For punters seeking that big win at the bookies, there really is little to compete with the scoop6 from Totepool. Often written as totescoop6, this pool bet gives you the challenge of picking six winners from six races from a given Saturday meeting.
Customers have the chance to win sometimes staggering sums of cash, often over £1 million, from just a £2 stake. For winners, there is also the chance to get an additional (highly lucrative) bonus by picking the winner of a specified race on the following Saturday.
Here we will give all the details you need to understand the Tote scoop6 product, with relevant examples as well as some strategies to employ when seeking out your scoop6 winners.
What is a scoop6 Bet?
As mentioned, the scoop6 is a pool bet which means that the winnings (known as the dividend) are shared equally among winning bettors based on the net pool. The net pool is calculated as 70% of the total bets placed (the other 30% having been deducted to cover taxes, etc).
In the case of the scoop6, six races (usually to be run on Saturday) are selected by Totepool. In order to place a scoop6 bet the customer must wager at least £2 (which is both the minimum unit stake and the minimum total stake) with the aim of picking the winning horse in each of the six selected races.
If the customer correctly picks the winner of each of the six races, they will qualify for a dividend from the totescoop6 win fund. Winners of the win fund dividend also have the chance to earn a dividend from the totescoop6 bonus fund by correctly picking the winner of a selected bonus race that usually runs the following Saturday.
While the main totescoop6 takes places every Saturday that there is racing (and occasionally on other days as well), there is also a FridayScoop6 that operates most Friday evenings.
On top of that, there is a scoop6 Place Fund for those who manage the next best thing.
How Many Places Count for the Scoop6 Place Fund?
If a customer correctly picks a horse that finishes in the places in each of the six selected races, they qualify for a dividend from the totescoop6 place fund. The number of runners in each race dictates how many places are counted towards winning place bets. The runners to places information is as follows:
- In a race with 2 – 4 runners a horse must finish 1st to be classified as having placed
- In a race of 5 – 7 runners it must finish 1st or 2nd
- In a race of 8 – 15 runners it must finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd
- In a non-handicap of 16 or more runners it must finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd
- In a handicap of 16 or more runners it must finish 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th
Main Scoop6 Rules to Note
Here are some of the main rules and terms and conditions that punters should take note of in relation to scoop6 bets. These are subject to change and the full terms and conditions are available on the Totepool site.
- Minimum Stakes – The minimum unit stake is £2.00, as is the minimum total stake; permutation bets in units of £2.00 are accepted
- Pool Deduction – 30% is deducted from the gross pool, leaving 70% for the net pool which is allocated to the four funds as detailed below
- Winning – Anyone correctly picking winners of all six races on a given scoop6 will qualify for a dividend of the win fund; if they then correctly pick the winner of the bonus race, they will qualify for a dividend from the bonus fund; anyone correctly picking horses that place in each of the six races will qualify for a dividend from the place fund; in all cases the net prize fund is split into equal dividends based on the number of winners
- Roll Over – If there is no winner of the win fund or the place fund, the relevant amount from the gross pool will roll over to the following week’s scoop6
- Non-Runners – Non-runner selections are not made void but instead the starting price favourite takes its place in the bet; other more complex rules also apply, please see Tote site
In order to check the rules in relation to walkovers, abandoned races or meetings and dead heats, please see the Tote site.
A Note on Scoop6 Dividends
The net pool placed on a given week’s totescoop6 is split into four different funds. Three of which we touched on above: the win fund, the place fund, and the bonus fund. The fourth is called the starting fund; this is an amount that is held in reserve until the win fund has been won (and where all six races have been run). In this situation the starting fund will be moved to the next scoop6 win fund to act as a boost to that fund.
The ratio of the allocation to the four funds is as 14:7:5:2 for the win fund, place fund, bonus fund and starting fund respectively. So, for instance, if someone placed £10 worth of scoop6 bets, £3 of that would be deducted, with £3.50 going into the win fund, £1.75 going into the place fund, £1.25 to the bonus fund and £0.50 going into the starting fund.
Strategies for scoop6 Betting
The prizes for scoop6 are very much on the high side and for good reason: the chances of picking out the winners of six races are incredibly small. But there are ways to improve your odds of picking out the winner of any individual horse race. In the absence of any inside information on the runners, this revolves around doing your research.
Studying the form of the horses, jockeys, and trainers, researching the breeding, assessing the course bias, and even gaining information on the likely weather conditions can all help you hone in on the likely contenders.
With all the time and diligence in the world though, picking six winners is clearly going to be contingent on a fair dose of luck. That is where perming some of the trickier races could come in handy with your scoop6.
So instead of simply picking a single horse for each race (which would cost £2.00), you could choose two horses in two of the races that looked more challenging to assess. This would then mean that instead of a single bet you would in fact have four bets in total, so if you stuck to the £2.00 unit bet, this would cost you £8.00 in total.
It’s worth bearing in mind though that the number of bets you will need to place increases significantly when adding more permutations. For instance if you have two selections in each of the six races, that would be 64 bets in total, so it can start to get pricey.
Taking on various perms can become a worthwhile strategy when the jackpot has rolled over a number of times though. Certain syndicates and highrollers will focus on big Totepool rollovers because at this time the odds can actually be in the punters’ favour.
By that, we mean that the value of the pool is effectively paying out at higher odds than the probability of the horses would imply, meaning that the overall six-horse “acca” would be a value bet. Your chances of winning remain slim, and there is a danger that other punters could also win, reducing your share of the payout. However, the value is still there, in theory at least.
When such rollovers occur, some savvy racing punters will invest a considerable sum to cover a wide range of options in the belief that the underlying value makes it a risk worth taking. Such a tactic isn’t for everyone but it is certainly worth thinking about, even if you only choose to add in an extra line or two to your bet.