text: in horse racing, are the payouts listed based on a $2 ticket or $1 ticket?   the payouts for win, place and show are based on a $2 ticket. for the exotic bets, such as exactas and trifectas, the answer is "it depends." each exotic listing will usually tell you if the payout is based on a $2 or $1 (or 10c) bet, but it the exotic does not tell you, you can safely assume that it is based on a $2 bet.