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Gambling

What is an Accumulator Bet?

"Accas" or "parlays" can be quite confusing at first. We break down the accumulator bet by giving examples and explanations.

Claudia Hartley
Claudia Hartley

Last Updated: 2024-05-27

A. Tzamantanis

4 minutes read

A jockey riding a hourse in a race

Credit: Jeff Griffith via Unsplash

An accumulator bet is simply a series of bets that are combined into one. For accumulator bets to be paid out, all of the different legs of the bet need to come good.

Sports betting sites sometimes call accumulators by different names. Acca is common in the UK, while parlay is used mostly in the US, some sites also call them combo bets. 

The difference between a betting accumulator and other multiple bets is that accumulators usually have four or more selections, while multiples are usually doubles (2 bets) or trebles (3 bets).

So, now you know what an accumulator bet is, it’s time to move on to how they work.   

How Accumulator Bets Work

You can think of an accumulator in betting as a series of small bets, all combined into one. If one leg of your bet loses, then the whole bet loses. However, if all of your bets win, then the payout is big.

The Selection

Let’s take a look at a real-life example:

You were at the 2024 Cheltenham festival and thought the following horses had a good chance of winning. Their start prices (in fractional and decimal odds) are in brackets next to them.

  • Absurde in the County Handicap Hurdle (12/1 or 13)
  • Majborough in the Triumph Hurdle (6/1 or 7)
  • Galopin Des Champs in the Cheltenham Gold Cup (10/11 or 1.9)
  • Limerick Lace in the Mare’s Chase (3/1 or 4)

It turns out, you’re great at picking winners, all of the above selections won. Let’s take a look at what that would mean if you’d placed a series of straight bets, vs an accumulator bet.

Calculating Single Bets

For your straight bets, let’s say you have $5 on each horse, for a total of $20. If you’d had these as individual bets, you’d have won:

5 x 13 = $65
5 x 7 = $35
5 x 1.9 = $9.5
5 x 4 = $20

Total = $129.50 minus your $20 stake, for $109.50

As you can see the returns from an accumulator are much larger than from a series of singles bets, but if just one of these horses hadn’t won, you’d have received nothing.

Pros and Cons of Accumulator Bets

As you might have noticed from the example above, there are benefits and drawbacks to placing accumulator bets. Let’s take a look at some of them.

Pros:

  • Big Payouts: The single biggest allure of placing accumulator bets is being able to win large amounts of money with a very small stake.
  • Variety: If you’re a sports enthusiast then you’ll likely have picks for all kinds of different events each day. An accumulator lets you consolidate these picks into one wager.
  • Excitement: Watching the final leg of an accumulator come in offers unparalleled excitement.

Cons:

  • Risk: The biggest drawback of accumulator betting is risk. If just one of your selections loses then the whole bet loses.
  • Difficulty: We all know the work that goes into choosing one winning bet, having to predict multiple winners is difficult.

FAQs

Is a parlay the same as an accumulator?

There are all different kinds of names for accumulator bets and a parlay is one of them. You’ll sometimes see accumulators referred to as accas, multiples, or combo bets too.

Is there a way to still win an accumulator even if one leg loses?

Yes and no. If you’re having a bet on a sport where each-way bets are possible (like horse racing or greyhound racing) then you can place each-way bets on your accumulator.

This means that as long as the horse or greyhound places, your accumulator will still win. Remember that the stake costs double in each way bets.

Can I place an accumulator on different things happening in the same game?

Yes, absolutely. Lots of sports betting sites offer same-game parlays. This is exactly what you’re looking for! You should note that sometimes the odds are shorter on same game accumulators.

Is a Yankee a bet accumulator?

Yes, sort of. A yankee is a little more confusing than a standard accumulator, but it goes by the same principles of your initial stake being placed on each individual event. You can find out more about it on our yankee explainer.  

There are all kinds of variations of accumulators that go by specific names, for example: Canadian, Lucky 15, Super Yankee, and Heinz, are all kinds of accumulator bets.

Claudia Hartley
Claudia HartleySports Betting Writer

With a decade of experience in the sports betting industry, Claudia can spot a value bet from a mile off. She prides herself on not just being a sports writer, but a fastidious researcher too.