What Is a Patent Bet & How Does it Work?

Because there are seven individual bets in a patent, the total cost is seven times your unit stake.

So if you were to place a £15 Patent bet, your total outlay would be £105.

Here are the seven bets involved in a Patent bet:

• 3 singles
• 3 cross-doubles
• 1 cross-treble

Let’s look at how a patent bet works based on a trio of horse racing selections.

In this example, the unit stake is £5, meaning the total bet cost is £35.

• Selection 1: Boothill (2.05, Ascot) – 7/2 
• Selection 2: Dashing Roger (2.10, Newmarket) – 6/1 
• Selection 3: Botox Has (2.25, Wetherby) – 15/2

Here is a full breakdown of how the returns are calculated if all three selections win:

Note: We've used decimal odds here to simplify the calculations.

Patent bets are most popular in horse racing, but there's no reason why you can’t use this bet type on football or any other sport, for that matter.

The odds on your selections are the most important factor when considering where and when to place a patent bet.

Patent bets are most effective when combining selections at long odds, so it isn't advisable to combine three odds-on football selections in this way.

For example, if you were to put three 4/6 football winners in a £5 patent, the overall return would be £89.81, which is only £54.81 profit on the original £35 outlay. You could instead opt for three Premier League first goalscorer selections in your patent bet, or a trio of touchdown scorer selections on a busy NFL Sunday.

It should be pointed out that you can go cross-sports with your patent selections. One selection could be a first goalscorer, one could be a try-scorer in a rugby international, and the third might be the winner of a golf tournament.

Each-way patent bets are popular with horse racing bettors because you can pick up a tidy return without backing a single winner.

The key is to back horses that go off at generous prices.

For example, if you combined three 10/1 shots in a £1 each-way Patent and all three placed—meaning they each finished in a position that qualifies for a place payout—you’d return £63 (based on 1/5 odds for placing) from a total stake of £14.

If you were to wager £1 each-way patent bet on three horses (all priced at 5/1) and all three placed, the total return would be £26 (assuming 1/5 place terms).

That's a £12 profit on your initial £14 stake.

Remember, if you are betting each-way, you effectively place two bets on each selection: win and place. So while a £1 win-only patent would cost £7 in total, a £1 each-way patent bet would cost £14.

A patent is a great way to maximize the potential returns of three selections across various horse races or other sporting events, but it’s not perfect for all types of betting.

That said, if you want to maximize the earning potential of three generously-priced selections with the insurance of a return for just one winner, then it’s ideal.

We've listed the main pros and cons of patents below to help you decide when to use this type of bet.