse with a traditional bookie but it can be extremely frustrating if your returns are significantly less.
However, with the Tote Guarantee, this isn't the case.
Should you back a winner with the Tote and your returns are less than you would have received based on the Starting Price (SP) of the horse, Tote will make up the difference and credit your account in cash. Of course, if the returns of your Tote bet are greater than you would have received based on the SP, you still get to keep the bigger winnings.
The Tote Guarantee applies to all UK horse races for Win bets and the Win part of Each Way bets. The maximum stake the Tote Guarantee will apply to is £500.
Tote Guarantee T&Cs: We’ll always pay at least SP on Win bets and if the Tote dividend is greater, we’ll pay out at that price. Tote.co.uk, Tote.ie, Tote App and selected UK and Irish racecourse customers only. Promotion applies to Tote win bets and the win part of each way bets on all UK & Irish races. Limits apply. Full terms and conditions available at https://tote.co.uk/promotions/tote-guarantee. 18+ BeGambleaware.org
Can You Stream Sports On Tote?
Yes. Customers can stream all UK & Irish horse races via the Tote website or app.
One great thing about horse racing streams at Tote.co.uk is that you do not need to place a bet on the race in order to access the stream. You simply need to log into your account, find a race you'd like to watch and click to load the stream.
you can filter the list of live events to show only those for which streams are available if you wish.
Tote Football Syndicates
Despite the main focus being on Horse Racing at Tote.co.uk, there is a football section of the website which allows customers to create an join syndicates with other members.
There are a few markets available to create your football syndicate including the following:
- Match Result - You select a Home/Draw/Away result for eight football matches
- Correct Score - You predict the score for three football matches
- Asian Handicap - You make 10 Asian Handicap selections for different matches
- Match Predictor - You make five selections for selected markets on a football match such as the correct score, home/away corners & home/away cards. Available on selected football Matches.
All football bets placed at Tote.co.uk are part of a syndicate with other members. The member that creates the syndicate and makes the selections for the bet is named the 'Captain'. The Captain is in control of the cash out option for the bet for all syndicate members. If you join an existing syndicate, it is the Captain of that syndicate who will decide when or if to cash out the bet.
If a syndicate bet wins, the winnings are shared amongst all members of that syndicate in proportion to their stake contributions.
The Tote App
The Tote app is available to download for free from the app stores. It is branded as the 'Tote Placepot App' but it also allows you to place other types of Tote bets as you would be able to via the Tote website.
As well as being able to place Placepot and other types of bets, you can also stream live horse racing directly through the app which is great for when you're out of the house.
The Tote app is very well designed, user-friendly and allows you to access everything that you can via the website.
Deposit & Withdrawal Options
Banking options are somewhat limited at Tote.co.uk as only debit cards are accepted. Popular alternatives such as Neteller, Skrill and PayPal are curently unavailable and options that we would like to see added in the future.
Withdrawals to debit cards take around 2-5 days to reach accounts which is satisfactory.
Customer Support
Customer support at Tote.co.uk is available via live chat, email, phone and mail, 7 days a week.
Live chat can be launched via the icon in the bottom right corner of the website.
Tote.co.uk Email Address
To get in touch with the Tote support team via email, you can send your query to the following address.
Telephone
Telephone support is available to UK customers via the freephone number below.
Address
If you need to send a letter or documents to Tote, you can do so using the address shown below.
- Tote, Customer Care, Douglas House, Tote Park, Chapel Lane, Wigan, WN3 4HS
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Tote.co.uk is solely a Tote betting site.
Yes. You can download the Tote Placepot app from the app stores which you can use to place all of your Tote bets.
No. The Tote is an established betting company which has been running since 1928. Although it has changed hands, they are fully licenced to operated within the UK and are considered a trustworthy and reputable betting company.
No. Currently, customers at Tote.co.uk can only deposit & withdraw using Debit Cards.
Tote
Bet £10 Get £40 in Bonuses
VISIT
SITE!
New customers online only. Eligibility restrictions apply. Only valid with code B10G40 on registration. £10 min qualifying bet at 1/1 (2.0) odds or greater across sports or racing (if EW then min £10 Win + £10 Place). Receive £20 Tote Credit, £10 Free Sports Bet and 50 Free Spins on Big Bass Bonanza within 48 hours of qualifying bet settlement. 7-day expiry on free bets & Tote Credit. Your first bet will be your qualifying bet. One per customer. UK & ROI customers only. 18+. Full T&Cs apply. Gambleaware.org.Full T&Cs apply. #ad
Tote PROS
- Simple & generous welcome offer
- Large number of Tote betting options
- Tote Guarantee
- Live streaming available
Tote CONS
- Only debit cards accepted