Racing: Tote ends loophole

THE TOTE is closing a place betting loophole that has cost it thousands of pounds in the last two months.

Some punters have used the Tote's minimum dividend of pounds 1 by investing large sums on odds-on favourites to be placed in small fields and taking advantage of inflated dividends on other runners, leading to Tote losses after commission and other payments.

"Where we would expect pools of pounds 3,000 to pounds 4,000, we have been getting pounds 25,000 to pounds 30,000," Rob Harnett, the Tote PR director, said .

These bets meant that the "real" dividends could have been as low as 50p. Now, if that figure falls below 70p, money will be taken from the net pool on the remaining placed horses.