Parimutuel horse racing betting is legal in Idaho. State residents may place wagers in-person at tracks and off-track betting facilities (OTBs) or online through licensed advance deposit wagering operators (ADWs).
As a result, three of the top four horse racing betting sites – TVG.com, TwinSpires.com, and Xpressbet.com – accept Idaho residents as customers. So too do smaller providers AmWager.com, Dayatthetrack.com, and the home-grown Idabet.com, which also accepts customers from some other states where parimutuel wagering is legal.
You must be 18 or older to place online horse bets in Idaho.
Idaho Horse Race Betting Sites & Offers
| Racebooks | Welcome Offer for Idaho | Other Promos |
| TVG | Get up to $200 back | Get a $25 Bonus for every friend you refer |
| TwinSpires | $200 sign-up offer | Free play daily & weekly options |
| Xpressbet | $100 sign-up bonus | XB Rewards loyalty program |
| AmWager | $300 deposit match | Daily cash rewards |
| Day At The Track | $300 deposit match | Daily promotional funds |
| 1/ST BET | $100 sign-up bonus | Rewards points every Tuesday and other weekly offers |
How to claim a horse racing bet promo in Idaho?
Horse racing betting features for Idaho
- TVG Idaho Features:
- TVG Expert Picks for everyday
- Free Past Performances Program
- Live streams from tracks around the US and beyond
- Money Back Special on select races
- Twinspires Idaho Features:
- First Race Freeplay: get $100 in Free Bets
- 15% boost on a winning Trifecta bet every Tuesday
- Exacta insurance: get a bet back of up to $10
- Live races and highlights of previous races, both on the website and the app
- Bet Back offers (receive a refund for your bet if the horse you bet on to win the race finishes in second or third)
- Daily Double bets
- Xpressbet & 1st/bet Idaho Racebook Features:
- Horse racing’s leading loyalty program (receive two XB Rewards Points for every dollar you wager)
- Cash prizes in regular handicapping contests
- Deposit by mail
- Bet the horse races over the phone
- Up-to-date news about upcoming races
- Unlimited access to the BETMIX products: Toteboarding, Free Daily Race Analysis, and ‘Race of the Day’ Past Performance
- AmWager Idaho Racebook App Features:
- Current and historical horse race results from a single screen
- Advanced wagering structuring tools. Dutching, ABC method, Rank betting.
- Fair Value Exacta Grid (allows you to quickly see exacta bets that have been over bet or under bet based on the win pool)
Horse bet types available online
In Idaho, you can place different types of horse wagers. The most popular online bets are
- Win (the horse you bet on must come first)
- Place (the horse must finish first or second)
- Show (the horse must come either first, second, or third)
- Win Place (places a win and a place bet in one bet)
- Win Show (places a win and show bet in one bet)
- Win Place Show (aka “across the board”; combines Win, Place and Show into one bet)
- Exacta (you bet on horses to come first and second in that order)
- Quinella (the same as exacta, but horses can finish in any order for you to win the bet)
- Trifecta (three horses should finish first, second and third in that order)
- Superfecta (the same as trifecta but here you bet on four horses)
- Super High 5 (you have to choose the winner of five races in a row)
- Parlays (combine multiple selections on the same ticket, even if the races aren’t in sequential order)
- Grand Slam (pick a horse to finish in the top three in three straight races, capped by the winner of the fourth race in the sequence).
Banking
- Credit and Debit Cards
- ACH Bank Transfer / eCheck
- Wire Transfer
- Green Dot
- PayNearMe
- Check or Money Order
- MoneyGram
- PayPal
- By mail: Xpressbet
- Bitcoin: AmWager via BitPay
Idaho Horse Betting Overview
Idaho has a long tradition of horse and dog racing, though the latter is now extinct and the former is not on sound footing following the closure of the state’s biggest horse racetrack, Les Bois Park, in 2018.
The Gem State falls somewhere in the middle of U.S. states when it comes to gambling. In addition to allowing parimutuel wagering, it permits casinos (without slot machines), and is part of the consortium of states that participate in the Powerball lottery. It does not allow card rooms, though the tribal Couer d’Alene Casino in Worley does have a poker room.
The state still offers live horse racing at a series of fair racetracks: Pocatello Downs; Jerome Horse Racing, the Oneida County Fair, the Cassia County Fair, and the Eastern Idaho State Fair. Most offer a mix of thoroughbred, quarter horse, and other breeds such as Appaloosas or Arabians.
A sixth fair, Rupert Downs, did not seek dates in 2021 and its future is unclear.
While the Idaho Legislature repealed the law permitting dog racing in the state in 1996 and made it a felony to conduct racing in the state, it kept the underlying law allowing parimutuel wagering intact.
Fun fact about horse racing in Idaho
Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens was born in Caldwell, Idaho, on March 6, 1963, the youngest of three sons born to horse trainer Ron Stevens and his wife, Barbara.
Popular horse racing events to bet on in Idaho
- Bitterroot Futurity
- Jerome Stakes
- The Kentucky Derby
- Belmont Stakes
- Preakness Stakes
- Breeders’ Cup
- Saratoga Race
- Travers Stakes
- Elitloppet
- Dubai World Cup
- Melbourne Cup
- Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe
- Grand National
Horse Race Tracks in Idaho
- Pocatello Downs
- Jerome Horse Racing
- The Oneida County Fair
- The Cassia County Fair
- The Eastern Idaho State Fair
- Les Bois Park (closed)
FAQs
Yes, it is legal to bet on horse racing online and via mobile apps in Idaho.
Yes, you can. 18 years is the minimum gambling age in Idaho for playing online and at any of the state’s racetracks.
TVG.com, TwinSpires.com, Xpressbet.com, Amwager, and Dayatthetrack.com operate in Idaho.
This track closed in 2008. Then it re-opened in 2011 in anticipation of historic racing but soon all activities in Les Bois Park were stopped. A referendum attempt to re-legalize historic racing was made in the election of 2018, but it failed.