Parimutuel

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. Describing a betting system in which the money wagered is pooled and winners divide it after the operator takes a deduction
2. Relating to a form of wagering where all bets go into one fund that is shared among those who picked the winning outcome
3. Of or involving a totalizator style of gambling, in which payouts come from the combined stakes rather than fixed odds

Etymology: The system that lets racetrack gamblers pool their money and share the winnings was named in French, and the name describes the mechanism exactly: "pari mutuel" means "mutual bet." Under this arrangement, the bets placed on each outcome go into a common pot, the track takes a fixed cut, and the rest is divided among the winners in proportion to their stakes. The bettors are, in effect, betting against one another rather than against a bookmaker, which is why the French phrase stresses mutuality. The French adjective "mutuel" comes from Latin "mutuus," meaning borrowed or reciprocal, the same root behind English "mutual." "Pari" is the French noun for a wager, a word that traces back to the Latin "par," meaning equal, since a bet was originally a matching of stakes. English took the combined phrase and the adjective "pari-mutuel" was used to describe the betting system itself, and the spelling "parimutuel" is an accepted variant.

Synonyms: totalizator, tote