Bet on Melbourne Cup Online » Starter's Guide & 8 Best Betting Sites

Betting on the Melbourne Cup can be very straightforward, or pretty complicated. Much of this depends on what types of bets you place.

Win and Place bets are the most common Melbourne Cup bets but you can also place exotics, same race multis or even unique special bets.

Different bet types allow you to bet on increasingly unlikely outcomes. In this way, certain bet types are popular with punters who a looking for a big return.

For example, the Trifecta payout for the 2020 Melbourne Cup was $1806.00 for a $1 bet.

All Melbourne Cup Bet Types

• Win - You bet on one horse to come 1st
• Place - You bet on one horse to come 1st, 2nd or 3rd
• Each Way - You place two bets on one horse to Win & Place
• Quinella - You bet on two horses to come 1st and 2nd (in any order)
• Exacta - You bet on two horses to come 1st and 2nd (in the correct order)
• Trifecta - You bet on three horses to come 1st, 2nd, and 3rd (in the correct order)
• First 4 - You bet on four horses to come 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th (in the correct order)
• Double - You bet on two horses to Win, in two different nominated races
• Treble - You bet on three horses to Win, in three different nominated races
• Quaddie/Quadrella - You bet on four horses to Win, in four different nominated races
• Same Race Multi - You bet on two or more horses to finish in the top 1, 2, 3 or 4 positions
• Special Bets - May include mystery bets, favourite vs field, or odd vs even bets

*Note that for any given bet you can bet on more horses than the number of horses needed for your bet to win. For example, I could place a Quinella with 3 horses and only 2 of those need to finish first and second for my bet to win.

One of the things that will sometimes confuse new Melbourne Cup bettors is what the different odds offered mean - and why odds for exotics like trifectas are not shown.

If that's you, we hope the information below helps!

All Melbourne Cup Odds Types

• Fixed Odds - Offered for Win and Place bets. The odds you see are the odds you will get.
  
• Starting Price - Offered for Win bets (often in combination with Best Tote odds). Starting Price is the final price for a horse when the betting market closes.
• Best Tote/Top Tote - Offered for Win bets (often in combination with Starting Price odds). Best Tote is the best tote price offered by the 3 major Australian TABs.
• Middle Tote - Offered for Place bets. Mid Tote is the second-best tote price offered by the 3 major Australian TABs.
• Top Fluctuation - Offered for Win bets. Top Fluc is the best price offered by the bookmaker in the 30 minutes before the market closes.
• Exotic Odds - Determined after the race by dividing the total amount of money the whole betting community spent on the exotic type that you chose by the cost of your winning exotic selection.

You will notice that Australia's TABs (Totalisers) impact the price of tote odds. TABs are not like the corporate bookmakers on this page and their odds for each horse is determined by the amount of money that is wagered on each horse by the betting community.

Thus, the most popular horses have the lowest odds.

Corporate bookmakers tend to offer you either the Best Tote odds, the starting price odds, or their own fixed odds for win bets. For place bets, they offer you the Middle Tote price or their own fixed odds price.

Because of this, corporate bookmakers almost always have the best odds for horse racing in Australia.

We wish we could tell you exactly who to bet on for the Melbourne Cup but, if we knew that, we would probably relaxing on a beach somewhere and not working on this page!

However, we can give you some interesting stats and facts that might give you a better idea of who to bet on for Melbourne Cup 2023.

If you're looking for Melbourne Cup betting tips then check out sites like Punters or even bookmakers like PlayUp or Neds.

Melbourne Cup Betting: Which Barrier Numbers Are Best?

Horses running from barrier number 5 have won the most Melbourne Cups (eight cup wins).

Barriers 10, 14 and 19 have seven cup wins each, barrier 11 has six wins and barriers 1, 4, 6, 8 and 17 have five wins each.

Barrier 18 has never had a Melbourne Cup winner.

Melbourne Cup Betting: How Weight is too Much?

Horses carrying 53kgs have been the most successful with nine Melbourne Cup victories.

There have been eight wins with 54.5 kgs and 52.5 kgs respectively and seven wins with horses carrying 56kgs.

Only the great Makybe Diva has won the Melbourne Cup carrying 58kgs or more.

Last year's Melbourne Cup winner Very Elleegant carried 57kgs as did 1977s winner Gold and Black.

Melbourne Cup Betting: What's the Perfect Age?

Four-year-old runners have been the most successful in past Melbourne Cups with 45 wins.

Five-year-olds are nearly as successful with 44 wins, then six-year-olds with 34 wins, three-year-olds with 24 wins and seven-year-olds with 11 wins.

Eight-year-olds have only won the Melbourne Cup 3 times.

Melbourne Cup Betting: Should You Bet on the Favourite?

8 of the last 39 Melbourne Cup winners have been favourites although only 1 favourite (Fiorente) has won since Makybe Diva won back-to-back Melbourne Cups in 2004 and 2005.

The average finishing position for favourites in the last 39 years has been 12th.

So, if there's a four-year-old horse in the 2023 Melbourne Cup drawn on barrier number 5, carrying 53kgs, that's not the favourite then you should be on them - at least that's what history tells us.

Here we discuss what to expect from our experts' 10 best Melbourne Cup betting sites (click a bookie to jump to their overview).

Best Melbourne Cup Betting Sites in Australia

1. Neds - Most complete
2. PlayUp - Best odds
3. Bet365 - Best odds on outsiders
4. Unibet - Easiest to use
5. Palmerbet - Many features
6. BlueBet - Australian-owned
7. Ladbrokes - Same as Neds
8. MidasBet - New in 2022

You'll also get more information about each betting site in our reviews or in our article about where to bet on the Melbourne Cup.

The best ways to bet on Melbourne Cup 2023 depend on what you're trying to achieve, how much you are willing to risk, and how knowledgeable you are about the horses running.

Many people bet on the Melbourne Cup to make the race more interesting and they don't mind wagering a few bucks and then never seeing it again. However, if you want your Melbourne Cup day to be profitable then consider the tips below.

It's also important to do your homework to make sure your bets are profitable.

Consider things like a horse, trainer, and jockey's previous form. Have they done well against tough opponents or in other big races? What track and weather conditions do they favour? Do they start off strong or wait until the end to finish fast and how will they do against the other horses running?

After doing your homework, you'll be ready to consider the best ways to bet on Melbourne Cup 2023 listed below!

Sports and racing betting is legal for all Australian residents who are over 18.

If you are an Aussie, and you're old enough, you can create a free online betting account

If you want to bet on Melbourne Cup 2023 online you will need to provide some basic personal information to prove that you are eligible to bet. This includes your:

• Full Name
• Email Address
• Phone Number
• Postal Address
• Date of Birth
• Country of Residence

Signing up with Melbourne Cup betting sites takes about two minutes and it is 100% safe provided you that use one of the legal betting websites listed on this page.

Only the betting sites with Australian gambling licences are legally allowed to accept Australian players which means that you should stick to betting with the bookies on this website - punters using unlicensed offshore bookies are not protected by the law.

The best Melbourne Cup odds for the 2023 race depend on the exact bet and horse that you choose to back. For a straight win, we've done the hard work for you and have found and listed here the best odds for all horses across different betting sites.

Bookmakers will alter their fixed Win and Place odds depending on how much has been bet on each horse - this means that often the biggest and most popular Melbourne Cup betting sites have the best odds - however this is not always true.

In the same way, Starting Price and Top Fluc odds can vary between bookmakers - depending on how popular the horse is at each. Because Tote odds are based on the three major Australian TABs, all Tote and exotic odds offered for the Melbourne Cup will be the same no matter which betting site you go with.

As a general rule, the best Melbourne Cup betting odds can be found at the bookmakers listed below.

After you know which horse or horses you want to back, it can also be a good idea to shop around a little and compare the Melbourne Cup odds offered by a few different Melbourne Cup betting sites.

Why should you bet on the Melbourne Cup?

Only you can answer this question but because you are on this page, you're probably thinking that placing a bet on the Melbourne Cup is a good idea because:

• It makes the race more exciting - It's more enjoyable to watch the Melbourne Cup when you are backing a horse!
• You want to compete against friends/family - What's better than bragging to your mates about your successful Melbourne Cup day?
• Everyone else is doing it - Sure, FOMO is real and placing a small wager on the race won't break the bank.
• You know something that the rest of us don't - Good for you! Feel free to get in touch and share your inside information with us.

You should not bet on the Melbourne Cup if you are expecting to win, chasing your losses or because you feel pressured to. Like all betting, Melbourne Cup betting should be fun and it should be done on your own terms, with money that you can afford to lose.