Updated: 2024The beloved accumulator or affectionately known as the ‘acca’ is without a doubt the most popular sporting bet on the planet. Over the last decade, the accumulator has almost become the routine bet for football fans, who pick out their weekend selections from the leagues and cup competitions across Europe and beyond. The reason why so many people are attracted to the accumulator bet is that it gives you the chance to win so much from so little. The lucky ones have won hundreds of thousands of pounds from small bets as little as £2 or £3 – the temptation of the ‘acca’ is quite clear to see!
This type of bet has ingrained itself into football culture with fans picking out their selections before the Saturday 3 pm kickoff time, with the hope of celebrating a big win in just a couple of hours time. However, it’s not solely created for the football betting market and the bet is also widely used on many other sports including basketball, horse racing, rugby, cricket. Basically, any sport that has multiple matches or events are open to accumulator bets. This guide offers everything there is to know about this exciting type of bet including accumulator betting tips, strategies, and where to find the best accumulator odds.
What is an Accumulator Bet?
Accumulators are simple to understand and that’s why anyone (above 18 in the UK!) can sign up to an online sports betting site, or walk into a bookmaker on the high street and place the bet with ease. In short, this is what an ‘acca’ is described as:
The Accumulator Bet
A single bet that combines four or more selections
To build your accumulator bet, all you need to do is choose four selections or more from the basic ‘1×2’ betting market, and then decide how much you want to place on the bet. Remember, you don’t need to bet a lot in order to get a big return and that’s the beauty of accumulators. An acca with six selections is called a six-fold, 10 selections is called a ten-fold and so on, some bookies draw a line at around 14 or 15 maximum selections but others are known to offer more. The more selections you choose, the bigger the odds become. The only thing you do need to fully understand is that every selection needs to come true for the bet to win, even if one selection fails then the entire bet is lost.
Accumulator Betting Rules
The accumulator bet does come with a few rules that are widely agreed upon by the bookies. Most sites will allow you to make selections from different sports but you are not allowed to choose multiple selections from one event and they must be mutually independent of one another. If any matches or events are postponed due to bad weather or if there are any non-runners, in the case of horse racing, then they will be removed from your bet, meaning that a six-fold acca would be reduced to a five-fold and so on.
What are the Advantages of Placing an Accumulator?
The magic behind the accumulator is how the odds are calculated, the huge returns are only possible due to the fact that all of the odds from your selections are combined to create the ‘acca odds’, which can be huge if you throw in one or two underdogs. These kinds of odds can’t be found in any other areas of standard betting and this is why accumulator betting is so exciting. Yes, the likelihood of your bet winning is a lot lower but the potential return from a small bet amount is more than worth the risk for most bettors. Placing an accumulator is the perfect option for those with smaller betting budgets, the humble £1 or £2 accumulators bets can still bring in big returns and it certainly doesn’t break the bank!
