What is an Acca Bet? Accumulator Betting Explained

Accumulator betting give punters a chance to increase winnings by combining multiple selections into one bet. In the following guide, we answer any questions you might have about accumulator bets. 

We’ll look at some of the most popular accumulator betting options, including football accumulators, while also breaking down accumulator betting promotions from the best Irish betting sites.

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What Is An Accumulator?

With accumulator betting, new betting sites allow you to combine multiple single bets into one combo bet, with the odds combined to create an acca.

Your accumulator bet will only pay out if every part of your prediction is correct. Each selection is known as a leg, and the more legs you add, the bigger the payout you’ll potentially receive.

You can combine different types of bets into one accumulator, with acca legs from various different markets and events.

Types Of Accumulator Betting

• Trixie: A trixie consists of four bets on three selections, with three double accumulator bets and one treble accumulator bet. If you place a €1 Trixie, you are actually betting €4. If two or more selections win, you’ll claim a payout.
• Patent: A patent consists of seven bets on three selections, consisting of three singles, three doubles, & one treble. A €1 bet costs €7. One or more choices must be successful for you to make a profit.
• Yankee: A Yankee consists of 11 bets on four selections: six doubles accumulator bets, four trebles, and a fourfold accumulator bet. A€1 bet costs €11. Two or more legs must be successful for the bet to pay out.
• Lucky 15: A lucky 15 combines a Yankee with single bets on each selection. It consists of 15 bets on four selections: four singles, six doubles, four trebles, and a fourfold accumulator bet. A €1 bet will cost €15. One or more selections must be successful for a return.
• Super Yankee/Canadian: A Super Yankee or Canadian bet consists of 26 bets on five selections: 10 doubles, 10 trebles, five fourfold accumulator bets, and one fivefold accumulator. bet A €1 Super Yankee will cost €26. Two or more selections must be correct for the bet to return.
• Lucky 31: A lucky 31, like the lucky 15, is a Super Yankee/Canadian bet that includes single bets. It consists of 31 bets on five selections: five singles, 10 doubles, 10 trebles, five fourfold accumulator bets, and one fivefold accumulator bet. A €1 Lucky 31 will cost €31. One or more selections must be successful to pay out.
• Heinz: A Heinz bet consists of 57 bets on six selections. Therefore, a €1 Heinz bet will cost€57. It includes 15 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 fourfold accumulator bets, six fivefold accumulator bets, and one sixfold accumulator. Two or more selections must be successful for a return.

How Do Accumulators Work?

Accumulator bets come in all shapes and sizes. Fancy a flutter on all the football matches kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday? Then a football accumulator is the way to go.

You can place an accumulator bet across the same league or several different competitions/sports. For example, you could place a weekend football accumulator backing Real Madrid (Spain's La Liga), Hertha Berlin (German Bundesliga), and Tottenham (Premier League) to win. If they all win, you're in the money, but if one team loses, you're out of luck.

Bookmakers also offer combinations of singles, doubles, trebles, and accumulators in the same bet, as outlined above. With these types of accumulator bets, not every selection has to be successful for a payout. Only a certain number of bets need to be successful, which means some of your losses will be covered if only one or two legs fail.

How To Calculate Accumulator Winnings

Most online bookmakers will do the hard work for you here, so you don't need to get the calculator out. However, here's an example of how your winnings would be calculated from a fourfold football accumulator.

Example: You pick Paris Saint-Germain at 1/1 (2.0), Real Madrid at 1/1 (2.0), Crystal Palace 3/1 (4.0), and RB Leipzig 2/1 (3.0) all to win. If you bet €1, you could get a profit of €48, as all the odds multiply together (2 x 2 x 3 x 4 = 48/1).

Why Bet On Accumulators

There are several reasons why you might choose an acca over a single..

1. More Risk - More Reward: The main incentive to place an accumulator is to increase odds. Be careful not to get greedy, though, as the more legs you add, the less likely a win can become.
2. Spread The Fun: Accumulators can make watching sport a lot more exciting. You only need to set one stake for multiple games with an accumulator bet, so you can stretch your betting excitement over a weekend or an afternoon.
3. Test Your Knowledge: While single bets allow you to test your punting on one particular event/match, accumulators allow you to take advantage of your knowledge of an entire sport, or indeed multiple sports.

Betting On Football Accumulators

Football accumulators are popular with punters worldwide. Hundreds of football competitions are available to bet on at most bookmakers, like the Premier League, Champions League and European leagues like Italy's Serie A or the German Bundesliga.

Thanks to the widespread coverage of football at international and club levels, you can bet while watching games through TV or even through the best betting apps.

You're not restricted to the 1x2 market either when combining selections. Plenty of football punters like to use over/under goals markets, goalscorer markets or even card markets when putting together football accas.

Added to that, one of the most exciting recent developments in betting is the bet builder, which allows you to combine markets from the same game or event into an accumulator.

Other Sports For Accumulator Betting

While accumulators at football betting sites are the most popular types of accas, you can place accumulator bets on many other sports as well. 

Horse Racing Accumulators

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Punters can build accumulator bets for horse races at the best horse racing betting sites. A horse racing accumulator bet can combine singles or each way shots, depending on your fancy.

Tip: Combine accas with Cheltenham betting offers to boost your Festival betting!

Tennis Accumulators

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Tennis accumulator bets are popular because games with the top players tend to be one-sided. Combining multiple matches into an accumulator at tennis betting sites is a great way to make things interesting and boost odds.

5 Top Accumulator Betting Strategies

1. Do Your Research: Research is key to a successful bet accumulator. For football accumulators, make sure you know the ins and outs of the team you’re betting on, including their form, injuries, and context of the fixture.
2. Think About Handicaps: You don’t always have to place accumulators on the final result. Handicaps bets are a fun way to shake up your betting, increase your odds, and win more.
3. Don't Always Bet On The Favourite: Bettors often make football accumulators with only the favourites selected. You’ll get lower odds with these bets while still having quite a high risk.
4. Mix & Match Selections: When building your acca, you can usually include several different bet types. Add more variety to your accumulator bet and try niche markets that the oddsmakers might take their eyes off.
5. Bet Over An Extended Period: While it’s tempting to build an accumulator bet for a single day of excitement, it can be more rewarding to spread your selections over an extended period if it makes for a smarter bet.

Types of Accumulator Betting Offers

Bookmakers encourage punters to place accumulator bets by providing various promotions, some of which are described below:

• Acca Insurance: Losing your acca by one leg is one of the worst feelings in betting. Luckily, several bookmakers offer acca insurance, which gives you your stake back as a free bet if one leg of your accumulator bet loses.
• 2-Up & Early Payout: Some bookmakers will also offer to pay out if a game meets certain conditions before the final whistle. For instance, bookmakers might mark one leg of your football accumulator settled if a team goes two goals ahead.
• Acca Boosts: Sometimes, betting sites offer acca bonuses where you can get a percentage boost to your odds when you add more legs. Some bookmakers also create betting accumulators with boosted odds for you to select.

What Happens if a Bet is Void in an Accumulator?

Sometimes accumulator bets are voided and your money is returned to you. This can happen if a game is called off or a player you bet on doesn’t play. But what happens when a leg is voided in accumulator bets?

Each bookmaker will have its own terms and conditions for void bets, but most will remove the voided odds from your accumulator and recalculate your payout based on the remaining selections.

For example, let’s look again at our earlier fourfold football accumulator: We had Real Madrid (2.0), Paris Saint Germain (2.0), Crystal Palace (4.0) and RB Leipzig (3.0). 

The initial payout for this football accumulator from a €1 stake was €48 (2.0 x 2.0 x 4.0 x 3.0). However, if the Crystal Palace game was voided, your profit from €1 would be €12 (2.0 x 2.0 x 3.0).

Each Way Accumulator Betting

The risk of accumulator betting is present with all sports, but horse racing is one of the most unpredictable sports you can bet on. You can, however, reduce your risk by placing an each way bet. 

An each way bet will return a portion of your stake to you if your horse finishes in second or third. Some bookmakers even offer each way betting up to five places for certain races. You need to place two bets for an each way, so you'll need to double your stake.

Consider the horse racing accumulator bet below:

If all selections are correct, a €1 stake will return you €720.

But what if one of the selections finished second? With an each way acca bet, if your horse stumbles and finishes second, you’ll be able to pocket some winnings. Remember, you need to double your stake for every each way.

The returns are usually calculated by taking the original odds and applying an each way fraction of 1/5. See how an each way acca is calculated below.

Handicap Bet Accumulator

Rather than betting on the final result, a handicap bet will apply a deficit to the favourite and give an advantage to the underdog. You win your bet if the favourite scores more than the deficit or ifg the underdog wins or loses within its advantage.

Handicap betting is a great way to build accumulator bets on events with lopsided odds. It’s also great with football accumulators if you’re not sure a team will win, but the game will be close.

For example, you might expect Manchester City to win an FA Cup match-up with a lower-league side. The match odds for them to win might be 1/2 (1.5). However, you may get odds of evens if you bet on City to win by more than a single goal, which is shown as -1 with handicap betting.

Alternatively, you might want to bet on the lower-league side at +2. If the team loses 1-0, you’d still win your bet as you backed them with a two-goal advantage.

Over/Under Accumulators

You don’t have to bet on teams to win, lose or draw with every accumulator. Over/under goals bets are a great alternative for accas.

In football betting, bookmakers will set a total for goals scored in every game, and you can predict whether the final result will be over or under that total in your football accumulator. The most common over/under is 2.5 goals, but you’ll also find low options like 0.5 goals, and high options like 6.5 goals available.

Over/under betting lowers the number of outcomes and is a fun option for straightforward, quickfire acca betting on a Saturday afternoon.

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Accumulator Betting: Key Learnings

There is plenty to learn about accumulator betting but you should now be armed with all the info you need to take on the bookmaker. To ensure you haven’t missed out on anything, check out some key takeaways:

• Accumulators allow you to combine multiple bets into a single bet with one stake and increased odds.
• You can add different bet types to an acca, including over/unders, handicaps, and teams to win.
• Bet builders are accas that combine different markets from the same game or event.
• Accumulator betting is a great way to enjoy sports that sometimes have lopsided odds.
• In some sports, like horse racing and golf, you can add each way bets to your accas.
• You can claim promotions to improve your accumulator betting, like acca insurance, boosts, and early payouts.
• Accumulator bets with a voided leg will often still give you a payout. Check the terms and conditions of your bookmaker to confirm.