In the world of sports betting, the accumulator bet has big winning potential. The way accumulators (or “accas”) are structured gives the bettor an opportunity to win big without wagering big money.
This type of bet is hugely popular and is one of the advantages over placing a single bet. But winning a big accumulator bet can be challenging.
This guide will cover everything you need to know about accumulator bets and will give you tips on how to place your next winning bet slip.
What Are Accumulator Bets
Accumulator bets are multiple bets that involve two or more selections combined together to make one single bet. Accumulator betting can be made up of selections from multiple sports (the most common being football matches and horse racing), and can include any number of combined bets, from two all the way up to 20 bets on certain betting sites.
The more bets that are included in the accumulator, the bigger the payout will be if all of the bets come in. These types of accumulator bets have grown in popularity due to the lucrative payouts.
For example, a bet as small as £5 can return thousands of pounds on an accumulator depending on the selections that were included. The possibilities of accumulator bets are endless, as punters can include as many, or as few bets, as they would like.
The most important thing to get your head around, is that each selection on the bet slip must win in order for the combined odds to pay out. Regardless of how big your accumulator is, you must hit every single bet – just one loss on any of the selections in your accumulator, and the entire bet is considered a loss.
How Accumulator Bets Work
The way accumulator bets work is simple.
The bettor picks the bets that he/she wants to bet on, and adds them to an accumulator. The accumulator will combine the odds of each selection to calculate the betting odds on the overall accumulator.
Here is the key thing. The odds do not just add up (like adding one to another), instead a multiplier will be applied to each of the bets and this will boost the odds of increasing the pay out.
Statistically, it is very difficult to hit an accumulator bet, as it involves winning multiple bets in a row. While hitting accumulators is not easy, there are strategies that are used to increase your potential winnings.
Accumulator Tips
As previously mentioned, the possibilities of the accumulator bet are endless.
Bettors can create any kind of accumulator they want by combining different sports and bet types together.
Over/under, moneyline bets, and spread bets can all be combined, and accumulators can include picks from all levels of football (such as premier league), horse racing, and even other sports like basketball or American football.
Considering the vast possibilities offered by accas, many strategies have been developed with the goal of profiting from these types of bets.
Here are a few short accumulator tips that can be helpful when betting accas:
1. Alternate Line Accumulators
An alternative line accumulator is more conservative than higher risk odd accumulators – in that they combine odds that are more likely to occur.
By doing this, a number of highly likely odds that don’t pay out as well, can be combined together to produce an accumulator that gives the best chance of enhanced winnings.
These types of accas typically include alternate over/under and spread betting lines. These allow punters to place bets that are likely to happen, such as “Over 1.5 goals scored” or “Under 4.5 goals scored”.
While these betting options do not pay well alone, putting a number of them together in an accumulator could result in a significant payday.
2. Low Risk – High Reward Accumulators
There is not a huge amount of strategy with this one, as low risk, high reward accumulators are pretty self-explanatory.
Difficult bets to call, such as draws, underdogs winning, and exact scoreline bets are difficult to call, but lucrative bets that are often included in low risk, high reward accumulators.
3. Hedging Accumulators
One aspect of accumulator betting that should be considered is the ability to “hedge” your accumulator bet.
Hedging your accumulator bet refers to the act of betting on the opposite of something that is in your accumulator (a cover bet) in order to ensure some winnings are produced.
Once a number of your bets on your accumulator have been hit, it is possible to guarantee you will still be in the black by making sure that all possible outcomes of your remaining bets are covered.
Hedging bets can take the risk out of an accumulator bet losing and increase your change of winning.
How To Place Your First Accumulator Bet
Placing an accumulator bet is easy as long as you are betting with a reputable sports betting site or bookmaker.
Accumulators are made just like any other bet, and sports betting sites have made it easy to change your bets to an accumulator with the click of a button.
Before wagering online, ensure that the “accumulator” or “multiples” option is selected in your betting slip.
For those making an accumulator bet “in person”, simply let the bookmaker know of your intent to make an accumulator bet and they will know exactly what you want to do.
The accumulator bet has become one of the most popular bet types, and bookmakers are very accommodating when bettors are looking to make these types of multiple bet.
Accumulator Folds Explained
The available options for an accumulator bet are: 3-fold, 4-fold, 5-fold, 6-fold, 7-fold, 8-fold and 9-fold accumulator bets.
The highest stakes bets on offer from most bookmakers are 10 fold accumulators but this really depends on which betting sites you use.
Normally higher odds equals higher stakes so naturally 12 fold accumulators will be offered by the best bookies in the industry with some very high profile names offering 15 and 20 fold accumulators.
Firstly you have to decide how many selections will be in your accumulator:
3 Fold Accumulator
This is an accumulator where you pick three outcomes that must happen for your wager to be paid out. They are usually sport related and the stake is distributed across all football teams or horses if betting on horse racing.
4 Fold Accumulator
As the name suggests, this is a selection of 4 different bets. It is best if you only choose matches from one league as the odds are likely to be better.
The odds will automatically increase and sometimes decrease depending on how many times each team has been selected by other bettors at that moment in time.
The rules and regulations stay the same, and if all four selections in a four fold accumulator come in then you will get a hefty win.
5 Fold Accumulator
A 5 fold accumulator bet is when you select five sporting events to bet on. These could be five football matches, five horse racing events, a mixture of each – or any combination of sports. If all five of your choices win, then you win the amount multiplied by how many odds are given on each bet.
Accumulator Odds Calculator
An accumulator odds calculator is a great tool to use when trying to make money betting on accumulators.
Users can access these accumulator calculators for free.
To use them, simply input the odds of your bets that you want to be included in your accumulator. The accumulator odds calculator will return the best odds if you were to place the bet.
Here are some free accumulator odds calculators from online bookmakers:
Bet Calculator From Paddy Power
Accumulator Calculator From 888 sport
Another way to track the odds of an accumulator, is to simply insert the bets into an online bet slip and preview the odds before placing the wager. This way, the bet slip will act as your odds calculator and it will tell you how much you will win is all your bets come in.
Finally, if you chose to place an accumulator bet or not, always keep to responsible gambling.
