Royal Ascot Betting Sites Guide 2024

Royal Ascot is one of the most famous, glamorous and most prestigious events in the world of horse racing. Long synonymous with the British royal family and high society, the five-day festival also provides a dazzling number of top class horse racing events, ensuring that Royal Ascot betting is one of the biggest weeks in the sports betting calendar. And because of its prestige, you can be sure that the sports betting sites in the UK, Ireland and beyond will be lining up with top-class Royal Ascot betting offers, promotions, bonuses, statistics and more. And at betyou.ie we’ve got you covered with your full Royal Ascot Betting guide for all you need to know about betting at Royal Ascot online or otherwise.

With Royal Ascot taking place in June in the incredible surroundings of the UK’s famous Ascot racecourse, this is an event that attracts serious attention among fans of horse racing and the greater betting public at large. Beginning on a Tuesday and running right through to the Saturday, it features no fewer than 31 individual races. The biggest and best known of those is the prestigious Gold Cup traditionally run on the Thursday. With royalty in attendance, glitz and glamour in abundance, and racing of the highest standard, this is one of the events of the year in the world of horse racing. Royal Ascot racing really is something to behold.

Royal Ascot betting is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the season for sports betting and horse racing fans in general. The glamour may be unrivalled, but the racing on the track is also top class and attracts some of the best horses, jockeys and trainers in the sport. For that reason it rivals the Cheltenham Festival, the Grand National, the Irish Grand National, the Irish Derby, or indeed any of the other huge meetings featured in the Irish and British horse racing calendar. The Ascot week features an incredible 31 races over just 5 days, and many of those race are prestigious Group 1 events to boot. The result is that there are tonnes of opportunities to bet, and you can be sure that the best British and Irish sports betting sites get on board with Royal Ascot free bets and promotions, and much more besides. Now we take you through some of the most popular Royal Ascot bet types to give you an informed view as to how approach your Royal Ascot betting. Don’t bet Royal Ascot without seeing what we’ve got to say first! 

How to bet on the Royal Ascot

Royal Ascot offers up all the most popular horse racing bet types, and here are the best: 

To win

It couldn’t be simpler. Simply bet on the horse that you think will win the race. Use whatever metrics you consider important to select your winner (such as the odds for Royal Ascot and the form) and then simply back that horse and see what your potential winnings would be if your horse crossed the line first. 

Each way

Far and away one of the most popular and well-known bets in horse racing, an each-way bet is actually two bets in one. For example, you run down the list of horses and are not sure if you fancy the horse to win, or simply ‘to place’, which usually means finishing in the top three positions in the race. An each-way bet means that you cover both possibilities, with the amount you win affected by the position that the horse finishes in. For example, you win the most if your horse wins – that’s the ‘to win’ part of the bet covered. However, if your horse comes second, you also win, but a lesser amount, because you have also backed your horse ‘to place’. And the same with third position. Please note that for bigger races, sports betting sites often offer up extra places on ‘to place’ bets, meaning that fourth or even fifth could be enough to claim some winnings.

An each way bet is a safer way to bet because you are actually spreading the risk on two outcomes, but because of this, you have to pay twice the stake. For example, if you set your stake at €5, for example, then the bet will actually cost you €10 because you are betting on two different outcomes. The higher the stake, the more you win, of course. 

Forecast / Tricast

Bet on who you think will come first and second specifically, or in a tricast, extend that to third position as well. Of course, this isn’t easy at all, and the wins can be substantial should your forecast or tricast come in, but that’s why people love them. This is an exciting bet to make, but once again it’s important to note that the odds are greatly increased. 

To place (or not)

We covered this type of bet in the ‘each way’ section because this is one of the two outcomes you are betting on in that type of bet. Once again, a ‘to place’ bet is a scenario in which you bet on whether you think a horse will finish in the top two, three (or four or five) or not. The number of ‘place positions’ will vary depending on the number of runners in a race and any additional promotions being run by the sports betting site. That’s why it really pays to look around and use a site such as betyou.ie that will point you in the direction of where value is to be had with your Royal Ascot betting – don’t miss out on a place return because you went with the wrong bookmaker. 

Accumulator bets

Because Royal Ascot is a festival, we are talking more than just one race to bet on. In fact, over the course of the five days of the event, you can bet on a staggering 31 different races, should they take your fancy. And something you can do in the event of wanting to bet on more than once race is that you can put your bets together in an accumulator bet, meaning multiple bets but from just the one stake. The benefit here, of course, is that you can raise the odds for Royal Ascot dramatically, earning a win of epic proportions from a reasonable stake. Bet on the winners of two different races, or more! Of course, the odds rise significantly as the chances of it happening become less and less, but it does happen, and it’s a reason why skilled bettors really like to increase the size of the return with this kind of bet. 

Right then, we’ve warmed you up with a great introduction to Royal Ascot betting and we’ve gone through some of the biggest and best bet types that are available on this five day festival. Later we will run through some of the top Royal Ascot betting sites and their mobile apps. But for now we want to focus on strategies for betting on this brilliant festival of racing. What are some of the approaches to betting on Royal Ascot that can lead to enjoyment and potential value in your betting. 

Before we start, me must empathise very strongly that there are no guarantees in terms of sports betting. No one wins all the time and there are no sure things. But having said that, these are some of the approaches that we have found to be valuable. 

Go each way on races with larger fields

Anyone will tell you that selecting a winner from a big event can be tough going. Indeed, if one horse is strongly fancied to win, and there are no guarantees of course, then the result will be that the sports betting sites will be offering up the kinds of odds on that outcome that really offer very little value. You can go big on the stake, but that increases the risk of course. This is a balance that you have to strike. Some of the races at Ascot can have 20+ runners, which is a mighty big field in racing. The more horses, the higher the risk of course, so the best way to compensate for that risk, or to spread it, is to go for an each way bet. 

An each way bet is in fact two bets in one: you are betting on the horse to win or place. To place would usually mean finishing in the top three, but for events with larger fields, sports betting sites will offer up extra numbers on placing, meaning that fourth or even fifth may be enough. That’s another tip right there – shop around to find those extra places. But what the each way bet is doing is giving you the opportunity to win in a number of different ways, ie, your horse winning, coming second, third or even fourth or fifth. The amount you win decreases, of course, but if you bet ‘to win’ and your horse comes second, no dice! 

Bet on forecasts or tricasts on races with smaller fields or clear favourites.

We’ve looked at what you could do with races with larger fields, but what about if you’re betting on one of those events at Royal Ascot that has a small pool of runners? Sometimes there may be only six runners, so selecting a horse to win or even each way may be considered not enough of a draw. 

Well, what you can do now is go for a forecast or a tricast, meaning that you bet on the horse that you think will win, as well as the horse that will come second (a forecast) and even third (a tricast). Not an easy thing to do, maybe, but then the returns can be significantly higher when going for this kind of bet. Stake accordingly considering this risk (which of course is in itself a strategy), but it’s really all about assessing the best bet to take on considering the circumstances. In horse racing there is no one bet that suits everyone. 

Use best odds guaranteed

Make sure when you’re betting that you’re getting best odds guaranteed, meaning that the site you are using can guarantee the most lucrative odds on the outcome you want to back. This is a popular promotion and one to keep an eye on. You can shop around or use an odds comparison site, of course, but best odds guaranteed is a simpler way of knowing that you’ve got the best numbers. 

Make an accumulator over a number of races

Did you know that the Royal Ascot festival features 31 races in total over the complete five days of the event? For the mathematicians out there, that’s six or even seven races a day. So what you could do, to increase the odds on a return, is bet on more than one race. In fact,, if you wanted, you could bet on every single race in the festival and create an accumulator bet, maximising the odds. Now, we wouldn’t recommend that, because no one is ever going to predict 31 winners, but you could definitely combine two or even three winners. This makes sense in particular if you can’t see past the favourites, especially on races with a small field. You could place a bet on a favourite in one race and win, and then do the same thing in a second race and win again. Or, you could put both bets together and make a single bet on both horses to win their respective races. Once again, you’re increasing the risk (you don’t get anything for one win and one loss) but you are also increasing the value of your potential return. 

Always check the form, conditions and weather

There are so many variables in horse racing. Some people study for years and still get no closer to understanding what really makes a winner (or not) but there is no doubt that a little bit of cursory research can help. But there are so many numbers and figures related to horse racing that the whole thing can be a little overwhelming. That’s why we would always recommend a certain number of important variables, which for us means the form of the respective horse, as well as the conditions that the race will be run in. Of course the Royal Ascot sports betting sites will factor these in massively and their odds will reflect that, but you need to be informed what you are betting on too. And sometimes you might spot something that you really really like. 

Always consider the jockey and trainer

There’s more than just a horse in racing, of course. The rider is vitally important, and many people like to base their bet on who the rider is rather than the horse, which is one way of doing it. Then there’s the trainer too, of course, who is always integral to the whole affair. The fact is, a victory in a horse race is very much a team affair. When checking out the details, take all of these things into consideration and the bigger picture will become clear.

We also recommend checking out the trainer and jockey success rates at the event historically and use this information to inform your betting accordingly. 

Shop around

Of course there are sports betting sites that we love more than others. And we cover in this guide the sports betting sites that we really recommend for your Royal Ascot betting. But the fact is, we actually recommended being signed up with more than one site, because we cannot say that there is one Royal Ascot site that is better than all of the others for everything. And while you might get a great bet with one, you’ll also get a great bet with another. And when there are 31 races to bet on at the Royal Ascot festival, you might want to spread those free bets and promotions around. For that reason, shopping around for the best promotions and bonuses is a mighty fine option.

Royal Ascot 2025 betting tips and predictions

Royal Ascot 2025 will no doubt be an incredible week of top class flat racing, just as it always is. Here we run through the key races of each of the five days of this prestigious festival, looking at the most fancied runners and riders who will be sure to be among the contenders in these races. So, without further delay, we run though some of the best betting tips and predictions for Royal Ascot 2025:

Key races

Day One

With a prize pool of a cool £750,000 the Queen Anne stakes is one of the most lucrative of the week. A prestigious grade one race, it’s run over 1m. The Queen Anne may be the most lucrative of the day, but there are two more grade ones to look forward to on the opening Tuesday with the King Charles III stakes and the St James’s Palace Stakes. Both with reported purses up nearly £700,000, it’s clear from the opening salvo of the festival just how much money and prestige is on offer at the event.

Tips:

To follow

Day Two

The racing continues to be of an incredible standard on the second day of the festival, the Wednesday. The Prince of Wales’s Stakes is the highlight of the day, and while it perhaps does not have the pulling power of some of the opening day highlights, it tops them in purse with a prize fund of a staggering £1,000,000. Six more events on the day make day two the busiest of the week.

Tips:

To follow

Day Three

Day three is massive for two reasons. The first is that it is Ladies Day, and as a result brings an unrivalled sense of glitz and glamour as the fashion off the track is unbeatable. But on the course the day also features the highlight event of the whole week: the Gold Cup. Considered the country’s most prestigious race for stayers – that is horses who excel over longer distances – the Gold Cup is run over 2m and 4f, offering up a cool £650,000 in prize money and offering the winner a place in sporting legend. There are plenty of other top class races on this Thursday of the festival.

Tip:

To follow

Day Four

A day for racing purists because it arguably offers up the highest number of highly competitive races. The highlight of the day is probably the Coronation Stakes, but another Group one event, the Commonwealth Cup, is also a massive draw and attracts a high calibre field. The Gold Cup may be the day before, but the quality of racing does not dip at Royal Ascot.

Tips:

To follow

Day Five

Saturday is the final day of the five-day Royal Ascot Festival and things finish with a bang rather than a whimper. The Queen Alexndra Stakes is the longest flat race in Britain, while the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stake also has a prize pool in excess of a million pounds, making it among the most lucrative of the week and a massive last-day highlight. Seven races in all, and a huge way to end the festival.

Trainers

In terms of the top trainer of recent years at Royal Ascot, it’s impossible to look past Ireland’s Aidan O’Brien. A glance back at the 2024 festival reveals the legendary trainer was top dog once more, bringing home an incredible six winners, as well as four second-places and a third, meaning his horses placed in more than a third of the events on the track over the course of the five-day festival. A host of other top trainers had two victories including John and Thady Gosden, Karl Burke and Ralph Beckett. As you can see, it really pays to know who has been guiding the horse up to the big event.

Jockeys

Just as a trainer is key, so is the rider. Of course when it comes to Royal Ascot, there are a couple of jockeys whose names dominate them all, and that’s Frankie Dettori and Lester Piggott. But Ryan Moore actually surpassed Dettori in 2024 to become the current active rider with the most wins at Ascot, although he still trails Piggot’s overall record of a staggering 116 wins at the famous festival. Moore’s mounts will no doubt be attracting plenty of attention by the time Ascot 2025 comes around, along with compatriot Oisin Murphy.

At betyou.ie  we pride ourselves on giving our followers the best easy guides to their sports betting needs, so here we cover the very best bookmakers available to Royal Ascot fans and punters in the Republic of Ireland. Quite simply, what are the best Royal Ascot betting sites? And here we don’t just look at Irish sites, but all of the sites available to sports betting fans on the Emerald isle Here we give you the lowdown on the very best: 

Bet365

A leading British bookmaker with huge horse racing coverage

Pros

• A huge breadth of horse racing betting options
• Dedicated offers for big horse racing events and festivals
• Superbly responsive apps for iOS and Android
• Live streaming of horse racing events

Cons

• Not usually among the best odds providers

Features: Brilliant live betting options, tons of bonuses and promotions, bet builders and boosts, statistics, Royal Ascot results and form guides, live streaming and more  

BoyleSports

A leading Irish bookmaker and big deliverer of horse racing betting options and offer

Pros

• Dedicated horse racing offers including Royal Ascot free bets
• Fantastic dedicated apps for iOS and Android
• Superb breadth of offering on horse racing and other sports

Weaknesses

• Some restrictions on horse racing bonuses

Features: Superb betting apps, huge live betting options, live streaming on horse racing, cash out and bet builder option, statistics and form guides, betting blog and more 

Tonybet

Sports betting site offering betting options on multiple sports and markets

Pros

• Innovative promotions
• Strong on Esports and virtuals

Weaknesses

• No horse racing betting
• Limited features
• UX could be improved

Features:  Betting competitions, Cash out option, loads of Esports and virtuals 

22bet

A European sports betting site building a big reputation for sports betting coverage

Pros

• Staggering numbers of sports and markets
• Strong on Esports and virtuals
• Extremely competitive odds
• Top-class apps for Android and iOS

Weaknesses

• A site that is clunky to navigate

Features:  Promotions and bonuses galore, betting comeptitions, stats and Royal Ascot results, dedicated apps and more 

Ivebet

According to the site itself, this is a dynamic and innovative online casino and sportsbook that offers players the ultimate gaming experience.

Pros

• Well-designed site with plentiful bonuses
• New horse racing section brings a fresh approach to betting

Weaknesses

• Lacks the depth of coverage of better established sites

Features:  Betting competitions, live betting and more 

Like the rest of the world, sports betting has gone mobile in recent years. Of course you can still jump on the best sites from your desktop, but it’s important to know that a mobile betting experience can often be the very best way to experience betting on the sport of kings, as horse racing is affectionately known. 

And just like everything else, there are apps. Apps galore. So choosing an app can be a tough gig, always having to shop around and understand what you should be looking for. 

Well, we’ve got you covered yet again as we run through some of the most important considerations that should be at the forefront of your mind when selecting the Royal Ascot betting app that’s going to work for you. And it makes total sense that betting has gone mobile. After all, It makes sense considering now more people access internet sites on their mobile devices than they do from their desktop computers these days. As a result, much like in many other industries, it has become paramount for sports betting sites to develop top class apps that bring all of the features of their regular sites, and sometimes even more, to their mobile experience. And the great news for sports betting fans is that this has indeed become the reality as betting apps have revolutionised the activity. Here we run through some of the features and benefits of dedicated mobile apps that we consider to be vital: 

Features

What can you do with the mobile betting site? This should be among your premier considerations. Of course, for some punters they may simply want to place a bet and that’s it, but that should be the very minimum you demand from your mobile betting experience. We strongly believe that all betting fans should get the features of desktop sites on the mobile apps, and perhaps even more besides. So, for us that means featured from live-betting options and betting form to live streaming, all right there in the palm of your hand. We know that bettors are placing bets on the go these days, and with that in mind, and good sports betting app needs to be able to deliver this successfully. We know that the very best sports betting sites for Royal Ascot, such as PaddyPower and bet365, have developed apps and mobile betting platforms that are perfect for doing all you need on the go, from going through the form and performance of the horses that you are looking at, to getting features and offers that enhance value, to betting quickly on the go, and even watching the event live. Yep, all right there on a dedicated betting app. 

User Experience

But features alone are not enough. Indeed, and app can promise you all the features in the world, but what is even more important is that you can interact with the options without hassle. In short, we demand top-class UX, or user experience. This is a vital consideration for us, because a site or app that is clunky to navigate is just not worth the time. What if you get a scent of a great bet to make as the action is unfolding live but you can’t get round to placing the bet in time because the site is just too confusing or non-responsive to allow it. Just not an option for us. So what we demand is an app or hybrid site that is easy to interact with, meaning you scroll the numbers and lines, navigate from page to page, and vitally place a bet quickly. Indeed, with live betting options now an integral part of the Royal Ascot betting experience and betting experience as whole, bets need to be placed quicker than ever before the moment has gone. Once more, a top sports betting app or mobile betting experience needs to support this. Don’t miss out on an opportunity. 

Well, we hope you have enjoyed our comprehensive betyou.ie guide to betting on Royal Ascot. It’s an event that we love. However, more than anything, we truly hope that this has been a comprehensive guide to all you need to know about betting on Royal Ascot. And we’re not going anywhere, so use us a reference guide any time you want to brush up on your knowledge about Royal Ascot betting. 

There is little doubt that Royal Ascot remains one of the most prestigious and exciting events in the entire racing calendar, and this flat-racing festival attracts some of the world’s top horses, jockeys and trainers. With 31 races across the five days, there are so many betting options, and you can follow some of the world’s top riders and runners. You don’t need to be attending to get the buzz. 

So make sure that if you haven’t already you check out all of our Royal Ascot betting reviews on betyou.ie to find out the best Royal Ascot betting sites for your needs, and make sure you get on board with one of the many brilliant bonuses and promotions that are offered up on Royal Ascot. We also recommend downloading one or more of the best Royal Ascot betting apps. Why? Well, if you haven’t already read our section on Royal Ascot betting apps, you may not know that wit these you can live stream the races, get fully informative guides and result, and importantly, place bets on the go in a seamless and timely fashion. Live betting is really been a revolution in the sports betting industry in recent years, and betting on these events can be made even more exhilarating when you get on the live options that the best Royal Ascot betting sites offer. This has definitely been one of the most exciting innovations in sports betting in recent years. 

In summary, Royal Ascot is a magnificent five-day festival of horse racing, one that is beloved of British and Irish punters. So make sure that you follow the action with the live streams, jump on best odds guaranteed (including best odds for Royal Ascot) where offered (we’ve got the guide here of course) and then avail of one of the many Royal Ascot free bets. Again that’s something we cover here at betyou.ie with our comprehensive Royal Ascot betting guide. We know that you want to find out where and how you can get the most out of your Royal Ascot betting, and the answer is really very simple, it’s here with betyou.ie.