In American horse racing terminology, a trifecta is an exotic parimutuel bet in which the bettor must predict which horses will finish first, second, and third in exact order. Horse-racing is an equestrian sporting activity which has been practiced over the centuries; the chariot races of Roman times were an early example, as was the contest of the steeds of the god Odin and the giant Hrungnir in Norse mythology. ... Parimutuel betting (from the French language: pari mutuel, mutual betting) is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and a house take are removed, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all placed bets, rounded down...

The term has been extended to the realm of politics, where it is used to describe a situation in which an executive of government appoints another elected official to a position and is also allowed to appoint his successor. This process can be chained together; in other words, the executive can appoint an elected official to a position, appoint another elected official to the other's previous position, and finally appoint anyone to the second official's position. The first permutation of this chain is called a "quadfecta". Politics is a process by which collective decisions are made within groups. ...

The trifecta system is seen by many as a loophole in democracy, because it allows an executive to essentially override a choice by the voters. This is mitigated by the fact that the system requires the agreement of all parties involved. Executives have been able to get around this by making the position offered a very financially lucrative or long term one.

In first-person shooter video games such as Counter-Strike, a trifecta can refer to a situation in which a single bullet kills three players. Doom, one of the games that defined the first-person shooter genre. ... Counter-Strike (CS) is a popular team-based mod of Valves first-person shooter (FPS) Half-Life. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with owned. ...

A trifecta can also refer to any sequence of three (generally unfortunate) occurrences, drawing on the traditional belief that deaths (and presumably, disasters and other bad things) always come in groups of three.

The word trifecta is also slang for a three-point field goal in the game of basketball. A field goal (formerly goal from the field) is a general term used in some sports wherein a goal may be scored either during general play (from the field) or via some sort of free shot. ... Sara Giauro shoots a three-point shot, FIBA Europe Cup for Women Finals 2005 Basketball is a sport in which two teams of five players each try to score points by throwing a ball through a hoop (the basket) under organized rules. ...

"Trifecta" is also gaining popularity as a slang term to describe any successful phenomenon that comes in threes ie. "She has the 'trifecta' of attractiveness, intelligence, and career success."

See also

• Hat-trick

A term in Limit Hold'Em Poker where a player checks, and raises on the flop, turn, and river In sports, a hat-trick (more often rendered in North America as hat trick, without the hyphen) is associated with achieving something in a group of three. ...