Our Comprehensive Guide to Accumulator Betting

Posted by Harry Kane on Tuesday, December 5, 2023

If you’re a sports wagering fan, no doubt you’ll have heard of accumulator betting. This is one of the most complex types of sports wager, which effectively enables you to combine a number of different selections in a single bet. It can also be one of the most generative wagers.

For example, despite their increased complexity and risk, so-called “acca” bets can also deliver increased returns and superior value. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore accumulators in more detail, while asking how you can successfully use such wagers to maximise your starting bankroll!

Getting Started with Accumulator Betting – What Does This Mean?

In simple terms, an accumulator bet will contain multiple selections in a single wager structure. Typically, accas can include anywhere between two and 20 single selections, although so-called “doubles” and “trebles” may have their own separate categories at some sportsbooks. Operators may also allow you to include more than 20 picks in your accumulator bet, so long as your potential winnings aren’t too prohibitive.

For the typical accumulator to be successful, every single one of your selections will need to win. While there are exceptions to this rule (such as instances where you wager at a sportsbook that offers acca insurance), this adds significant jeopardy to this type of wager and highlights the level of risk you’ll have to incur.

However, the price of each of your acca selections will be multiplied together to create extended odds. This enables you to potentially back a number of short price favourites and outcomes at incredibly favourable odds, potentially boosting your returns considerably and offsetting the increased risk.

Football accumulators are the most popular in the UK, although accas may also be placed at popular horse racing festivals such as Cheltenham. However, you can theoretically build accumulators in any sport or discipline, while this type of wager will typically include between four and 10 individual betting selections. Here’s a brief, at-a-glance summary of the most popular acca structures:

How do Accumulators Work – A Real Life Exploration

The above table shows how you can scale and build your accas incrementally, with the level of risk rising with each individual pick. The good news, however, is that your potential returns also increase as your acca bet grows, so it’s crucial that you manage the balance between risk and reward when engaging in accumulator betting (we’ll touch more on this later in the guide).

To help you understand acca betting and its fundamental principles in more detail, we’re going to explore a real-life example. More specifically, we’re going to construct a theoretical five-fold football accumulator, to determine how odds are fixed and your potential payout in relation to your stake. Here’s our five selections and their published odds:

• Manchester City to Beat Crystal Palace at Odds of 1.18
• Liverpool to Beat Manchester United at Odds of 1.42
• Aston Villa to Beat Brentford at Odds of 2.10
• Bournemouth to Beat Luton at Odds of 1.44
• Tottenham to Beat Nottingham Forest at Odds of 1.80

Once you’ve confirmed these picks, the odds of each individual outcome are multiplied together to create a single price. In this case, we’d perform the calculation 1.18 x 1.42 x 2.10 x 1.44 x 1.80, to generate a final accumulator price of 9.12. If you subsequently stake £5 on this wager, you stand to bank a return of £45.60 should every one of your selections come in.

As you can see, this generates a much higher potential payout than backing a single outcome. Even betting £5 on Aston Villa to beat Brentford at a price of 2.10 only unlocks a maximum potential payout of £10.50, while increasing your initial stake amount to £10 would only deliver a final return of £21.00.

Of course, this increased return is somewhat offset by the heightened risk of loss, which is why you’ll need to consider your selections carefully and appraise the value proposition of each wager before you wager your hard-earned cash. For example, you could build a ‘double’ picking Villa and Tottenham to win their respective matches at a price of around 3.78, which obviously provides a lower return than your five-fold acca but also offers considerably less risk.

OK, So What are the Advantages of Accumulator Betting

Now that you understand what we mean by acca betting and how this wager type works, it’s important to explore this deeper by considering the main accumulator pros and cons. Of course, no betting market or wager types is without its own unique advantages and potential drawbacks, and accumulators are no exception to this rule!

• Advantage #1 – Chase Incrementally Higher Profits: As you can see, your potential profit scales with each individual selection in your acca bet. Even when backing outcomes with relatively low or short odds, you can access incrementally higher acca prices whenever you add a new outcome to your betslip. Even selective four or five-fold accas can be relatively rewarding, depending on your individual picks and how they perform!
• Advantage #2 – Group Favourites in a Single Acca Wager: The process of betting on short price favourites often unlocks marginal gains, as sportsbooks utilise prohibitive odds to offset their risk of loss. However, it’s impossible to combine a number of short price outcomes in a single acca bet and back these at significantly enhanced odds. Crucially, this can unlock potentially higher returns without overly comprising your chances of losing.
• Advantage #3 – Make Room for the Occasional Underdog: While successful accas tend to prioritise short price favourites, you can potentially increase your returns by making room for one or two underdog picks. Accas often afford you significant freedom when it comes to making selections and constructing your bets, and you can leverage this by incorporating less fancied and higher priced selections in the pursuit of bigger returns. Just be wary when selecting outcomes with longer odds and be sure to do your research!
• Advantage #4 – Pick From a Range of Outcomes: While most accas are focused on pick match or game winners, you can actually select from a diverse range of bets and outcomes. These can include a variety of prop bets (depending on your choice of sport), such as both teams to score (BTTS) or your preferred over/under betting line pertaining to the number of goals scored in a particular contest. So, it’s important to make the most of this choice when looking to build the perfect acca!
• Advantage #5 – Use Acca ‘Insurance’ as and When Available: Some operators may also offer so-called “acca insurance”, which will enable you to recoup a percentage of your potential payout in instances where one leg of your accumulator fails. This certainly enables you to manage your risk effectively, while making further room for any underdog selections that you’d like to make!
• Disadvantage #1 – You Can’t Always Offset Your Acca Risk: If you’re unable to access insurance on your acca, this type of bet carries a significant risk that also rises incrementally with every single pick that you make. There’s certainly minimal room for error when building and placing accumulators, especially as you’re usually unable to cash out your bet too, and this isn’t ideal for those of you who may be risk averse.
• Disadvantage #2 – Accumulators are also Ill-Advised for Beginners: While acca betting is readily available to any of who with a verified sportsbook account, this wager type isn’t necessarily recommended for beginners. Similarly, it can prove counterproductive if you don’t have knowledge of a particular sport or precisely how accumulators work, so you should only place this type of bet if you’re confident in exactly what you’re doing.

Our Accumulator Betting Tips – How to Navigate This Market Successfully

At this stage, all that’s really left is to start comparing your chosen sports categories and carefully building your accumulator bets. But how can you navigate this market successfully? Here are some expert betting tips to keep in mind!

#1. Be Strategic When Capping Your Selections

While an accumulator bet should theoretically include no more than 20 selections, there may be occasions where sportsbooks allow you to combine more in a single acca. However, more isn’t necessarily better when it comes to accumulator betting, as you’ll need to think strategically and cap your selections in order to strike the ideal balance between risk and reward.

Broadly speaking, you should probably cap your number of acca picks at between four and 10, depending on the events that you’re betting on. For example, if you’re betting on a horse racing festival such as Cheltenham (which is home to 35 races on average), you may want to pick at least eight or 10 winners from the available runners.

Conversely, there may not be quite so many viable picks when betting on a particular Premier League game week. For example, there are only 10 matches played during each game week, and in this instance, you may want to reduce your number of selections to between four and six depending on the nature of the games being contested.

#2. Prioritise Short-Price and Odds-on Favourites Where Possible

Even more important than the number of picks in your acca, you’ll need to be selective about each individual outcome and its ability to deliver value. This doesn’t just apply to their chances of winning either, as you’ll need to ensure that your selections work well in combination with one another and deliver a potential return in relation to your stake amount.

In general terms, you should prioritise short price favourites when building your acca, and ideally selections that imply a high probability of success at the best possible price. Approximately 80% of your acca picks should be considered as likely outcomes with minimal odds, which afford your wager the best possible chance of achieving success and profitability.

As for the other 20%, you can explore less likely outcomes that carry slightly longer odds and have the potential to boost your potential returns. Obviously, the key here is leveraging your knowledge of a particular sport or competing teams to identify the best value outside picks, based on implied probability, form analysis and any injury news that you’re able to access.

This is crucial when attempting to realise the full value of your acca bet, which should prioritise short price favourites with a high implied probability of occurring while making room for a small percentage of less likely outcomes. Regardless, the key is to make informed and well-researched selections that afford you the best possible chance of winning.

#3. Seeking Out Acca Insurance and Price Boosts

As we’ve already touched on, the deployment of acca insurance (where available) introduces an additional risk management tool that safeguards you if one accumulator leg fails. This certainly gives you more scope to include one or more outside picks, safe in the knowledge that you’ll bank at least some form of return even if one of your selections is unsuccessful.

In addition to acca insurance, some sportsbooks also regularly promote accumulator price boosts that can dramatically increase your potential returns. Such offers are usually structured in a way that reserves the biggest price boosts for accumulators with the largest number of legs, but you can still access smaller percentage boosts when placing four and five-leg accas.

If you’re someone who likes to place regular accumulators across one or more sports, it’s important to factor this into your choice of sportsbook. Certainly, you should give priority to operators that offer both acca insurance and price boosts to punters, while even one of these features can dramatically enhance the experience of accumulator betting online!