Accumulators or accas as they’re also known, combine multiple single bets into one bet. They must contain at least four single selections to be classed as an accumulator.
Unlike multiple bets, to win an accumulator, all selections need to win. If one part of your acca lets you down, the entire bet loses. Double and treble bets work on the same premises.
The different selections of an accumulator are known as folds. So a six-fold acca contains six selections of which each one needs to win to land the overall bet.
All bookmakers offer accumulators to their customers. However, the maximum number of folds varies depending on which bookie you use. Some bookies also have a payout limit on their accumulators.
Accumulators in football
In recent years, accumulator bets have become very popular amongst bettors. They’re especially popular with football betting.
Large potential winnings from a relatively small stake are the main reason punters love placing accumulators. To work out acca odds you multiply the odds of each single bet as we’ll see in the example below.
One punter bet 80p on a 19 fold accumulator at odds of 683,738/1. The lucky punter won £585,000 from this one bet. See what I mean by large winnings from a small stake…
Accumulator example
So how do accumulator bets work?
As I mentioned above, the odds of each single selection are multiplied together to give the odds of the entire accumulator bet.
Here’s an example
- Man City to beat Leicester City – 2.0
- Chelsea to beat Barcelona – 3.2
- Arsenal to beat Newcastle – 2.0
- Brighton to beat Watford – 4.5
So we multiply all the odds (2.0 x 3.2 x 2.0 x 4.5 = 57.6). In this scenario, a £10 winning acca would return £576. Not bad when you consider it’s only a £10 stake.
Accumulators in other sports
Despite accumulators being incredibly popular in football betting, this is not the only sport you can use them in. Here are others:
- Rugby
- Horse racing
- Tennis
- American football
You name it… and you can probably place an acca on it. It’s also possible to mix and match your accumulator bets between different sports. This gives you more opportunity to place exciting and profitable accumulators.
How to place accumulator bets
Placing accumulators bets is incredibly easy. The process below should be suitable for most online bookmakers.
- Head to your desired bookmaker
- Find the desired markets
- Add each selection to your bet slip
- The platform will group them as an acca or single bets (you want the accumulator)
You then add your stake and place your bet once you’re ready. It’s that simple.
