How Does the Tote Swinger Bet Work?

Never one to rest on their laurels, companies within the betting industry are famous for their innovation, with each year seeing an ever-increasing array of bet-types introduced to the market. Leading the way when it comes to intriguing Pool betting options is the UK’s leading Pool Betting provider, the Tote.

Whilst being most widely known for their hugely successful Jackpot, Placepot, and Quadpot products, there are far more bet types lurking under the Tote umbrella, including the curiously named Swinger.

The name of the bet may not give much away, but it is, in fact, easy to understand. Punters simply select two horses in a race; if both horses finish anywhere in the first three positions, in any order, you win. If only one or neither finishes in the first three, you lose.

For those unfamiliar with the Tote, or Pool betting in general, we will quickly touch on how the Pool betting method works.

In Fixed Odds betting, you take a set price at the time of the event or the Starting Price (SP) returned after the race. In Pool betting, all stakes are gathered together in a single Pool and then divided amongst the winners after the event. Returns are expressed as a dividend, i.e. the amount returned per £1 stake. The more winners there are, the lower the dividend will be and vice versa.

How are Swinger Payouts Calculated?

With the goal of a Swinger being to have your two selections finish anywhere in the first three positions, there are three ways in which you can win:

• Your selections finish 1st and 2nd, in any order.
• Your selections finish 1st and 3rd, in any order.
• Your selections finish 2nd and 3rd, in any order.

Payouts are calculated as follows:

• The total stakes for all Swinger bets for any given race are gathered together in a single pool.
• The Tote takes a 30% cut from the total pool to cover operating costs and produce a profit.
• The remaining pool is divided into three, 1/3 of which is allocated to those whose selections finish 1st and 2nd, 1/3 going to those whose selections finish 1st and 3rd, and the final 1/3 going to those whose selections finish 2nd and 3rd.
• The pool for each of the three winning results (1st and 2nd, 1st and 3rd, 2nd and 3rd) is divided by the total stakes placed on that result to produce three Swinger dividends.

Let’s look at an example Swinger Pool, to see this process in action. Consider a total pool of £15,000 after the Tote have taken their deduction, creating a pool of £5,000 for each of the three winning outcomes.

At the end of the race, the total stakes placed on each of the three outcomes is as follows:

• 1st and 2nd – £1,250
• 1st and 3rd – £625
• 2nd and 3rd – £10,000

The dividends for each of the three outcomes in this example are:

• 1st and 2nd – £5,000/£1,250 = £4.00
• 1st and 3rd – £5,000/£625 = £8.00
• 2nd and 3rd – £5,000/£10,000 = £0.50

Remember that these are the returns per £1 stake. A punter with a £10 winning Swinger, including the 1st and 2nd, would receive total returns of £40.

A low return, such as in the 2nd and 3rd place pool in our example, is most likely to occur if two of the most strongly fancied runners fill those positions. Whenever a dividend return drops to £0.90 or below, the Tote will increase the dividend to £1.02, ensuring a small profit for backers. The exception to this is if the result involves a dead heat, in which case the official dividend can fall as low as £0.50.

Combos and Bankers

Swinger bets can be a good option whenever you fancy more than one horse in a race. If just two runners catch your eye, a standard Swinger may fit the bill. If you like the look of three or more, you may wish to consider a Combination Swinger.

Including more than two runners will, of course, increase the number of bets, as shown below:

Of course, you may include even more than this should you wish, but it can get expensive. Perming 12 horses, for example, would result in 66 combinations, hence £66 if your unit stake is £1. You may stake from as little as 1p per combination when placing your bets online, however, so long as the Total Stake is at least 50p.

Alternatively, when weighing up a race, perhaps there is one runner you strongly fancy to finish in the frame, together with two or more who you think have half a chance. In this case, you may wish to make your strong fancy a Banker to combine with the selections you aren’t as confident about. In this instance, the total number of bets is equal to the number of “non-bankers” you decide to include, for example one Banker plus three other selections would equal a total of three Bets.

Non-Runners and Non-Finishers

If you back a Non-Runner in a Swinger bet, your bet will be deemed void, and your stake returned. For Combination Swingers, all combos containing the non-runner will be deemed void, whilst the other combos will stand.

If the size of the field falls to four or five, as a result of one or more non-runners, the Swinger Pool will remain as a single pool rather than being split into three. In this instance, you will only win if your selections finish 1st and 2nd in any order.

If Non-runners see the field reduced to three or fewer, the market will be declared void and all stakes returned.

If only two horses finish the race, a single dividend will be returned and paid out to bets containing the two finishers.

If only one horse completes the race, a single dividend will be announced and paid to all bets containing the sole finisher together with any other horse.

Dead Heats

If there is a dead heat for first place, the pool will be equally split between three combinations:

• The two dead heat winners.
• The first of the dead heat winners and the 3rd placed horse.
• The second of the dead heat winners and the 3rd placed horse.

A dead heat for second will also result in three winning combinations:

• The winner and the first of the dead heat 2nd placed finishers.
• The winner and the second of the dead heat 2nd placed finishers.
• The two runners finishing in a dead heat for 2nd.

If, however, the dead heat is for third place, additional winning combinations are created.

• 1st and 2nd – unaffected by the dead heat so still receives 1/3 of the total pool.
• 1st and the first of the dead heat 3rd place finishers – receives 1/6 of the total pool.
• 1st and the second of the dead heat 3rd place finishers – receives 1/6 of the total pool.
• 2nd and the first of the dead heat 3rd place finishers – receives 1/6 of the total pool.
• 2nd and the first of the dead heat 3rd place finishers – receives 1/6 of the total pool.

Strategy: Swing Against the Crowd

Swingers represent an intriguing betting option and are always worth considering – particularly if you are struggling to zero in on a single contender.

As with most pool-style bets, the greatest returns are possible whenever you pick out a runner likely to be overlooked by other punters. For example, including the first and second favourite in a Swinger bet is unlikely to produce a particularly rewarding payout, as many other punters are likely to have included one or both of those runners in their bet.

An Excellent Option for Outsiders

Our advice is to consider a Swinger bet whenever you fancy one or more big-priced runners in a race. Such runners can often provide excellent value, as demonstrated in this result taken from a 2023 race at Lingfield.

• 1st – Oxygen 6/5F
• 2nd – Mister Who 5/1
• 3rd – It’s Easy 100/1

A straight £1 Place Bet on It’s Easy returned £14.74. However, those who included It’s Easy in a Swinger with the short-priced favourited Oxygen or the well-fancied Mister Who received returns of £27.40 and £68.40, respectively.

The Bigger the Field, the Bigger the Payout

Big field handicaps on a Saturday afternoon present another excellent opportunity to land a decent Swinger payout. Firstly, as high-profile events, the total pools for these races tend to dwarf those of small midweek meetings – meaning more money to spread amongst the winners. Secondly, the large field creates a much greater number of two-horse combinations, which, in theory, makes it more difficult to pick a winner.

However, if you strongly fancy two runners to be involved in the finish – or three, four, or more in the case of a combination Swinger – these races generally present a much greater potential upside than a run-of-the-mill midweek event.