Accumulator Calculators: Working Out Acca Returns

Accumulator bets, often called accas by punters, combine several bets into one wager. While this lowers the likelihood of the bettor winning, the payouts can be considerably larger. In fact, some of the largest possible returns in sports betting can come from accumulator bets.

However, the key word is possible. Acca bets are, by nature, more speculative. Although there are ways to make them less so with careful selections, sometimes you’ll run into another problem – working out the exact possible payout can be complicated.

That’s fine when you only want to use one bookmaker, but when you want to shop around for odds it can quickly become too complex for manual calculation. This guide will explain what you need to know about accumulators, the tools available to make them easier to put together and a few tips to make the most value out of them.

What is an Accumulator Exactly – And How Do They Work

An accumulator bet combines two or more wagers into one bet. Every selection must be correct for the combined acca to pay out. The odds are multiplied together to produce the final odds, which can quickly stack up.

For example, consider a €10 stake on three winners at 1/1, 0.5/1 and 1.5/1. The combined odds 6.5/1, which gives a total pay out of €65 – plus your stake returned, for a total of €75.

That is just a simple example with low odds. However, hopefully you can see how a bet with say seven picks can quickly become both complex and very unlikely to win – but also a very high potential payout. Just ask Fred Craggs, a salesman from Yorkshire, England, who in 2008 won £1,000,000 from a 50p accumulator bet on eight horses – with combined odds of more than 2 million to 1.

Some accumulators let you choose a stake for each individual bet and combine them after, while others you stake on the combined odds after. Some accas also offer insurance if only one of your selections loses, or the bookmaker might offer you a cash out. These are special circumstances though, and in general you should assume all your picks need to be correct for an overall winner.

Tools That Can Do all of This For You

If an acca bet sounds complicated, there is a simple solution. A top Irish bookmaker knows how popular accas are, so it provides an accumulator calculator that lets customers test out their bet ideas without putting any money down.

All you have to do is plug in your stake and the odds for each selection. Optional fields include different types of odds, whether fractional or decimal, and the type of selection for each. Because, if you didn’t know, you can combine an acca across different bet types such as straight-up bets props or each-way bets.

These calculators make the process simple, even with six or eight different legs to your wager. They’re usable across all different sports in which accas are applicable from horse racing to rugby or football.

Accumulator Strategies and Pro Tips

Accumulators are a risky bet. More selections means more ways for things to go wrong. Just because the odds are longer, doesn’t make it a value bet. You still have to consider each individual pick just as you would normally.

Looking at each selection on its own merit helps you not get swayed to make a win even less likely by a bigger payout. An accumulator calculator can only tell you what you might win from a bet – it won’t tell you how likely it is to come in. Which, with most eight-pick accumulators, is not very.

Accas can be a fun way of using up small free bets (always check the terms)or leftover small change in your betting account. That’s because even a small bet of just cents can stack up into worthwhile returns, without risking much each time.

One obvious idea many novice bettors have is as follows – bundle a lot of favourites into an acca for enhanced odds. However, the odds are never going to be the astronomical sizes you read about in the papers if you do that. And, statistically, in some sports the favourite can lose as much as 48% of the time. So this strategy doesn’t guarantee anything, although it can work if you get lucky.

Which, tells you just about the whole story. Across the pond in the US of A, accumulators are called parlay bets. Sportsbooks love them, and promote them all the time. Because, they’re simply more likely to lose. While the odd punter might make a million euro off of a 50 cent bet, overall accas are a winning bet for the bookmakers.

A pro sports bettor usually ignores accumulators and parlays. That’s the bottom line. But they can be a fun diversion and potentially massively profitable, if you get lucky.