What is an accumulator bet?
An accumulator, otherwise known as a multiple, acca or parlay is a single bet that links two or more bets and makes each bet or leg, dependent on each other winning for you to see a return.
There are lots of different types of bet. Here, we’ll look at accumulators – how they work and how to place them. So, what is an accumulator bet?
Accumulator Bets Explained
The odds of each selection is multiplied by the next, which is one of the main benefits of an accumulator as this can lead to big odds. An accumulator is risky, especially when you increase the number of selections. But if you know how to win an accumulator bet? You can get some pretty hefty returns.
But that is a key point to remember. Each of your selections has to win. Have you ever created a 10 team acca and had 9 teams win, only for 1 to let you down? Tough luck. But it’s that fine line between heartbreak, and ecstasy that makes the accumulator one of the nation’s favoured betting methods. And a reason so many people want to know what an accumulator bet is!
Let’s say, for example, you create an accumulator with the following selections:
| Selection | Odds |
| Tottenham | 1.3 |
| Manchester United | 1.7 |
| Arsenal | 2.5 |
| Chelsea | 1.8 |
| Manchester City | 1.6 |
The accumulative odds for this bet are 15.91. If you place a bet of £10, you will have a return of £159.12, should all of the selections win.
But let’s say one team, Arsenal, fail to win, but all of the others do. Unfortunately, you’ll fail to win your bet, and you’ll lose your £10 stake.
How to calculate accumulator odds
The question of how to calculate accumulator odds is one that comes up quite frequently.
It’s a pretty simple formula that you can do with a calculator. We’ll show you how we calculated the odds for the aforementioned acca below:
1.3 x 1.7 x 2.5 x 1.8 x 1.6 = 15.91
So there you have multiplied the odds of each individual selection to get the accumulative odds. These odds are then multiplied by your stake to give you your return:
15.91 x £10 = £159.10
1 Go to Betfair and find your chosen market
If you’re still unsure how to calculate accumulator odds, you can use our Accumulator Betting Calculator.
How to place an accumulator bet
If you want to know how to place an accumulator bet, but find it confusing, there’s no need to worry. It’s pretty straight forward and we’ll break down the steps for you.
1 Choose your teams
When you visit your bookmaker, you will see a list of all of the available selections that you can bet on. Many people choose to do ‘team to win’ accumulators, but you can mix almost any market. Each selection must be from a different event, though.
Using the above graphic as an example, just work your way down the list, clicking the odds that take your fancy. These will then appear on your betslip.
2 Check your bet slip
As you’ll see, your selections will be added to your bet slip, with the odds of each selection stated alongside it.
Run through this list, and double check that you have added the correct selections to your bet slip.
3 Add your stake
Move to the lower part of the bet slip and find the correct betting option.
Bookmakers list these in different ways. Some will actually state the word accumulator, while others will state the number of selections you’ve chosen followed by the word ‘fold’.
In this case, the option you’re looking for is ‘5-fold’, as there are 5 teams on the bet slip. Then just place the amount you wish to stake in the corresponding box.
4 Place your bet
All that is left for you to do, is click the button at the bottom of the bet slip that says ‘place bet’. Often this will place your bet straight away, but some bookmakers ask you to confirm your bet first. As you can see, the steps for how to place an accumulator bet are pretty straight forward!
But placing them is the easy part. If you want to know how to win an accumulator bet, read on.
How can OddsMonkey help you with accumulators?
So that’s the basics of accumulators for you. But did you know that accas are also widely used with matched betting? Because of this, OddsMonkey have developed a comprehensive range of tools to help you combine the two.
We’ve already touched on the magic of accumulators. How they are exciting, but frustrating in equal parts. But what if you could keep the excitement of placing an accumulator… and also increase your chances of earning a profit at the end of it? If you want to know how to win an accumulator bet more regularly, this is for you.
Now, to be frank, the bookies love accas. Accumulators are their favourite type of bets to take, because they provide them with great returns. The search term ‘how to win an accumulator bet’ is a popular one on Google for a reason; they’re a very tough nut to crack!
As a result, a large proportion of bookmakers offer bonuses and promotions to entice customers to place an accumulator.
Typically, a bookmaker will say that if just one leg of a five team or more accumulator lets you down, they will give you a free bet. The free bets on offer range from £10 to £50.
We’ll run through a risk averse accumulator strategy to give you an idea of what can be achieved using OddsMonkey’s software.
1 Use the OddsMonkey Acca Finder tool
The Acca Finder tool drastically shortens the tedious process of putting together suitable accas that have reasonable lay odds. The Acca Finder shows you accumulators where the fixtures don’t overlap, have suitable low odds and correspond to a particular bookmaker offer. If you want to take part in a specific bookmaker offer, Acca Finder will allow you to filter for these in particular.
2 Place the qualifying bet
When you have settled on an accumulator, you need to visit the appropriate bookmaker’s website. Then simply use the steps we outlined above for how to place an accumulator bet.
Add your selections to the betslip, and place the bet, using a stake no higher than the maximum needed to qualify for the offer.
3 Lay each leg
One of the most common ways to take advantage of the positive expected value of these offers, is to lay each leg sequentially. This is why it’s important to build an acca where the event’s don’t overlap.
You lay each selection until one loses. Following this, you have to hope that the rest win to trigger your free bet. To assist you, the OddsMonkey Acca Finder walks you through the process of what to lay and when.
4 Collect your free bet
Once you trigger your free bet, you can follow normal matched betting strategy to cash in around 80% of the free bet value. So, if your bonus was £50, you’ll end up with around £40 of withdrawable cash.
Earlier we showed you how to calculate accumulator odds manually. Fortunately, there’s an even easier way to calculate your free bet returns with matched betting. Simply use the following calculator: https://www.oddsmonkey.com/Calculator.aspx
This accumulator process is very easy once you get the hang of it. Plus, the probability of you making a profit using this method is far better than placing regular accumulators.
The above steps are an example of how the process works, rather than a guide. In the OddsMonkey members area you’ll find a wide range of guides and video walk throughs to talk you through this process in more detail, or for. more information head over to the ‘How it Works’ section of our site.
