Lay bets out like an animal (7)
I believe the answer is:
beastly
'an animal' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'lay bets out' is the wordplay.
'out' indicates anagramming the letters (out can mean wrong or inaccurate).
'lay'+'bets'='laybets'
'laybets' is an anagram of 'BEASTLY'.
'like' is the link.
(Other definitions for beastly that I've seen before include "Brutal - foul" , "Horrid" , "Very unpleasant" , "Bestial" , "Brutish" .)