Local Quartet pools with fractional betting on selected UK race meetings will return to the TAB-TABgold betting menu from this Thursday following a mixed reception from customers to the introduction of commingled Quartet pools on all UK and Irish race meetings last month.
Such commingled Quartet pools have been welcomed in some quarters, but many TAB and TABgold customers have complained that this has resulted in them being unable to play fractional Quartet bets on UK races.
TAB and TABgold have taken note of the complaints and from this Thursday 12 September customers can enjoy the best of both worlds. As before local Quartet pools with fractional betting will be offered on two UK meetings most days with commingled Quartet pools on all other UK and Irish meetings.
Whether an Irish or UK meeting has local or commingled pools will be displayed clearly on TAB sheet racecards in store and online.
Unfortunately for several reasons, including vast differences in exchange rates, it is not technically possible to offer fractional bets on pools commingled internationally.
The minimum unit for commingled bets is R1 (more in the case of countries like the USA) and this is itself a fractional bet in international tote pools.
As an example, the unit of a UK Tote Quartet is one Pound and a customer playing a R1-unit Quartet with TAB and TABgold on a UK race is buying about 1/24th of the bet, depending on the exchange rate on the day. And if that bet is the only winning ticket, the customer will get 1/24th of the pool and the remainder will be carried over. To get the full UK Tote payout on a commingled Quartet requires playing the bet to a R24 unit.
That aside, the introduction of commingled Quartet bets has given TAB and TABgold customers many more opportunities to play Quartets on UK and Irish races, and access to bigger pools and payouts.