What is an accumulator? Everything you need to know about accas!
What is an accumulator? How do accas work? A few questions along these lines may have lead you to this page, so we’ll try our best to answer. You can use the links below to skip to each question if it’s relevant to you.
But to start you off, the term ‘acca’ and ‘accumulator’ mean the same thing.
- What is an acca?
- Types of accumulator bet
- How do you place an acca bet?
- What is cashout?
- What is acca insurance?
- How do I calculate accumulator winnings?
- What are the best sites for football accas?
- Can I place an acca on any sport or any market?
What is an acca?
An acca (or accumulator) is a multiple bet whereby single bets are combined into 1 long bet and the winning pot accumulates as each event wins. An example would be five football matches, and you chose the results of each match.
An accumulator bet is a ‘multiple’, which means two or more bets combined and is similar to a double (2 selections) and a treble (3 selections). After a treble you are into what we call accas and they are distinguished by how many ‘folds’ you select: a 4-fold acca (4 selections), a 5-fold (5 selections)… and so on.
Types of accumulator
As well as straight accumulators that require all selections to win, it’s possible to factor in different permutations, to combine different types of accumulator and cover yourself if one or more selections let you down. Here are some of the most common types of accumulator bets offered by sportsbooks.
Trixie
A Trixie consists of four bets on three selections in different events, for example three doubles and one treble. Two or more selections need to win for there to be return. A £1 trixie costs £4.
Patent
A Patent is seven bets on three selections in different events i.e three singles, one on each selection, three doubles and one treble. One or more selections must be successful to have a return. A £1 patent costs £7.
Yankee
A Yankee is eleven bets on four selections in different events – six Doubles, four Trebles and one fourfold accumulator. Two or more selections must be successful to have a return. A £1 Yankee costs £11.
Lucky 15
Like a Yankee but also including singles. It consists of 15 bets on four selections in different events i.e. four singles, six doubles, four trebles and one fourfold accumulator. One or more selection must be successful to have a return. A £1 Lucky 15 costs £15.
Super Yankee
Sometimes called a Canadian, a Super Yankee is twenty-six bets on five selections – 10 doubles, 10 trebles, five fourfold accumulators and one fivefold accumulator. Two or more selections must be successful to have a return. A £1 super Yankee costs £26.
Lucky 31
Like a super-yankee but also featuring single bets. A Lucky 31 is thirty-one bets on five selections in different events i.e. 5 singles, 10 doubles, 10 trebles 5 fourfold accumulators and one fivefold accumulator. One or more selection must be successful to have a return. A £1 Lucky 31 costs £31.
A Heinz
So named because it refers to the famous sauce-maker’s 57 varieties, a Heinz consists of 57 bets on six selections i.e. 15 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 fourfold accumulators, 6 fivefold accumulators, and 1 sixfold accumulator. Two or more selections must be successful to have a return. A £1 Heinz costs £57.
Lucky 63
A Lucky 63 like a Heinz but also includes single bets. It’s 63 bets on six selections in different events i.e. 6 singles, 15 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 fourfold accumulators, 6 fivefold accumulators, and 1 sixfold accumulator. One or more selection must be successful to have a return. A £1 Lucky 63 costs £63.
Super-Heinz
A Super-Heinz is 120 bets on seven selections i.e. 21 doubles, 35 trebles, 35 fourfold accumulators, 21 fivefold accumulators, 7 sixfold accumulators, and 1 sevenfold accumulators. Two or more selections must be successful to have a return. A £1 Super-Heinz costs €120/£120.
A Goliath
A Goliath consists of 247 bets on eight selections i.e. 28 doubles, 56 trebles, 70 fourfold accumulators, 56 fivefold accumulators, 28 sixfold accumulators, 8 sevenfold accumulators and one eightfold accumulators. Two or more selections must be successful to have a return. A £1 Goliath costs £247.
How do you place an acca?
If you are online betting, to place an acca, select multiple single bets and build them up onto your virtual betting slip. If the betting site allows an acca on the events you have selected, then the acca or accumulator will appear as an option on the slip.
Here is a screenshot from a Betfair accumulator showing a “five football matches” example, i.e a five-fold. In the accumulator example we have chosen five matches and picked the outcomes for those 5 matches.
You can see the betslip in our example has five matches listed as single bets. Below those selections is an item called five-fold (x1), which is our five events merged into one accumulator bet. An acca is one bet that requires all your selections to match what you have picked.
If one result is wrong then the entire acca is lost. In the example, you will place your stake as 1 bet so a £10 acca requires you to spend only £10. (Some more complicated multiples require more than one bet).
Acca cashout
Acca cashout is a facility that some bookies offer, which is a way for them to buy back the acca during the running of the bet if it looks like it might come in. So let’s say your five football matches all kick off at 3pm on a Saturday, at half-time all your results look good and you just can’t wait to see it through. If cashout is on offer, your betting site might offer you a lower price, to basically encourage you to give up your bet. It may go on to win (your loss), it may go on to lose (woohoo – you beat the bookie).
What is acca insurance?
If your five-fold or more acca loses by one selection, you get your money back generally as a free bet bonus (not as withdrawable cash). Some bookies may refund your stake as cash, but safely assume that for the most part, bookie refunds come in the form of a free bet to the value of your original stake.
Acca insurance, like common domestic insurance, is not a actually a paid for premium service. It’s simply a condition that applies to your acca if you have selected more than five events and this number is based on the majority of bookies offering this feature. If only one of those selections loses, the insurance kicks in and the bet is refunded.
Acca insurance is not guaranteed, it is commonly offered as a bonus feature and may even be limited to a select set of markets, i.e football. Acca edge is similar to acca insurance but is unique to Betfair and you must manually add it to your betslip for it to apply to your accumulator.
‘Acca Edge’ is replacing the ‘Acca Insurance’ and with that Betfair claim they are now offering the most competitive form of insurance in the industry:
- Refunding as cash when the competitors refund as free bets.
- Receive your refund straight away when the last leg is settled, not having to wait around to the next day to receive your payment.
- Acca Edge applies to trebles and above, not five folds and above that other competitors offer – cannot get this anywhere else.
- Offered across all sports, and can mix any selections that you want – cannot get this anywhere else.
- No max refunds (general max refund in the industry is £25).
- There are no minimum odds you have to sign up to, once you have three selections or above, Acca Edge kicks in.
How is the reduction in odds calculated?
The reduction in odds is calculated to offer the true price the bet would be, if one of the selections failed to win. So in a nutshell, the probability of one of the selection not winning.
What is the maximum refund amount on Acca Edge?
There is no maximum refund on Acca Edge.
Can I place an EW bets or permed bets with Acca Edge?
If a customer selects EW or perm their bets, they will not be offered Acca Edge.
Can I use a free bet with Acca Edge?
You cannot use a free bet with Acca Edge.
Do bets placed with Acca Edge count towards my betting requirements for wagering bonuses?
Yes, bets placed with Acca Edge count towards your betting requirements.
Can I select SP bets with Acca Edge?
Any bets with SP selections will not be available with Acca Edge.
How do I calculate accumulator winnings?
The odds of accumulators are calculated through the accumulation of winnings upon the completion of each stake. So let’s assume all selection are at odds of evens i.e 1/1 matching your stake when it wins. So you have five selections all at even odds 1/1 and you place £10 on the acca. The winnings grow (accumulate) as if each win generates a new stake to go on the next selection in the acca.
- Selection 1 opens with £10 at evens, it wins and therefore you now have £20.
- Selection 2 now has £20 “going on it” at 1/1 and that wins, you now have £40.
- Selection 3 turns £40 into £80.
- Selection 4 turns £80 into £160.
- Selection 5 the final event has accumulated £160, which equals £320 if it wins at 1/1.
You can see how much you might win using an acca calculator or betting calculator like this one at Ladbrokes or this one at Oddschecker.
What are the best sites for football accas?
Generally the top sportsbooks all offer accumulators within the multiples section of the betslip. And based on the principles that it’s just a simple calculation that determines the outcome, no betting site should really be any better than the others.
What makes them stand apart are the additional bonus features, like cashout, acca insurance, partial cashout even (when you cash out a percentage of the ‘buyback’ offer and leave some in the pot). But here are couple of recommendations nonetheless.
- Bet Victor claim to have the best odds for football.
- Paddy Power have acca insurance & cashout.
- Bet365 have cashout & partial cashout.
- Sky Bet are not good! Cashout goes down just at those crucial times!!!!!!
Can I place an acca on any sport or any market?
You can build your acca based mainly on single events, like a football match, a horse race, sometimes even a market within a football match like a team to win to nil or both teams to score Yes/No. Most gamblers generally keep their accumulators to the same sport and the same markets like football.
You can’t combine events from the same match in an acca like both teams to score, first goal score, number of yellows – although these are often available as ‘special bets’ using a bookies request odds features.
When places are up for grabs i.e horse racing 1st to 3rd, you can make an each-way acca by selecting the e/w tick box if available, this doubles your stake as it’s 2 bets. So a £10 acca e/w, requires a £20 wager. If 1 event places in that bet (but does not win), your win acca has lost and you are then only playing for each-way money, even if all the other horses win.
Key points:
- An acca is one bet and all results have to match what you’ve picked, if one loses the whole acca loses.
- As your bets win, the total winnings at the end increase based on the multiplication of each event.
- Some sportsbook operators let you cash out during the running of an acca before it closes.
- 2 selections make a double, 3 selections is a treble, more than 3 is an acca starting from 4 fold.
- Acca insurance offers a refund on accumulators of 5 or more selections.