Some call it a parlay, others an ‘Accumulator’ or, more recently, a multi bet, but one thing’s clear: an accumulator is an arrow that every master punter has in his betting quiver for use at one time or another. Most other betting strategies we’ve looked at so far, including hedging and arbitrage, are centered around risk management. Accumulators are the very opposite of that.
Accumulator betting increases risk rather than reduces it, but with that comes an advantage. As with most types of gambling where risk is heightened, the potential for mouthwatering profits also increases. To mitigate this risk, experienced punters will know when and how to use an accumulator. First, let’s get to definitions.
What Is An Accumulator?
In simplest terms, an accumulator is any bet that contains multiple linked events (legs) – any number from two upwards. For the bet to win, all of the linked events need to prove true. An accumulator can be considered as several single bets compounded together. It could feature an insanely high number of legs, even as many as 20 or 30. If a single leg is lost, then the whole accumulator is lost as well. On the other hand, if all the eventualities come true, then the accumulator is won. Not only that, but the win can result in tantalizingly high profits to match (and reward) the risk taken by the punter.
How Exactly Does Accumulator Betting Work?
Let’s consider the following soccer markets for demonstration:
| MANCHESTER CITY (1.80) | DRAW (3.20) | CHELSEA (4.60) |
| ARSENAL (2.00) | DRAW (2.86) | WOLVES (3.15) |
| EVERTON (1.65) | DRAW (3.5) | FULHAM (3.80) |
| LEICESTER (2.40) | DRAW (3.00) | MANCHESTER UNITED (1.70) |
Say we want to stake $10 on an accumulator involving these four individual matches. Essentially, our accumulator becomes a single bet with the winnings from the first match carrying over to the second and so on. As follows:
- Pick Man City to win. 1.80 * 10 = $18.
- Pick Wolves to win. 18 * 3.15 = $56.7
- Pick Everton to win. 56.7 * 1.65 = $93.56
- Pick Draw. 93.56 * 3.00 = $280.68
As you can see above, with just a $10 stake, you can return a $280 win. This means a staggering profit of about $270. On the other hand, if any of your predictions go wrong, even a single one, the entire parlay bet is lost. Here are a few more things to note with this type of a bet:
- If any of the events is nulled, like a match is canceled, the accumulator will be processed, excluding the nulled event. Say, for instance, Everton vs. Fulham is canceled, then the accumulator will be considered to involve Man City vs. Chelsea, Arsenal vs. Wolves, and Leicester vs. Man United only.
- The single bets in the accumulator don’t need to be placed in any order. For instance, you could start with Leicester vs. Man United or Everton vs. Fulham and end with Man City vs. Chelsea, depending.
- The single bets in the accumulator don’t have to come from the same sport. For instance, you could combine a soccer match with a tennis match and a horse racing bet.
- You can not form an accumulator by combining single bets from different bookmakers’ markets. Usually, you have to play within the same bookie.
Situations Favoring Accumulator Betting
There are certain situations where placing a multi bet makes more sense than others. Those situations are usually when the risk involved can be mitigated one way or another, for instance:
- When you have expert knowledge about a sport. This means you have insider information or have passionately followed a sport for a long time, meaning that your predictions are more likely to be right.
- When using a low stake. Accumulator betting is a shot-in-the-dark sort of deal. The chances of losing an accumulator are magnitudes higher than a single bet. Therefore, it’s good practice to avoid wagering large stakes with this type of bet.
- When combining high-possibility eventualities. In sports betting (and gambling in general), events that have a high probability of turning out to be correct are easier to predict & win, but they tend to (of course) be lower priced. An accumulator can prove a profitable way to combine and capitalize on them.
