PMU betting: a profitable French tradition

Almost every major French city has one: a hippodrome. Horse racing and betting are therefore ingrained in French culture. However, you cannot just go to a classic bookmaker to bet on French horse races. Everything happens according to the so-called Paris Mutuel. In the hippodrome itself, you bet at the PMH; everywhere else gamblers submit their bets to the PMU or Pari Mutuel Urbain. A regulation that offers considerable advantages in terms of safety and control. Choose Ladbrokes for your PMU bets and you’ll get a top quality gambling experience, regardless of your stake or chosen bet!

PMU betting in short

We’ve all seen them: those typical betting points in the vicinity of the racecourse. They display the estimated winning odds on television screens at the time you place your bet. However, when you win, the actual results and therefore winnings may be greater or lesser. The minimum bet is 2 euros and winnings are distributed up to a unit of 1 euro. Your bet will of course not be returned. Once the dividends are declared, the returns appear at the bottom of the TV screen with the odds also displayed as a permanently rolling info strip. In short, this is old school betting. Are the glitzy online gambling parties and casinos not quite your thing? Would you also like to immerse yourself in the delicious, authentic nostalgia of the unadulterated gambling classic called horse racing when betting? Then you will find exactly that same raw experience at Ladbrokes, including of course the accurate systems you may expect from a modern gambling experience!

What exactly can you bet on? It won’t come as a too big of a surprise that the options, at least at Ladbrokes, are quite extensive! Below we would like to give you an anthology of the countless possibilities you will find on our platforms to maximize the excitement, the fun and your chances of winning every single time.

Win and Place PMU betting

The easiest way to bet is by choosing a horse that you think will win or finish at a certain place. Of course you can do both at the same time. Needless to say: for a Win bet, your horse must finish first. For a Place bet, it must finish in the top three, unless there are between 4 and 7 runners, in which case it must finish first or second. Naturally, the pay-out is less for a winning Place bet than for a correct Win bet. Here too, you can of course opt for both at the same time, this is known as 'mounted', which doubles your bet.

Prediction Betting

PMU Prediction betting is usually about declaring winning horses for the race. There are roughly two types of 'prediction bets' on which you can bet at the PMU: a win prediction (couple gagnant) and a place prediction (couplé placé). A win prediction requires you to select the first and second horse. If there are 8 or more runners, they can finish in any order, but for races with 4 to 7 runners you must select them in the correct order of arrival, which is referred to as 'paired order'. For a place prediction, on races with 8 or more participants, you must predict 2 horses to finish in the top three.

Trio PMU Betting

With Trio bets, as the term suggests, you select the first three winners in advance. This of course requires a solid amount of knowledge about all participating horses and their current level of form. A trio bet then requires you to predict the first 3 horses in the ranking. For races with 8 or more horses, they may finish in any order, for races with 4 to 7 horses you must indicate the correct order (trio order).

The Ecurie System

Another important distinction between French and most other English horse races is the so-called écurie system. In France, horses from the same stable or from the same owner can be linked together for betting purposes. When, for example, the second and fifth in the final result belong to the same owner, one speaks of écurie. You can read this on the race cards of those horses with, for example, E1 in the column where their name is also stated. Horses that are not mutually linked and thus from different owners, will then be listed as E2.

If you then bet on win bets and choose one of such Ecurie horses, you automatically also bet on the other Ecurie horse. For example: You bet 10 euros on horse A, but that horse finishes last. If this horse was then linked via the écurie system with horse B and that horse does win, you still win your bet. It goes without saying that with such écurie bets you are aiming for smaller prize pools than by placing bets where there’s only one correct outcome.

Unique asset of PMU betting: 'the house' does not participate!

With PMU or 'parimutuel' betting you don't have to outsmart the bookmaker, because there is no bookmaker at all! Instead, you just have to try to be smarter than the other gamblers. And as you might expect, they are usually a lot less knowledgeable than the average bookmaker. So if you take the trouble to inform yourself and do in-depth research, you can (albeit always responsibly) bet quite high.

The main thing is that with PMU betting you don't bet against 'the house' or the 'bookie'. As an operator, at Ladbrokes we simply take a fixed share of all bets that we then divide among the winners. Now at Ladbrokes we always keep the focus on fairness and maximum chances for the users, but in this case it is good to know that you only play against other 'private individuals'. For many, this is still a lower threshold… for obvious reasons!

PMU betting at Ladbrokes: your bet will be rewarded

'Rewarding effort'; that is what we aim for every day. We ensure our customers PMU bets that get the most out of every exciting race. Your financial commitment and your research, knowledge and know-how… are rewarded more proportionally than one might expect. As an international organisation, we are thoroughly familiar with the rules and regulations in each country, both your region and that of the activity you are betting on. The specific assets of French PMU betting remain untouched on our platforms. The only differences you will experience are ease of use, safety and fun. After all, betting on horse racing is also a historical, almost cultural affair in France. We want to bring that unique experience to every recreational gambler. Betting on horse racing via the PMU really is something else. At the same time, it all feels wonderfully familiar.