Multiply your winnings with accumulator bets
The ‘Acca’ is one of those words you hear bandied around all the time, but not everyone knows how they work – or how best to use them. During Cheltenham, effective use of multiple bets can transform your betting, turning modest wins into huge cashouts.
What is an Acca?
‘Acca’ is betting slang for Accumulator. An Accumulator bet is a multiple bet that involves four or more selections (for other types of multiples, like Doubles, Trebles, Forecasts etc, have a read through this page: Multiple bets explained).
In an accumulator, multiple bets on your selections are combined into a single bet. The most important thing to note is that an acca only wins when ALL parts win. This clearly increases the risk, but the payoff can be huge!
Edit your bet with bet365
bet365 currently have a great feature called Edit Bet that allows you to modify your Acca before it’s settled. Edit Bet gives you the ability to add, swap or remove selections on unsettled straight accumulators – both pre-match and In-Play. If three legs of your acca have come up and you suddenly get cold feet about the fourth, you can get in there and swap it for a safer bet. It’s a bit like Cash Out, but for your accas!
You can find full details of bet365’s Edit Bet at the foot of this page. If you’re tempted by it, remember that bet365 are offering new customers a betting bonus of up to £200, which you can claim by signing up below.
Get £200 at bet365
How does an Accumulator work?
An accumulator combines a number of multiple bets – Doubles, Trebles and Fourfolds.
A double is a bet on two things happening. Both have to win. eg you place a £10 double on two horses, X at 4-1 and Y at 7-2. If horse X wins, your payout is £50 (4 x 10 + 10) which is then bet on horse Y. If that wins, the payout would be £225 (7 / 2 * 50 + 50).
A treble is like a double but with three bets. Again, all three must win, but the payout is much higher. eg you place a £10 treble on three horses, X at 4-1, Y at 7-2 and Z at 2-1. If horse X wins, your payout is £50 (4 x 10 + 10) which is then bet on horse Y. If that wins, the payout would be £225 (7 / 2 * 50 + 50). This then goes on to horse Z and if that wins, your payout is £550 (2 * 225)
A fourfold is like a double and treble, but with four bets. To take the above example further, if your first three horses win and your fourth comes in at 3-1, your overall winnings are £1650!
In an Accumulator bet, a bet is placed on every possible permutation of your four selections (A, B, C and D). In a Lucky 15 (the most popular acca bet currently) there are 15 possible permutations, therefore 15 separate bets, as follows:
4 single bets (ABCD), 6 doubles (AB, AC, AD, BC, BD, CD), 4 trebles (ABC, ABD, ACD, BCD) and 1 fourfold (ABCD)
Each bet costs a ‘unit stake’. For example, if you bet a £1 unit stake on a Lucky 15 bet, it will cost you £15 in total.
When should I use an Acca?
The temptation is to look at an acca as a way to get maximum profits. While it’s true that if you got four long shots at 25 to 1 each, you could make over half a million for a £1 stake, the odds are very much against that.
NB always remember that bookies odds aren’t accurate. Bookies’ odds are not an accurate representation of probability. Bookmakers set their prices with two intentions: firstly, to attract money for outsiders; secondly, to minimise their losses should the predicted winner win.
A much better way to use an acca is when you have four short priced selections that are more likely to win, but which wouldn’t generate much return if you bet on them individually.
Let’s say you’ve chosen four likely winners that are priced at 1/3, 11/8, 6/4 and 7/4. Four individual £10 Win bets would give you a profit of £89.58.
If you placed a £3 Lucky 15 (overall stake £45) your return would be £307 – three times as much.
An acca increases both the risk of losing AND the potential returns!
bet365 Edit Bet explained
Edit Bet gives you the ability to add, swap or remove selections on unsettled straight accumulators both pre-match and In-Play. For unsettled single bets, you have the facility to swap or add selections.
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