Accumulator Bet Calculator

One of the most popular bet types for sports bettors to place are accumulator bets. Also known as parlay bets in America, an accumulator is a bet that contains numerous selections that are rolled into one bet.

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Often used in sports such as football and tennis, the purpose of an accumulator is to chase value. Due to the fact that multiple selections go into making an accumulator, they can be one of the riskier bet types that can be placed as every leg of an accumulator needs to be successful in order for the bet to win.

In this guide we will break down everything you need to know about an accumulator bet. We will reveal how it works, how it can be calculated and some of the advantages and disadvantages of placing it.

An Accumulator Bet Explained

As you may already be aware, when it comes to sports betting there are a multitude of different multiple bets that can be placed. A double involves two or more selections, a treble contains three, but if you want to add more than three selections to your bet slip then you want to place an accumulator bet.

An accumulator is usually triggered when you want to choose a minimum of four teams or players for your bet.

Despite the fact that the bet requires multiple selections, an accumulator bet is very easy to create.

For this example let’s create a football accumulator bet from matches at Euro 2024 and the 2024 Copa America. For our example let’s bet on five teams.

In our bet we fancy England, France, the Netherlands, Denmark and Canada all to win.

What we need to do is select each side’s odds. This will automatically load each of the five teams we want to bet on into our bet slip.

Now the joy of betting on either an app or online, is that the site will do the odds calculation for you. Once you have selected the odds of each of the five different teams, on your bet slip there should be the option of ‘accumulator’. Click on or expand this option and you should be able to enter your stake. If you are using an American bookmaker, the word ‘accumulator’ may be replaced by ‘parlay’. Don’t worry they are the same bet.

Once you have entered your stake, your odds should be visible and the amount that your bet will return should be seen. If happy with both your selections and the amount that you could win, simply confirm your bet and it will be registered.

About The Author: Jack Hartman

In Order to Win an Accumulator Bet

Just like other multiples, to win your accumulator bet all you need to ensure is that every leg of your bet wins.

If England, France, the Netherlands and Denmark win but Canada loses, our bet will lose. If just one leg of your accumulator loses, your other selections will all be classified as losers even if the other teams all win their individual matches.

How Big Can an Accumulator Bet Be?

It isn’t uncommon that an accumulator can be as big as ten selections. There are no different rules for having a large amount of selections within your accumulator bet slip. The rules remain simple - in order for your accumulator to win, every leg must win.

How Are Accumulator Bets Calculated?

Every sports bettor dreams of the big win and that can often be achieved through placing an accumulator bet.

The odds for an accumulator are calculated by multiplying the odds of all of your different selections together to create one final value.

As we have explained earlier on in this guide, there will be little need for you to work out your own odds as the betting site you use will do this for you. You can also use a great selection of online betting calculators should you want to find out your odds another way.

What Other Sports Are Good for Placing Accumulator Bets?

We have already highlighted that football is one of the sports that leads the way when it comes to accumulator betting, but there are plenty of others that could be worth considering.

Tennis is very popular for multiple bets and is often a great choice if you want to load up your bet slip with numerous selections.

American sports can also be popular. The NFL and NBA are rapidly growing in popularity outside of America and due to the regularity and blocks of games that both sports provide, they are often perfect for placing accumulator bets.

Online Betting Sites or Apps Features

As I’m taking more risks with my accumulator bets, do online betting sites or apps help in any way?

There are a few different features that you can take advantage of after you have placed an accumulator bet.

Cash Out Option:

The most common is the option to cash out your bet early. Let’s use our football example from earlier. If England, France, the Netherlands and Denmark have all won their games and we are just waiting on the outcome of the Canada match, we may be able to cash out early.

What happens here is that the bookmaker will offer us a percentage of our overall returns that we will be able to claim as winnings. If we decide to cash out, it will mean that we won’t win as much as the bet initially promised, but we won’t be sweating on the result of the Canada match. If Canada lose but we have cashed out, it doesn’t matter as we still would have our cash out settlement.

Edit Accumulators:

The other option that some online bookmakers provide is the option to edit your accumulators. If one of your legs is losing but the others are winning, you may be able to remove this leg from your bet entirely.

If you do this, your overall returns will be greatly diminished but it can be a good way of keeping your bet alive.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Placing an Accumulator Bet

Advantages

• Easy to place
• Provides great returns
• Allows the bettor to take advantage of services such as ‘cash out’
• The bettor can choose how much risk they want to take based on the amount of selections they can include
• A wide range of bet sizes are accommodated for

Disadvantages

• Can be hard to win regularly
• A lot of risk
• Just one leg needs to lose in order for your bet to lose