wager vs place bet

wager and place bet both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
wager	Yes	No	Yes	No
place bet	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, place bet is a hyponym of wager; that is, place bet is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than wager:

Other hyponyms of wager include daily double, exacta, perfecta, parimutuel, parlay, superfecta, handicap bet.

wager (noun)	place bet (noun)
the act of gambling	a bet that a horse will finish a race no worse than second
the money risked on a gamble

wager (verb)	place bet (verb)
maintain with or as if with a bet
stake on the outcome of an issue