Tote Review

The brand “Tote” commands a strong appeal in the English pool betting space and in the horse racing industry at large. Many contemporary punters don’t know that the Tote brand was originally founded in 1928 by Sir Winston Churchill, an avid horse racing enthusiast.

The brand was transferred to Betfred in 2011, with the latter parting with a hefty £265m to secure Tote’s monopolistic dominance over the English pool market at the time (which the government announced consequently announced they would cut short).

By 2018, Betfred sold the Tote brand to the UK Tote Group. The UK Tote Group was – previously known as Alizeti – was formidably backed by a consortium called Together For The Tote.

This spanned notable sports investment partners, horse breeders, and race organizers handpicked globally. Today, the brand has been digitally repackaged, with a tote online presence as Tote.co.uk. The parent company is TDCO Limited, an independent company under the existing management of Mr. Alexander Stanley Fortescue Frost and Mr. Simon Patrick Henry Larkin.

The website Tote.co.uk was launched in 2020, integrating the previous ToteSport.com the Tote brand operated. Across this time, the Tote brand has expanded its offering from the traditional horse racing industry it was associated with, branching into football betting.

Two core features characterize a reliable bookmaker. These are regulation by a reputable gambling watchdog and physical presence.

Fortunately, Tote meets these two criteria.

The UK Tote Group has secured operational licenses from the Gambling Commission in Great Britain. The regulatory account number is 54779.

TDCO Limited, the company behind Tote today, has a UK registration with operational centers in Wales and England.

Predominantly, TDCO operates from its London facility situated on the 6th floor, 6 Kean Street, London, WC2B 4AS.

These make Tote bets reliable. But there is even more.

Tote is a keen evangelist of responsible gambling. More than the convention of prohibiting underage gambling, Tote provides facilities to restrict compulsive gambling.

The website has a devoted support center for those struggling with gambling addiction. Furthermore, the site provides time-out features where customers can suspend their betting account for a stipulated period. This ranges from 6 weeks to just 24 hours.

With all these said, we researched avidly about the digital formidability of the Tote website. Specifically, we were interested in identifying the encryption technology and cybersecurity protocols Tote used.

Tote says it leverages certified encrypted web pages with secure firewalled data centers to maintain the integrity of customer data.

The Tote website has a crisp design. The desktop version is prominently dressed in red, with the football and racing categories displayed at the top.

On the extreme right side are sections like Virtuals, Ten To Follow, and Games. Just under that are the Join and Login buttons enhanced with a white background.

At the far left is a hamburger menu. Clicking on this expands to show sections like Popular Pages. This is further categorized into Races, Promotions, Games, and Results.

The heart of the website displays Tote’s welcome sports bet offer, followed below by compartments like Guide, Ten To Follow, and Tote Guarantee.  Your betting slip is on the right of the screen.

Overall, the website is clean and scrolls easily. The speed is not bad either, as the icons loaded fast when clicked.

We moved on to the website’s mobile version, and our user experience didn’t drop. The mobile site is neatly segmented.

The welcome offer is yet eminently displayed, bounded on the top by sections like Races, Bet Types, Results, and a More icon.

The More icon drops down to reveal different sections like Promotions, Knowledge, Tips, and Features. Overall, these made our tote betting experience hassle-free.

Registration was straightforward on Tote. When you click the Join button at the top, the account opening procedure is launched.

Details like your first and last name, email address, and date of birth will be requested. After this, you can choose your preferred username and set your password.

You may further select your preferred marketing option for Tote to keep you updated on current and soon-to-come tote betting promotions and offers.

The final stage is the check box. Ticking this connotes that you have extensively studied Tote’s policies, rules, terms, and conditions and are comfortable with them.

After this, you are in, a fully registered customer at Tote!

Note that registration, as of the time of writing – is yet restricted to the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Yes, we relished the welcome offer this bookmaker provided. Tote offers you a £20 upon placing your first bet (at least £5). Here is how the tote betting welcome offer works.

Upon registering an account with Tote, you must deposit at least £5. Next, stake (on your first bet) £5 or more on an event.

Once settled, Tote will return the favor with £20 free credit. The free credit is presented in two batches of £10 payments.

You can only redeem the first £10 credit on horse racing bets. The second £10 can only be redeemed on placepot pool bets (exclusively Irish and UK).

But there is a bit of an interesting twist here. You don’t need to a winning bet to enjoy the free credit. Irrespective of the outcome of your qualifying bet, this bookmaker will give you the £20 in Tote Credit as explained.

Note that the free bet doesn’t increase proportionately to the size of your tote win bet. This means whether your winning bid is the precise minimum of £5 or as high as £150, the accruable welcome credit remains £20.

Let us add here that not every type of tote betting qualifies for this offer. The list of eligible race bets includes Toteswinger, Totejackpot, Totescoop6, Toteplace, Totesurvivor, Toteplacepot, Totetrifecta, Totequadpot, Toteexacta, and Totewin.

Bets like Ten to Follow are excluded from eligible qualifying bets. After the qualifying bet settlement, you can expect your free credit within the next 48 hours.

Lastly, note that Tote will withdraw any free credit (accrued from the welcome offer) that is unused seven days after being credited to your account.

Tote has been ancestrally known for its racebook offerings. This bookmaker features an expansive collection of horse racing pools. Horse racing courses like Aintree, Ascot, and Goodwood are adequately covered.

Before 2003, Tote boasted a definitive monopoly over the UK pool betting industry. Much has changed since then, and Tote has expanded from predominantly horse racing into the football betting market as well.

In the football pool market, you can expect syndicates like Correct Score, Both Teams to Score, 1X2, and others.

That said, betting on Tote is quite different from what most contemporary punters are used to. On Tote, punters bet in pools.

Totepool, as it is called, is a lottery-based betting pattern where the money you stake is aggregated into a pool. Consequently, this tote dividend is distributed among winners, depending on the population of winning bets and bet amount.

There are different types of tote pools. This brings us to the next section.

In this section, we will examine the most common types of Tote bets to explore.

Placepot

The Placepot is arguably the most straightforward and popular tote betting you can engage in with this bookmaker.

In this pool betting operation, you have to pick one greyhound (or horse in a meeting) whom you are rooting to emerge as the first six winners in the meeting.

If placed accordingly, you win. This means you get a slice of the total pool proportionate to your staked amount. The minimum bet here is 50p.

Note that the Tote Placepot is only available for Ireland and the United Kingdom meetings.

Quadpot

This is closely related to the Tote Placebot – only some levels lower. Here, instead of you picking the first six winners, it is slashed to four races.

Specifically, these are the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th races in a meeting. Similarly, if your chosen horse is placed as predicted, you get a sizable fraction of the dividend.

The quadpot is more like fallback insurance to PlacePot. This ensures you can yet go home with something tangible if you miss out on the first two races in the Tote Placepot.

Jackpot

This shares much with the Tote Scoop 6, which we will learn about shortly. In the Tote Jackpot, you identify who will come out winners of six races for that day.

Most punters tend to go with the first six races of their preferred meeting. If you happen to get the winners correctly, you are entered into the list of winners.

These designated winners will get the win pool cumulated from all bettors shared among them. Interestingly, the Jackpot can be rolled over to the next day.

Scoop 6

This is one of the most exciting bet types on Tote. On major racing festivals like the Royal Ascot and Cheltenham, Tote rolls out the Scoop 6 every day at a fixed per-line cost of £2.

When such events elapse, Scoop 6 is reserved for Saturdays.

In Scoop 6, you are required to select the possible winners of six races. Winners share the prize money among themselves.

Characteristic of the National Lottery, you can also roll over your bets if you don’t win.

Win/Place

The Tote Win/Place closely resembles the single bet you may be used to. But this is unlike traditional sports betting, where a bookmaker assigns fixed odds betting on each event.

Here, your winnings depend on the population of bettors (in the pool) that chose your pick.

Depending on the event and bettors, this may exceed or fall under the typical odds.

Exacta

This is more like a direct prediction. Here, you forecast the horse that emerges second and first. Inevitably, the amount you take home is determined by the number of punters sharing your prediction.

Trifecta

The major difference between the exacta and the Trifecta is that in the latter, you predict the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd positions.

Tote provides the Trifecta on all UK horses with a minimum of three horses participating. Every Saturday, the Trifecta is enhanced with a bonus. There is also the possibility of rolling over this bonus if you don’t win it.other tote bets

Other tote bets include Quinella and Swinger.

Currently, there is no in-play betting on Tote. This is not a bummer, given that the pool betting nature of Tote makes in-play betting much more challenging.

Unlike contemporary sportsbooks, Tote lacks exchanges (say with fixed odds), meaning punters don’t have a ready collection of markets on events as they unfold in real time.

That said, Tote offers live streaming on available racings. But there are some restrictions here. To enjoy the live streaming feature, you need to have registered an account with Tote and have at least made one deposit.

Nonetheless, you don’t need to place a bet before you live stream on Tote.

Yes, Tote recently rolled out Android and iOS versions of its mobile app. Called Tote Placepot, the app has been excitedly welcomed in the pool betting community.

As of the time of writing, the android version boasts over 10k downloads, with a favorable 4.7 rating on Google Play Store.

The iOS version is equally admirable.

First, it is heartbreaking that the mobile app is restricted to horse racing. You can’t access football markets from the app.

But for what it offers, the app does excellently. The app extensively replicates the desktop betting experience in horse races.

You can place bets like the Scoop6, Quadpot, Jackpot, and Placepot readily on the app. Thanks to the next-off facility, meetings on the mobile app are easy to scroll.

To simplify your pick, this app is decked with Racing Post spotlight. We also loved that we could stream just any race on the mobile app.

Tote seriously stakes its place as the prime mobile destination for pool betting by providing streaming for just any meeting in the UK and Ireland horse racing industry.

Occasionally, this is flavored with fixtures from Hongkong and other markets abroad.

All you need to enjoy the live stream on the app is to register your account and deposit.

 The banking options at Tote are reasonably broad. Tote allows you to prosecute your transactions through popular debit cards like MasterCard, Visa, and other electronic wallets.

Among the latter category are the globally renowned likes of PayPal, Neteller, PaysafeCard, and Skrill.

Across all payment gateways, Tote operates a flat minimum deposit of £5. The same £5 threshold applies for minimum withdrawal.

Processing time varies across the board. Withdrawals via debit cards can take a minimum of two working days or a maximum of five business days. It could be way shorter with electronic wallets.

Transactions via Paypal, Neteller, and Krill are usually completed within 24 hours. For the speed they offer, transactions on such electronic gateways incur a where their debit card counterparts don’t.

On Neteller and Paypal, Tote will charge you a 3% processing fee after your first deposit for that day (which is free).

Note that Tote disqualifies deposits made from electronic wallets from its welcome offer. Also, once your deposit passes the £750 margin, Tote will demand that you verify your account if unverified at that point.

 Tote has several channels through which you can contact the customer support department. This bookmaker allows customers with queries to reach out to appropriate reps via live chat, email, phone, and even post.

This is clearly one of the broadest customer correspondence channels among UK bookmakers.

The live chat feature is available both on the website and via the mobile app. You can launch a session with a rep by clicking on the speech bubble icon at the website’s bottom right.

You can write Tote via customercare@tote.co.uk. General feedback can be preferably communicated via feedback@tote.co.uk.

Tote operates a customer care line. If you are a resident of the UK, you can reach Tote customer support agents at 0800 032 8188. For those outside the UK, you can get in touch with your query via +44 1942 314045.

Should you prefer the old-school way of sending letters, Tote has got you covered. You can deliver your queries to Tote via the postal address: Customer Care, Waterside House, Waterside Drive, Wigan, WN3 5AZ.

Except for Christmas day, Tote customer support department is active from 8 am UK time till midnight. Would we complain about them not being available 24/7?

Given the overwhelming range of customer support channels they offer, we can’t complain at all.

Generally, we will commend Tote for providing an encompassing coverage for pool betting enthusiasts.

This is one of the broadest bookmakers in this specialized category in the United Kingdom, with pool specials like quadpot, Jackpot, and Placepot abundantly available.

We were appreciative of the sleek website design. This intuitive user experience extends into the mobile version of the website and the Android and Apple apps.

The welcome offer was fair, the same as the range of banking options.

On the less positive side, Tote is limited if you are looking at doing more soccer betting. You have enough horse racing betting possibilities, but Tote doesn’t balance that up in the soccer department.

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