lets say there is an 8 horse race and punters back each horse on the tote for win and place at exactly the same ratio -:

A- 25 UNITS INVESTED
B- 9
C-8
D-7
E-6
F-5
G-4
H-3
that makes a total of 67 units invested (could be $67,000 or $670,000 etc)

now just say the tote doesn't take out any money from the pool.....the dividends returned to punters for the place should be 67 divided by 3 (3 places) then divided by the number of units invested, which is (approx)) -:
A- .89CENTS
B- 2.48
C- 2.79
D- 3.19
E- 3.72
F- 4.46
G- 5.58
H- 7.44
so tell me this????....even without the tote taking a cut the tote must give back punters at least $1.00 for horse A running a place, but its only paying 89cents! does the tote lose on the race???

cheers,
noel