Royal Ascot Betting Offers & Free Bets for 2023

First and foremost, those without much experience with the racing calendar may wonder how Royal Ascot works. Even if you’ve heard of the event, you may not know that this is the last of the big three on the calendar. Held in June, the very first meeting took place over four days in 1768. Eventually, it evolved, and the famous Gold Cup was introduced way back in 1807.

Intro to Royal Ascot

When it comes to horse racing, even those who don’t follow the sport closely can name the following three major events:

• The Grand National
• Cheltenham
• Royal Ascot

Despite the pandemic affecting the racing calendar in recent years, Royal Ascot has gone ahead and offered lots of exciting action. In this complete and comprehensive guide, you’re going to learn everything you need to know about the event itself, special promotions to enjoy during Royal Ascot, odds, and more. In fact, we’ll even provide you with some betting tips so that you can enjoy Royal Ascot rather than becoming an event where you just lose money each year!

What’s Royal Ascot?

Over the years, Royal Ascot may have transformed into a glamorous, high fashion race event. However, exciting horse racing is still at the core of the five-day occasion. In 2023, Royal Ascot will take place between the 20th and 24th of June. As is traditional, the Gold Cup race will take place on the third day (Thursday 16th) with £500,000 up for grabs for the winner.Aside from the Gold Cup, even smaller races have prize funds of £100,000-£200,000. With this in mind, it’s no surprise that this is one of the most attractive dates on the racing calendar.

Recent Winners of the Gold Cup

Last year, Subjectivist ridden by Joe Fanning won the Gold Cup and put a different name on the trophy other than Stradivarius for the first time since 2017. That’s right, Frankie Dettori and Stradivarius won the Gold Cup in three consecutive years. But who else has won this prestigious competition over the years? Below, you’ll see information for the last 10 winners:

 

Year	Horse	Jockey	Time
2021	Subjectivist	Joe Fanning	4:20
2020	Stradivarius	Frankie Dettori	4:32
2019	Stradivarius	Frankie Dettori	4:30
2018	Stradivarius	Frankie Dettori	4:21
2017	Big Orange	James Doyle	4:22
2016	Order of St George	Ryan Moore	4:26
2015	Trip to Paris	Graham Lee	4:22
2014	Leading Light	Joseph Patrick O’Brien	4:21
2013	Estimate	Ryan Moore	4:20
2012	Colour Vision	Frankie Dettori	4:42

As you can see, the winning time tends to vary from one year to the next. The 4:42 time from Colour Vision is actually the slowest time in the 21st Century and the sixth-slowest time in the history of the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot. In terms of records, Lester Piggot is the most successful jockey with 11 wins while the most successful horse is Yeats with four consecutive wins between 2006 and 2009.

Latest 2023 Royal Ascot Betting Odds

While the past is interesting to learn, the moment has gone. Consequently, let’s talk about this year’s big occasion. What are the latest odds for the 2022 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot? Stradivarius will return to fight to win back the crown, but it’s currently averaging fourth in the list of favourites. In this section, you’ll see some of the favourites and where you can find the strongest odds for these horses.

Horse	Bookie 1	Bookie 2	Bookie 3
Trueshan	3/1 (William Hill)	3/1 (SkyBet)	3/1 (Ladbrokes)
Manobo	4/1 (Coral)	4/1 (Betway)	4/1 (William Hill)
Hurricane Lane	7/1 (Unibet)
Stradivarius	8/1 (SkyBet)	8/1 (William Hill)
Mojo Star	10/1 (Coral)	10/1 (Ladbrokes)	10/1 (Betway)
Scope	10/1 (William Hill)	10/1 (Mansion Bet)	10/1 (Ladbrokes)

If you want to get the best odds on these favourites, stick with the names in the table above. While you might not think that odds vary too much, it’s noticeable once you really dig into the numbers (something that we have done extensively!). For example, Stradivarius is 8/1 with a handful of bookies but only 5/1 elsewhere (VBet and Coral). This is the difference between winning £40 and £25 on a £5 bet.

For those who like to back an outlier, the longest odds we found while scanning the market were 66/1 for Morando (with Unibet). Meanwhile, you’ll find odds as high as 50/1 for both Stag Horn and King of the Castle (with Unibet and William Hill).

Most Popular Bets

As we get closer to the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, more people will place their bets and the odds will fluctuate. For the moment, here are the five most popular bets in this market:

• Manobo – 4/1
• Stradivarius – 8/1
• Trueshan – 3/1
• King of the Castle – 50/1
• Wordsworth – 20/1

Although Trueshan is the favourite, bettors are currently preferring bets on Manobo at 4/1 and then the three-time winner Stradivarius; it’s fair to say that many punters want Stradivarius to win the cup for the fourth time. After this, it wasn’t a mistake for us to talk about the outliers. As you can see, people love to back a horse with huge odds, and this is the case with King of the Castle.

Finally, Wordsworth has also received lots of attention in the middle of the pack. In all likelihood, this is because of the high odds currently offered by William Hill for the mid-runner. While BetVictor has priced Wordsworth at 10/1, William Hill has the same horse at 20/1.

Most Popular Royal Ascot Betting Markets

For those who are new to betting, what sort of markets should you be looking at with an account loaded up and ready to go? Before reviewing the individual markets, we should first explain the difference between ante-post betting and pre-race betting.

Ante-Post Betting – Essentially, this is for people who are reading this article some weeks before Royal Ascot. Since you’re early, you can create a long-term betting strategy. Even before the field is finalised, some bookies open their markets to people who want to bet Each Way or on a Race Winner.

The advantage of ante-post betting is unpredictability, the disadvantage of ante-post betting is also unpredictability. The fact that you’re betting early means that you could secure fantastic value in the market. Sadly, it could also mean that you place money on a horse that seems to be going well in March but is in terrible form when June comes around. Equally, your horse or jockey might suffer an injury. Since you bet so early, you’re unlikely to be covered by No Runner No Bet offers.

Pre-Race Betting – Alternatively, pre-race betting is designed for those who are patient and wait for the week of the event. As the day before Royal Ascot comes around, you’ll have a strong idea of which horses are running and which are in-form (and out of form!). Even if a horse is injured before the race, you benefit from a No Runner No Bet offer and get your stake back.

Despite the advantages, those who seek a thrill think that this is too late because everybody else has the same information. When runners are in form, this is reflected in the odds. A horse that is 30/1 in March might come down to 10/1 or even lower in June.

With this covered, we can now look at four of the most common pre-race betting markets. The further you are from the event, the more likely you are to just have access to Race Winner and Each Way markets. As you get closer, more options become available.

Race Winner – Though betting markets have become more intricate and refined over the years, the most common betting market for horse racing is still the Race Winner. As the name suggests, you choose a horse to win the race. If the horse wins, you win the bet.

Each Way – With horse races boasting so many runners, especially with the Gold Cup in the Royal Ascot, another popular option is Each Way betting. While you still choose one horse, the bet breaks into two – Race Winner and placing. Even if your horse doesn’t win, you could still get a small profit for ‘placing’ (finishing near the top).

We have a couple of side notes for Each Way betting – the number of places granted on an Each Way bet depends on the bookie (this can range from four to six). Secondly, you’ll need to place a stake on both sides of the bet. If you place £10, for example, half will go to the Race Winner part of the bet while the other half goes to the placing part.

Straight and Exotic Multiples – The next two options are slightly different because they have similarities to what you might expect from a football or darts accumulator. As you choose horses from each race, you need each one to win for the bet to succeed. Since we’re talking about a racing festival, you can select horses from one day or spread your bet across the full five days.

On the other hand, exotic multiples include Forecasts, Tricasts, and other combinations of multiples; you might even prefer Trixies or Yankees. We recommend playing around with different multiple bets and seeing what you enjoy.

Live Streaming Horse Racing

In 2021, ITV held the TV rights for the full five days at Royal Ascot. Therefore, the channel is likely to show all the races again this year. As you may know, however, betting sites also sometimes offer live streaming for horse racing. Even though live betting is rare with horse racing, live streaming is a different matter.

If you plan to bet on Royal Ascot, it might be wise to choose a betting platform that offers live streaming. This way, you can stay on top of the races and your betting experience in general. But what platforms offer live streaming? And what are the requirements to enjoy the feature?

 

Platform	Requirement
William Hill	Open an account
Betway	Open an account and have positive funds
Bet365	Have positive funds (or bet on the specific event within the 24 hours before it starts)
Paddy Power	Place a bet on the specific event within the 24 hours before it starts
Coral	Open an account
BetVictor	Bet £1 on a selected race
888sport	Bet £1 on a selected race
Ladbrokes	Open an account
Unibet	Place a bet on the specific event within the 24 hours before it starts
Grosvenor Sports	Have positive funds (or bet on the specific event within the 24 hours before it starts)
Betfred	Bet £1 on a selected race
BoyleSports	Bet £1 on a selected race
MansionBet	Open an account
Betfair	Bet £1 on a selected race

Which is the best betting platform for live streaming? Ask this question to many experts and punters and they will provide the same answer: Bet365. While it is certainly one of the most advanced options for live streaming, please keep in mind that the requirements for horse racing can sometimes change. As an example, you may need to bet 50p on an event to watch it.

Best Betting Offers for Royal Ascot

We’ve seen the most popular bet types, live streaming, and odds for the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, so it’s now time to turn our attention to betting offers. When a huge event like Royal Ascot comes around, betting platforms adjust their promotions to attract new customers and reward existing ones. You’ll find two types of promotions on a betting platform:

Welcome Offers

As the name suggests, this is available for all new customers to a betting platform. So long as you don’t already have an account with a bookie, you can create an account, follow the terms, and enjoy the welcome offer. Typically, the most common form of welcome offer comes in the shape of ‘get X after betting X’. For example, you might get £30 in free bets after first betting £10.

Offers for Existing Customers

On the other hand, all other promotions are designed to be utilised by existing customers. While some bookies offer refunds when certain conditions are met, others provide enhanced odds and all sorts of other special offers. Often, established betting sites will run promotions for major sporting events, and this is what you should monitor leading up to Royal Ascot. The closer we get to the magical week, the more likely you are to encounter promotions.

What type of promotions are we talking about? We’ve broken down a list of popular Royal Ascot offers to keep an eye on.

Odds Boosts

When it comes to the racing calendar, odds boosts are very common, and they could prove useful for Royal Ascot. Depending on the bookie, you could get several tokens to boost odds on given selections for each day of the event. Use a token to improve the odds of your selection and boost your winnings (if the selection comes in, of course!). One example you’ll see comes in the shape of Ladbrokes below:

Best Odds Guaranteed

Another common betting offer in horse racing is best odds guaranteed, and you can expect to see this available for most (if not all) races at Ascot. To benefit from this offer, you don’t need to do anything special. Instead, just check that the bookie is offering best odds guaranteed and place your Race Winner bet. After placing the bet, the betting site will monitor the odds you secured and the odds of your selection as it fluctuates. If the odds improve for your selection, you’ll get these odds for your bet rather than the one you chose when placing the bet.

SkyBet outlines its conditions below:

Free Bet If 2nd

Like best odds guaranteed, this promotion automatically applies to bets, so you don’t normally need to do anything to activate it. After placing a Race Winner or Each Way bet, you’ll get a free bet if your selection finishes second. As normal, you don’t get anything if it finishes third or below.

Insurance

While some promotions are designed to help people win more money, this one falls into the camp of ‘lose as little as possible’. One example of insurance with Royal Ascot is Fail to Finish where refunds are given when horses don’t finish the race. Elsewhere, you might see something called Beaten by a Head where you get refunded if your horse only misses out on victory by a small amount.

Price Promise

While best odds guaranteed secures the best price over time within a single bookie, price promise ensures that you get the best odds across all competitors in a single moment. Like a sofa shop promising to beat all other stores in terms of price, bookies do the same to attract lots of customers. Below are the biggest terms of the Price Promise promotion from Bet365:

Each Way Offers

Finally, Each Way is a large part of Royal Ascot betting, so we should also tell you about tailored Each Way promotions. One of the best examples is Each Way+ from 888sport. With this system, you can choose between the following options:

• Boosting the odds of the Each Way part of your bet
• Adding an extra place to the bet

If you’re confident your horse will place, you can boost the odds. If you think there’s a risk that they might not make the top group, add a place to increase security.

Betting Tips for Royal Ascot

With this, you’ve taken lots of information in today about Royal Ascot and how you can enjoy the event from a betting perspective. All that’s left to do is provide some betting tips to transform your experience from a losing one to a profitable one (all the while having fun!).

Always Plan

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail – it’s an old saying yet one that applies to the world of betting. Fortunately, you know that Royal Ascot will run between June 14th and June 18th, so you have time to prepare your strategy. Before the event even starts, think about how much you’re happy to lose (don’t ever go beyond this amount). Then, decide on the races that take your interest and start monitoring the form of horses.

For those who are early, you can even think about ante-post betting. Remember, you won’t benefit from No Runner No Bet promotions when betting early so always weigh up your options carefully.

Research, Research, Research

The very fact that you’re reading this extensive guide is a testament to your willingness to research – this should serve you well as you head into Royal Ascot. As you get closer to the event, make use of the many betting guides and form guides available to inform your selections. The more information you have, the more likely you are to choose the right horses (rather than simply guessing!).

Experiment

The betting world has developed over the years, so there’s no need to just stick with simple Race Winner markets. Instead, we recommend playing around with Each Way and various other markets. Even beyond this, look at high risk and reward selections; you might want to create multiples to add another element to your betting strategy.

Tailor Your Experience

Finally, don’t be afraid to go against the crowd and tailor the experience to your needs. If you don’t care about live streaming, you don’t need to go down this route. Pay attention to your needs and choose a bookie that offers the promotion that YOU want – use this page as a guide for this. Too often, we see people using bookies that are recommended just because they are recommended rather than selecting the one that will offer the experience they desire.

Of course, you should also have fun and always remain in control of your betting experience!

Some great Racing bookies;