Using Classlist to run a Horse Racing Night (virtual or live) - instructions

A fun filled evening for all the family, with a chance to win some money with a flutter on the horses.   

This event is a fantastic live event, but one of our team members tested running this virtually for their own PTA during the pandemic, with great success.

People place bets on the horses in 8 races, and then videos of 8 horse races are played out in your video call. There are real winnings to distribute to the people who bet on the winning horses, and money is raised for your PTA or chosen charity too.   Families do not need to pay to take part (particularly if it is virtual) and can just watch for fun, but we expect you will definitely raise some money with this event.

• Download footage of 8 races and commentaries here for £23.   
• Use Classlist paid events to sell sponsorship & names of your 8 races and ownership of the horses in advance.  You can also sell bets on Classlist before your event starts if it is virtual.

For detailed info on running your event see our Guide below.

Planning your event

We recommend you find one or two presenters for the event, to introduce and chat between the races, say what the winnings are etc.  

Virtual events - The whole event will last an hour or so because there are 8 races of 5 minutes.

Use a Youtube Live or Zoom call in Presenter mode to show your races.  

Live events - the event can last the whole evening, with a live bar and even food if you wish.   It can be quite lively, and if you distribute the winnings after each race it can spur people on to place more bets!

In advance

• You can sell sponsorship of your 8 Races - sponsors can name their races - eg 'The Year 5 Cup'
• Sell the ownership of the 8 horses in each of the 8 races (64 owners).  You can let owners choose the horse name if you wish but otherwise there are suggested names.
• You also have the option of people paying to be the jockey (another 64).  We recommend you only do this if you think you will sell out of Race sponsors and horse owners.

At the same time, or closer to the event, you can sell bets on the horses too.  For a virtual event it is simplest to ask for all bets to be paid for before the event starts, so that you can be ready to announce the odds before the race and calculate the winnings quickly afterwards.

After the evening is over work out how much people have won during the evening. You can pay them out their winnings using partial refunds on Stripe. For people who have made more money than they spent, you will need to transfer them extra money from your PTA bank account!

You will also pay the owners of the winners a fixed amount you decide eg 50% of the owners takings for the race.

Setting up your event page on Classlist

Ticket type 1: 'Name a Race' - 8 tickets available. 

Add a question on the tickets page: 'If you are naming a race, what do you want to call your race?'

Ticket type 2: 'Own a Horse' - 64 tickets available. 

Add a question: 'If you are buying a horse, what is the name of this horse and name of owner?'

Selling bets

If your event is live you can sell bets throughout the night, closing the bets before each race.

If your event is virtual you can sell the bets in advance on Classlist, closing all bets before the event. 

To sell bets on Classlist, add 64 more tickets for each race and horse.  Put a price of £1 per bet ticket and people can buy multiples.  Therefore your tickets would look like this:

Race 1 Horse 1

Race 1 Horse 2

Race 1 Horse 3

etc 

Race 2 Horse 1

Race 2 Horse 2

etc

As you sell Race names and Horse names in advance, you can edit the names on the bets to include those eg 'Race 1 Horse 1 - Red Rum'.  Tip: Keep the race and horse number in the bet name to avoid confusion!

If your event will include people who aren't parents at your school you can give them the Guest Checkout link to buy tickets.   Ask parents at your school to join Classlist to buy tickets if they haven't joined already!

Calculating odds and winnings

Virtual events - After you have finished selling bets, export your ticket sales spreadsheet from your Classlist event page using 'Download list'.  You can calculate the  distribute the winnings and payouts below and use Stripe refunds to pay out the money.

Live events - after each race the winnings can be calculated using the sheet below whilst the guests have a drink at the bar - just like at the races.  The winnings can be distributed before the next race.

Calculation sheets

Here is a sheet you can use to calculate your odds and winnings for each race.

http://attheraces.org.uk/PayOutCalculator.pdf

And instructions on calculating the payouts - it is simple

http://attheraces.org.uk/race-night-betting/

if you are running this as a free fun event and not taking bets you can give families this paper money to print and use at home for a mini tote amongst the family

http://attheraces.org.uk/Carestar%20race%20game%20money.pdf

Streaming your event

We have done this via Zoom so you can share the races from your computer.   if you think you will have more than 100 attendees you will you need to have a paid Zoom account.

For our own PTA version of this event we had to upgrade to a Pro account (£11.99 a month) and add 'Large meeting up to 500' for £40 plus VAT. We upgraded for one month only and immediately cancelled the subscription on the Billing page to avoid paying for more than one month!

Regulations

Your race is run under the Lottery and Amusement Act of 1976

To comply with the regulations Carestar suggests the following:

• Open the betting for the race in advance of the event.
• Take all bets. Close the betting before the race starts (for an online event we would recommend you may want to close bets before the whole event starts unless you are a pro at Race Nights!)
• Ask a member of the audience to choose a race number at random from the DVD
• Show the film via your video call
• Before the race starts a fun form guide gives a brief rundown of each of the runner’s chances.  As no more bets can be placed at this point you have complied with the regulations.
• At the end of the race the winning payouts are announced.  Payout the Winners Only.