A ‘scratching’ is where a runner does not run in a race that it has been declared to run in.
If you placed a single bet and your selected runner is ‘scratched’, your selection is void and the stake will be refunded to your Account. Please refer to our Racing Rules for our official rules on how Multi Bets are resulted.
If you placed a ‘fixed odds’ bet and a runner or runners other than your selected runner are scratched after you place the bet, your bet will stand, but ‘deductions’ will apply when calculating your payout for that selection. If you placed a bet at starting-price odds, deductions will only apply if runner(s) are scratched after the time betting closes and the odds for your selection become ‘fixed’.
What Are Deductions and How Do They Apply?
Deductions are an industry-wide standard for betting on racing events. They account for the difference in price of your selected market, had the scratched runner(s) not been in the field at the time odds are fixed.
Deductions are applied as a deduction of cents in the dollar (effectively, a percentage) from your potential payout. Deductions are made in accordance with Racing Victoria’s official Schedule of Deductions, which can be found here.
Example
If you placed a $10 bet x $2.50 for your selection to win, your expected payout would be $25 (i.e., the amount your bet would pay without deductions). If a runner is then scratched, resulting in a 20c per dollar deduction:
$25 expected payout x $0.20 per dollar deduction = $5 deduction
To work out your adjusted payout, subtract the deduction from the expected payout for your selection:
$25 expected payout - $5 deduction = $20 adjusted payout
If there are multiple scratchings for a race, simply add the deductions together that take place after your bet was placed, when calculating the total amount to be deducted:
Horse 1: 5c per dollar deduction
Horse 2: 11c per dollar deduction
Horse 3: 2c per dollar deduction
In this case, the total cents in the dollar deduction would be 18c.