Types Of Bet

Type of Singles Bets

Single bets are when you are backing just one outcome, for example, if backing in a horse race then you are backing just one runner or in the case of a football match, you are backing one team to win.

Single Bets are the most common type that successful sports gamblers use to make a slow and steady profit over time. 

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Win Bet

What is a Win Bet ?

A Win bet means you are backing a runner to win the race; a team win to win a match, a player to complete a specific task or even an outcome of a long-term contest. 

Make a correct prediction, and the single bet is a winner; an incorrect prediction means you lose!

For example, if you back Tiger Roll to win the Grand National, and you have £10 on at 5/1 to win. 

If Tiger Roll wins the race, you will receive a total of £60, a £50 profit, plus your £10 stake back.

Place Bet

What is a Place Bet ? 

Used mostly in horse racing, often in golf betting and sometime in greyhound racing.

Making a place bet means that selection has to finish within the declared number of available places in the finishing order for your bet to be successful. 

The number of placings will be specified by the bookmaker at the time of placing the bet.

Place bets are popular on betting exchanges such as Betfair or Smarkets

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Horse Racing Place Rules

For example, you back Tiger Roll to place in the Grand National, you have £10 on at 2/1 to place and there are 3 places being paid.

 If Tiger Roll finishes anywhere in the first three, you will be paid out £30 (£20 profit). 

It doesn’t matter in which position of the first three it finishes, the payout will always be the same and if he does not place then you lose your stake.

For greyhounds, racing places are usually only offered to 2nd position, but in Golf, players often qualify for a place as far down the order as 8th position

Place betting is often viewed as a low-risk approach to betting on horse racing.

Each Way Bet

What is an Each Way bet? 

Often misunderstood, an each way bet is actually 2 separate bets undertaken in a single transaction.

The two bets involved are a win bet and a place bet. 

A selection has only to finish within the determined places for the bet to provide a return.

How Many Places in a Horse Race?

The table below is how many places are paid in horse racing depending on the number of runners and race type. 

Or perhaps this place terms list might be clearer

• Handicaps of more than 16 runners - 1/4 odds for 4 places
• Handicaps of 12-15 runners - 1/4 odds for 3 places
• All other races of more than 8 runners - 1/5 odds for 3 places
• All races of 5-7 runners - 1/4 odds for 2 places
• All races of less than 5 runners - Win only bets**

**If a place bet is accepted and a race goes off with less than 5 runners for any reason, the place bet will become a win bet only.

For example, let's imagine you had an each-way tip you wanted to bet  Red Rum in the Grand National at 5/1. 

You stake a total of £10, this means that £5 will go on the horse to win at 5/1 returning £30 (£25 profit) if the horse wins the race if the horse doesn’t win then you lose your win stake.

The other half of your stake will go on to the place. 

The Grand National usually features 40 runners and is a handicap meaning you would get ¼ odds for the place term and four places paid

A ¼ odds of 5/1 would be 5/4 ( 5 / 4 = 1.25 ) so if the runner finished in the first 4 you would receive back £11.25 (£6.25 profit) from the place part of your bet.

Of course, if your runner does not win but finishes 2nd or 3rd based on the above example then you will still see a return from the place part of the bet but will lose your win stake.

• Runner Wins: £30 Win + £11.25 Place (£31.25 Profit)
• Runner 2nd, 3rd or 4th: £11.25 Place (£1.25 Profit)
• Runner Loses: £0 Returned (£10 Loss)

This is a great way of covering your win bets. 

If the odds are higher than the each way terms, for example, if there are ¼ odds for the place terms then a runner of 4/1 or bigger or for ⅕ odds, a runner of 5/1 or bigger getting into the placings will result in no loss of your stake as long as there is no Rule 4 or dead-heat on the race.

Multiples

What is a Multiple Bet in Sports Betting? 

A multiple bet is a series of individual outcome selections combined as a single bet where the fortune of one selection can either positively or adversely affect the fate of the entire bet. 

Often you can pick winners in a multiple bet but lose overall.

Doubles

What is a Double Bet?  

A double is a bet that consists of two selections. These can be either win or each-way bets, with the winning return from the first bet being used as the stake for the second bet.

This means both bets must be successful for a return; if the first part of the bet is a loser, then the whole bet is a loser. 

This type of bet is aimed at those expecting both bets to win and looking for a better return than backing them both in singles.

For example, if two horses are priced at 3/1 and 2/1 and you want to stake £10 on them, backing them as singles with £5 on each would return a profit of £25 if both are successful.

If you back them as a £10 double, then if the first bet wins at 3/1, your return in total would be £40, all of which will go on to the second bet at 2/1 and if that also wins, then your return would be £120 which is a profit of £110.

Trebles

What is a Treble Bet? 

A treble bet consists of three selections; all selections must be winners, with each return being rolled over to the next leg of the bet.

Like above, the return from the first part of the bet goes on to the second part, but then, in a treble, the second part is advanced to the third part of the bet.

So, using the double example, you place £10 on a 3/1, 2/1 & 2/1 treble; if all three were successful, the returns would be for each part, £40 > £120 > £360, meaning a £350 profit.

Using decimal odds is a much easier way of working out your potential returns when it comes to multiple bets because you can multiply the odds together to get the result; in this example, it would be 4.00 * 3.00 * 3.00 = 36.00 * £10 stake = £360.

It can be a great help if you can convert decimal and fictional odds without thinking. 

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Accumulators

What is an Accumulator Bet? 

An accumulator is a bet where you can add four or more selections into a single bet where winnings are carried over between bets and if successful can be rewarding for small stakes.

When looking to add four or more selections into a single bet, these are most commonly called ‘Accumulators’, they can also be known as four-folds, five-folds etc too.

Selections have to come from different sporting events, this is also the case for both doubles and trebles too, you cannot have multiple selections from the same event but you can have selections from multiple sports.

For example, you could back Red Rum in a horse race, also Westmead Hawk in a greyhound race and then add Spurs, Arsenal and Leicester to win also to create a five-fold accumulator.

For a return, all five selections must be successful, a simple way of working out your potential return is to use decimal odds and simply multiple all the odds together.

• Red Rum 5/1 (6.00)
• Westmead Hawk 6/4 (2.50)
• Spurs 4/5 (1.80)
• Arsenal Evs (2.00)
• Leicester 5/4 (2.25)

To calculate your potential returns, it would be 6.00 * 2.50 * 1.80 * 2.00 * 2.25 which would work out as 121.50 meaning a £1 stake would return £121.50 if the bet was successful.

Some bookies will offer you Acca Insurance on certain accumulators in the way of stake back as a free bet if your accumulator is let down by a single selection.

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Types of Full Cover Bets

What are Full Cover Bets? 

These are bets which are aimed to cover as many multiple bets as possible for the number of selections which are in your betslip which will include doubles, trebles and accumulators.

Trixie

What is a Trixie Bet? 

A Trixie bet consists of three selections which are used to create a treble bet as well as three doubles resulting in a total of four bets where you can earn a return from just two winners

The main advantage of a Trixie bet is that despite there being three selections in the bet, you can still generate a return if only two of those are winners because the bet includes doubles.

A Trixie consists of 3 selections

Which produce a total of 4 bets

These consist of 3 doubles and 1 treble

The bet includes a treble featuring all three picks and then also three doubles consisting of selections A & B, A & C and B & C. Also,

Remember because a Trixie consists of a total of 4 bets, a £1 Trixie would cost you a total of £4.

Yankee

What is a Yankee Bet? 

Four selections comprise a Yankee bet, those four selections produce eleven bets which are made up of six doubles, four trebles and a four-fold accumulator. 

To produce a return, at least two of the four selections must be successful bets.

This full cover bet means each of your four selections will appear in three of the doubles, three of the trebles and also in the four-fold. 

Only two of the selections need to win for some sort of return as one of the doubles will be successful.

If three of your selections win then that will trigger three winning doubles as well as a winning treble but if none or only one of your selections is successful then there will be no return.

A Yankee consists of 4 selections

Which produce a total of 11 bets

These consist of 6 doubles, 4 trebles and a Four-Fold

Because there are 11 bets in a Yankee, your stake will be multiplied by this, meaning if you stake £1 on the Yankee then your total stake on the bet will be £11.

Super Yankee/Canadian

What is a Super Yankee? 

Otherwise known as a Canadian, a Super Yankee is a bet made up from a total of five selections which produce a total of twenty-six bets which includes doubles, trebles and accumulators.

The five selections make up twenty-six bets, these include ten doubles, ten trebles, five four-folds and a five-fold.

To see a return, at least two of the selections need to win because the bet on consists of twenty-six bets, a £1 stake would be a total of £26.

A Super Yankee consists of 5 selections

Which produces a total of 26 bets

These consist of 10 doubles and 10 trebles

As well as 5 four-folds and a five-fold

Heinz

What is a Heinz bet? 

A Heinz bet consists of six selections which generate a total of fifty-seven bets including doubles, trebles, four-folds, five-folds and a six-fold. 

It is called a Heinz based on the fact it contains 57 bets and picks up its name from the ‘Heinz 57’ advertising slogan.

The six selections in a Heinz are combined to produce a total of fifty-seven bets, this means a £1 stake would to a total of £57 on the bet as a whole, the number of multiples is as follows:

• 15x Doubles
• 20x Trebles
• 15x Four-Folds
• 6x Five-Folds
• 1x Six-Fold

Two winning selections would produce a return, however that is very much dependant on the odds taken at the time, the double would need to be 57/1 or bigger to see at least your stake returned.

Ideally, you want at least three winners which would trigger three doubles and a treble.

Super Heinz

What is a Super Heinz bet?

 In effect, this is a Heinz bet with one more selection and producing more than double the number of bets, meaning seven selections producing a total of one hundred and twenty bets which includes doubles, trebles, four-folds, five-folds, six-folds and a seven-fold.

In a Super Heinz, there are a total of one hundred and twenty bets, this means if you are looking to place a £1 stake then the total cost of the bet would be £120. 

Like the others, at least two winning selections are needed to see a return, this will only be a profit depending on the odds, two winning selections could return a loss on the bet.

• 21x Doubles
• 35x Trebles
• 35x Four-Folds
• 21x Five-Folds
• 7x Six-Folds
• 1x Seven-Fold

Goliath

What is a Goliath bet? 

A Goliath bet is one of the largest bets available, hence the name ‘Goliath’. 

It consists of a total of eight selections, these are used to create doubles, trebles, four-folds, five-folds, six-folds, seven-folds and an eight-fold to produce a total of two hundred and forth-seven bets.

Because of the number of bets, this one would need several winning selections to make a profit, a £1 stake would mean a total stake of £247. 

Just two winning selections producing a double would need to be at big odds to cover that stake. 

At a minimum, you would really need four or more winning bets to make a profit, of course, that is dependant on what prices you are backing.

• 28x Doubles
• 56x Trebles
• 70x Four-Folds
• 56x Five-Folds
• 28x Six-Folds
• 8x Seven-Folds
• 1x Eight-Folds

Full Cover Bets Plus Singles

Patent

The full cover bet which includes singles for a Trixie is known as a Patent, this follows all of the rules of a Trixie with the exception of the singles are also covered meaning instead of 4 bets, 

A Patent consists of a total of 7 bets and only one winner is needed to see a return.

Lucky 15

If you want to cover the singles also, then instead of a Yankee bet, you would place a Lucky15.

This bet covers all the multiples in a Yankee plus single bets on all four selections. 

This means a single winner would produce a return, with the addition of the four singles, the total number of bets rises to fifteen, hence the name, Lucky 15.

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Lucky 31

The equivalent to a Super Yankee which includes single bets also is known as a Lucky 31. 

This bet includes all twenty-six bets which a Super Yankee includes as well an additional five single bets meaning the total number of bets rises to 31, hence the Lucky 31 name. 

Just a single selection needs to win for you to see a return on a Lucky 31.

Lucky 63

To add singles to a Heinz bet, that is known as a Lucky 63, this bet includes the fifty-seven bets from a Heinz with the addition of the six singles making it a total of sixty-three bets which gives it the name ‘Lucky 63’. 

Because of the inclusion of singles, only one selection would need to win to guarantee a return.

Alphabet Bet

What is an Alphabet bet? 

Named an ‘Alphabet bet’ because this bet contains a total of twenty-six bets, it is one of the more complex bets where six selections make up two Patent bets, a Yankee bet and also a Six-Fold accumulator.

This is not a bet for newcomers due to its complexity where the six selections are split into three different bets and are also all used to create one six-fold accumulator.

The first Patent bet will use selections A, B & C to create the bet, the second Patent will use selections D, E & F. 

This means if selection A & D win then those are not covered in a double because they are in different Patent bets.

The Yankee bet uses selections B, C, D & E to create the bet meaning selections A & F are not included in this bet, those are only included in the Patents and the six-fold.

Any to Come Bets

Any to Come bets, also known as ‘ATC’ or ‘If Cash’ are bets which include phases where criteria must be met for the next phase of your bet to go ahead.

Up-And-Down

What is an Up-and-Down Bet? 

Picking two selections you can create an up-and-down bet which consists of two parts in which is one wins the stake goes on to the second selection, if both selections are successful then the stake is placed on the other selection.

Here is an Up-And-Down, Single Stakes About (SSA) example:

Let’s say you are backing £1 stakes on Kauto Star at 4/1 and Denman at 3/1. 

Because this bet consists of two bets, the total stake would be £2. 

Here are the different scenarios and outcomes:

• Kauto Star wins and Denman loses

  • You would receive back £4 but lose both stakes.

• Kauto Star loses and Denman wins

  • You would receive back £3 but lose both stakes.

• Both Kauto Star and Denman win

  • You would receive £9 + stake reused, another £7, total £16.

In the example both horses winning, the first parts of your bets would have been £1 at 4/1 and £1 at 3/1 and then because they won, the second parts would have reused the stakes so it would have been the same again (£1 at 4/1 and £1 at 3/1). 

Your total return would have been £16, you do not get stakes back for the second part of the bet.

The other type of this bet is ‘Double Stakes About (DSA)’ which follows the same procedure with the exception that part two of the bet does not use a single stake, it uses a double stake. 

This means the example above would be:  

• Kauto Star wins and Denman loses

  • You would receive back £3 but lose both stakes.

• Kauto Star loses and Denman wins

  • You would receive back £2 but lose both stakes.

• Both Kauto Star and Denman win

  • You would receive £9 + double stake reused, another £14, total £23.

Round Robin

What is a Round Robin Bet? 

A round-robin bet uses the pre-existing Trixie bet which consists of three doubles and a treble and the adds six up-and-downs single stakes about pairs creating a total of ten different bets.

Flag

What is a Flag bet? 

A flag bet is a method that punters can use to add up-and-down bets to an already existing Yankee bet meaning this bet contains the six doubles, four trebles and four-fold from a Yankee and add an additional six up-and-downs SSA pairs 

This makes a total of twenty-three bets from the four selections.

Super Flag

What is a Super Flag bet?

Much like a flag bet, the super flag bet takes a pre-existing bet, this time being a Super Yankee (Canadian) and uses the ten doubles, ten trebles, five four-folds and five-holds and adds an additional ten up-and-down SSA pairs. 

These result in the five selections covering a total of forty-six bets. 

Rounder

What is a Rounder bet?

A rounder bet contains three selections, the wager consists of three single bets and three ‘ATC’ doubles. 

A winning single bet triggers the stake to go forward onto a double for the other two selections. 

Meaning a £1 win on Pick A if successful would trigger a £1 double on Picks B & C and so on. 

Roundabout

What is a Roundabout bet?

 A roundabout bet is similar to the rounder bet, in that you have three selections where a winning single bet triggers a double on the other two selection but this time your stake on the double is double your stake, 

Therefore a £1 stake on a successful Pick A would trigger a £2 double on Picks B & C.

Union Jack Bets

Union Jack bets us a combination of nine selections which are set out in the style of a Union Jack flag, three rows of three which then produce a total of eight groups of three when looking vertically, horizontally and diagonally.

Union Jack Trebles

A union jack trebles bet consists of eight trebles from nine selections, set out in a three by three grid formation the trebles are determined by horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines.

For a successful treble, think of it in bingo terms, your line must contain three winners. 

For example, the top line of selections 1, 2 & 3 would all need to win for that one treble to be successful, if only 1 & 2 win and 3 loses then that treble will be a loser, it will also make any of the trebles containing selection 3 a loser too.

Union Jack Trixie

Using the same conditions as the Union Jack Trebles but this time, each group of three selections is put into a Trixie bet meaning for each group of three will contain three doubles and a treble giving the bet as a whole a total of eight trebles and twenty-four doubles.

Union Jack Patent

A Union Jack Patent is similar to the Union Jack Trixie in which is uses the group of three selections to create multiple bets. 

Each group of three will produce three doubles and a treble as well as three singles meaning a complete union jack patent bet consists of fifty-six bets.

Union Jack Round Robin

A Union Jack Round Robin uses each group of three selections to place a round robin bet on these selections. 

This will produce a total of nine round robin bets, these each contains three doubles, a treble and six up-and-downs single stakes about pairs meaning ten bets per group and a total of eighty bets.

Bets Involved in Union Jack Multiples Bets

Forecasting

The type of bets known as ‘Forecasting’ is mainly used in the horse racing world but can be used in other sports 

With this you predict the first two or three home which is what this type of bet is, predicting the winner, runner up and/or third-placed finisher.

This type of bet is also used in greyhounds and can be used in other multiple sports too but is most commonly used in horse racing, there are several different ways of placing a forecasting bet which we will explain.

Forecast

Placing a forecast bet means that you are predicting the first two runners home in a race in the correct order. 

This means a forecast bet of, for example, Cheltenham Gold Cup - 1st Denman & 2nd Kauto Star, for the bet to be successful Denman must win the race and Kauto Star must finish second in the race.

When placing a forecast bet, there will not be any odds as this is not a precalculated bet, the return will only be available once the race is complete as the official industry return is calculated by factors including the odds of the runners, the number of runners in the race and various other determining factors. 

The final return will be displayed in the terms of decimal odds, for example, when Denman did win the Gold Cup and Kauto Star was runner up the forecast returned £4.53 which means for every £1 you staked on the forecast, you would receive back £4.53. 

Meaning if you staked £5 on the forecast, you would have received back a total of £22.65 producing a profit of £17.65.

Reverse Forecast

If you are looking to place a forecast bet but would like the option of the runners finishing in any order then this is where a reverse forecast comes into play. 

Like the forecast bet, you make two selections but you pay double stakes meaning if they finish first and second in any order the bet will be successful.

This means, using the Denman and Kauto Star example, a £1 bet would actually cost you £2 are you are covering both outcomes, 1st Denman or Kauto Star and 2nd Denman or Kauto so for the bet to be successful, as long as those two are the first two home, you win!

Combination Forecast

Another way of placing a forecast is by doing a combination forecast, this is where you add more than two selections to create possible combinations of the first two home in the race. 

With each runner you add, the more combinations will be created but also the stake will rise so you need to be careful your stake does not exceed the potential winnings.

The way it works is if you pick out three runners, then there will be a total of six possible outcomes, these would be AB, AC, BA, BC, CA & CB meaning a £1 stake would be a total of £6 for the bet. 

Sometimes this can produce a loss, if you take the Gold Cup example and add Neptune Collonges to the equation then the bet would have cost £6 for a return of £4.53 meaning the return is lower than your actual stake.

• 2 Picks - 2 Possible Outcomes (£2)
• 3 Picks - 6 Possible Outcomes (£6)
• 4 Picks - 12 Possible Outcomes (£12)
• 5 Picks - 20 Possible Outcomes (£20)

Tricast

Similar to the forecast bet but with an additional place where you are trying to predict the first three runners home instead of the first two making the bet harder but for a better payout if you can successfully predict the first three in the correct order.

Using the same example for the Gold Cup which paid out £4.53 for the forecast, if you added Neptune Collonges to finish third behind Denman and Kauto Star then for your £1 stake, the return would have been a total of £33.05 which is over seven times more than the forecast but with the extra place is much more difficult.

Combination Tricast

To place a combination tricast, you must select any three horses and unlike the straight tricast, this time the runners can finish in any order, meaning if the three runners that you selected are the first three home in the race no matter which order, your bet is successful. 

Because of the number of combinations, the stake will be more for this bet, whilst a straight tricast will only cost a £1 stake, a three runner combination tricast will cost £6 because there are six possible finishing positions which are ABC, ACB, BAC, BCA, CAB & CBA.

Additionally, with each further selection added, the stake will continue to rise because of the additional number of combinations, 

Adding just one further selection to make it four would result in the number of combinations to rise to twenty-four and your stake to £24.

• 3 Picks - 6 Possible Outcomes (£6)
• 4 Picks - 24 Possible Outcomes (£24)
• 5 Picks - 60 Possible Outcomes (£60)
• 6 Picks - 120 Possible Outcomes (£120)

Pool Betting

What is Pool Betting? 

Pool betting is where everyone’s money goes into a pool, a portion of the pool is used for taxes and profit whilst the remaining pool is split towards anyone who correctly predicts the outcome of the event.

The attraction of pool betting is the ability to win decent size pools for a minimal stake. 

In the UK, it is Tote Betting which is the pre-eminent company that offers pool betting. 

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A horse racing placepot, for example, would cost you a £1 stake, if you had placed a successful placepot at the Cheltenham Festival each day of the four-day meeting in 2019, from a total stake of £4, your return would have been £2,999.

Tote Win

To place a bet on the Tote Win, you are selecting a horse to win the race, your stake along with all the other stakes on the market will go into the pool and to win a share of the pool, your selected runner must win the race.

The way the payout is calculated if you have backed the winner is the total of the pool after deductions are used to create a price. 

For example, let’s say the final pot after deductions are £5,000 and there was £800 staked on the winner, to work out the payout, you divide the pool by the amount staked on the winner.

Meaning in this example, it would be £5,000 divided by £800 which works out as £6.25. 

This means that for every £1 staked, your return would be £6.25, if you had staked £5 then your return would be £31.25, the simple maths is 6.25 x Your Stake.

Tote Place

The Tote Place is similar to the Tote Win but instead of backing a horse to win the race, you are backing a horse to place in the race, this includes winning the race and the number of places which are paid out is dependant on the field size.

• 5-7 runners, your horse must finish 1st or 2nd 
• 8-15 runners, your horse must finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd
• 16+ runners (Non-Handicap), your horse must finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd
• 16+ runners (Handicap), your horse must finish 1st, 2nd, 3rd of 4th

Unlike the Tote Win, the pool will not be split on a single runner, depending on what the race type is and how many runners there are then the pool will be split by those finishing in the place positions.

For example, if there was £10,000 in the pool after deductions and there were three places being paid, three was a total stake of £6,000 on the winner, £2,750 on the runner-up and £600 on the third-placed runner. 

The same calculations as we used with the win would be applied to find each payout for each of the three runners.

The payouts to a £1 stake would be as follows for the examples above:

• £10,000 divided by £6,000 = £1.67
• £10,000 divided by £2,750 = £3.64
• £10,000 divided by £600 = £16.67

Tote Exacta

A tote exacta is the totes version of a forecast bet in which you are trying to predict the first two runners home in a race. You can place a straight exacta or a reverse exacta where you are covering both outcomes and a minimum stake of £2 is required.

For a straight exacta you are betting on the exact outcome of the race in terms of the first two home, so you are betting on who will win the race and which runner will come second in the race. 

The minimum stake for this bet is £2 which goes into the pool which is shared out to those who correctly predict the outcome.

• A Tote Exacta bet requires you to pick the 1-2 finish in a race. 
• This can be a straight Exacta or a reverse Exacta.
• The minimum bet is £2, or a £1 reverse Exacta for a total stake of £2.

A reverse exacta means that you are selecting to runners and these must finish in the first two home but can finish in either order. 

Because there are two outcomes, you are in effect placing two bets, the minimum stake for this bet is £1 because, with the two combinations, your total stake will in fact be £2.

You can also place combination exacta’s where you can pick three runners, this creates six different outcomes for the first two home and there is also a bet known as a ‘Banker Exacta’ where you pick the runner you think will win and then add a combination of runners to finish runner up.

There has been much discussion on type of bet at OLBG, for more information take a look at ‘Forecasts And Tricasts - Mugs Bet Or Road To Riches?’

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Tote Trifecta

Similar to the exacta and the totes version of a tricast, the punter is betting on which three runners will be the first three runners home. You can place a straight trifecta, a combination trifecta or a banker trifecta.

If placing a straight trifecta, you are backing on the exact order of the first three runners home meaning the runner you pick to win must win, the runner you pick to be runner-up must be runner-up and the runner you pick to be third must be third to share your share of the pool.

• A Tote Trifecta is to back the three horses that finish 1st, 2nd & 3rd.
• You can place a straight, combination or Banker Trifecta
• Bigger payouts for a Trifecta compared to an Extecta

A combination trifecta means you can pick as many runners as you want, as long as this is at least three runners and this puts them into all possible combinations of threes. This means, if you pick out three runners then all possible outcomes will be covered, this would be a total of six combinations meaning the total bet cost would be six times your stake.

A ‘Banker’ Trifecta is a bet where you are picking out the winner of the race but can then use combinations for the 2nd and 3rd place spots. This means the runner you select to win the race, must win the race but then the other runners which you select will be put into combinations of two to fill the next to positions.

Tote Quadpot

The tote quadpot is a bet where you have to select runners across four races, all at the same meeting, to finish within the placings. These are usually races three, four, five & six on the racecard and the minimum bet per line is 10p but the total stake must be at least £1.

You are not restricted to just one runner per race (leg) but adding multiple selections will add more permutations and will increase the total stake of the race but you can also cover more runners this way and if they all place then you get paid out for multiple lines.

To work out the total number of lines in your bet there is a simple calculation of multiplying the number of selections you have in each leg. Let’s say you have 1 selection in the first leg, 3 selections in the 2nd leg, 2 selections in the 3rd leg and 1 selection in the 4th leg.

To work out how much it will cost you, multiply the selections together, this would be 1 x 3 x 2 x 1 which would work out as 6 lines, meaning for a total cost, you would multiple your stake by 6, a £1 stake would cost you a total of £6.

• To win, you just need to find a horse to place in races three to six.
• The Quadpot is available at all meetings in the UK and Ireland.
• You need to place your bet before the third race of the meeting in question.

All stakes go into the ‘Pool’ and those at the end of the four legs who have successfully picked up four placed runners will win a share of the ‘Quadpot’ which will be determined by the number of successful tickets. The more favourites placing, the lower the payout would normally be expected as more punters would have selected these runners.

Tote Placepot

A tote placepot is a bet where you are selecting runners in the first six races of a selected meeting and to be successful, you must have a placed runner in each of the six races. The payouts can range in size depending on the number of correct predictions over the six races.

The first six races at a selected meeting will make up the placepot, if there is a race which contains a field of four or fewer runners then you must select the runner of the race otherwise normal place terms apply.

You are not limited to just one runner for each race, you can create multiple lines but remember with each additional runner, your total bet stake will increase. With a single runner in each race, you will only have one line meaning your stake will be your total stake.

For a successful bet, you must pick a placed runner in ALL six of the races, if there is a race where your selection does not place then the bet is over, you must have a placed runner in every race.

However, if you were to pick two runners in each of the six races then you would multiple the selections in each race together (2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2) to the total number of lines. In this case, it would be 64 lines, meaning your stake would be multiplied 64 times to get a total stake.

Tote.co.uk quote “With an average payout of £407, the Placepot is a great way to win big off small stakes and, at the 2019 Cheltenham Festival, one customer won £182,567.80 from just a £2 bet.”

The final pool will be shared by all of those who had winning lines, of course, if you had multiple picks in races and they both placed, then you could end up with more than one winning line and receive multiple payouts.

The final payouts will be displayed in terms of £1 stakes, so if you have placed a 50p winning placepot and the payout was £200 then you would receive back £100.

OLBG member Micko70 has taken a look and given his opinion on how to win a placepot.

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How to win the Placepot

Tote Jackpot

What is the Tote Jackpot? 

The Tote Jackpot is a bet where you have to select the winners of the first six races at a selected meeting by the tote. 

All stakes go into a pool which is shared between those who correctly pick all six winners. Minimum stake is £2 and there is a minimum prize pool of £10,000.

The tote jackpot goes one further than the tote placepot, instead of looking to find six runners to place in six races, you are looking for six runners to win the six races making it much harder but much more rewarding if you can achieve it.

“In 2011, 61-year-old Steve Whiteley travelled to Exeter racecourse and placed a £2 bet on the Tote Jackpot, at the end of the day after all six picks won, he walked away with roughly £1.5 million!”

Each day the tote will select one meeting in the UK to use as the tote jackpot, the good thing about the jackpot is if there is no winner then the jackpot will be rolled over to the next day, meaning the pool can get rather large in size.

You are not limited to a single runner in each race, you can pick as many as you like but the additional runners will create additional lines meaning your total stake will increase with each runner. A £1 stake with 2 selections in each race would create 64 lines meaning a total stake of £64.

To win a share of the pool, you must select the winners of the nominated six races, if you have any non-runners then your selection will go on to the unnamed favourite, the tote jackpot is run every day with the exception of Saturdays.

Tote Scoop 6

What is a Tote Scoop6? 

The tote scoop6 is similar to the tote jackpot and is run on a Saturday usually using the ITV Racing live races where you have to select six winners of nominated races.

A minimum stake of £2 is required to enter the bet and if successful you will land a share of the pool.

The scoop6 was designed to run alongside the live races on terrestrial television to give the tv audience an opportunity of a bet which will last the whole show. Just a £2 bet could keep you occupied over six races depending on results.

The bet appeals to punters because it only costs £2 to place and you could land big if you can select the six winners of the nominated races, just like back in 2014 when eight winning tickets scooped £1.3 million apiece.

To place a bet on the tote scoop6 which runs every Saturday and occasionally on bank holidays too, you have to select a minimum of one runner in each of the six nominated races.

You could select more than one runner but that will increase the number of lines and the total cost of the bet.

Say you wanted to increase your chances by selecting three runners in each race, then that would be for a £1 stake (3x3x3x3x3x3) a total stake of £729 as there would be 729 lines.

The way to work out how many bets you have is to multiply the number of selections in each leg by each other through the card

In the example above we have 2x1x2x1x2x3 = 12 lines covered in the scoop 6. This will cost 12 x the stake you choose.

One thing always worth considering with both the tote Jackpot and Scoop6 is whether you would get a better return doing them as an accumulator bet instead. 

During the week this is most applicable and is always worth considering.

Tote Swinger

What is a Tote Swinger?

A tote swinger is a bet where you are backing two runners which must finish in the first three of a race to be a successful bet. 

These two runners can finish in any order as long as they finish in the first three, if they do then you will win a share of the pool.

Is it an Exacta? Is it a Trifecta? Well, it’s somewhere in the middle as in this bet, you don’t actually need to find the winner for the bet to be successful. 

If your runners finished 2nd and 3rd, your bet is still successful.

You can select as many runners in the race to create multiple combinations, meaning you can pick 3, 4 or 5 runners and as long as two of those runners finish in the first three, in any order then you will win a share of the pool

• A £1 Swinger on 2 horses costs £1
• A £1 Combo Swinger on 3 horses costs £3
• A £1 Combo Swinger on 4 horses costs £6
• A £1 Combo Swinger on 5 horses costs £10

Consider how a bookmaker would approach betting on these types of bets. 

Think like a bookie and you can win like a bookie. 

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Exchange Bets

What is Exchange Betting? 

Betting using a betting exchange is where people bet against each other instead of using a bookmaker. 

People can back odds being offered by others, request odds or even lay bets where you can offer odds to those looking to back bets.

If you are interested in how a bookmaker is run and looking to set up yourself then a betting exchange gives you the perfect platform to test yourself because you can offer to lay bets, you can read more on becoming a bookmaker

There are now four betting exchanges in the UK, these are Betfair, Betdaq, Matchbook and Smarkets

Each of these will take a commission from your winning bets which is usually around the 5% mark but you can get discounts depending on which operator you are using.

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Back

What is Backing? 

Backing on the exchanges it very much like betting with a bookmaker, you are backing on the outcome of an event but instead of being offered odds by a bookmaker, you are being offered odds by a ‘layer’. 

If successful there will be a commission to pay to the betting exchange operator.

Commission paid to the operator is usually set at the 5% mark for all winning bets, if you bet is a loser then the commission will be paid by the ‘layer’ using part of your stake. 

Working out how much commission will be paid can be done by multiplying your net winnings by 5%.

Should you have made a net winning of £200, then the commission paid would be (£200 * 5%) £10, however, some bookies like Betfair will offer you loyalty points which will add a discount and can affect those calculations.

Let’s stick with a net winning of £200 with 5% commission but lets throw in the fact that you have a 40% discount, the first part of the calculations remains the same but because you have a 40% discount, you would only pay 60% of the £10 commission, so you would pay only £6 commission on your winning bet.

• No Discount: £200 x 5% = £10 Commission
• 40% Discount: £200 x 5% x (60%) = £6 Commission

When backing on the majority of the sports on Betfair you will have to either take the price available or put in a request for a price but for horse racing, there is also the option of taking the SP (Starting Price).

This is built using the backers and layers bets and because of no profit margin this can work out more often than not better than the industry SP.

Types of Bets on Football

If you are new to football betting or would like to explore more ways to bet on football, then this guide will run through the most popular types of football bet. 

This is a list of the most popular types of football bets available.

Standard Match Bets

There are hundreds of different types of bets you can make on a single football match, especially when looking at the English Premier League, but for now, we will concentrate on the standard and most popular bet types.

Full-Time Result

The most popular football bet and the one where you predict the outcome of the match over 90 minutes of play including any added for 'injury time'. 

You have a choice of three possible outcomes in a football match

1. Home Win
2. Draw
3. Away Win

The correct name for this market is Full Time result but can also be referred to in other ways such as 1x2 or WDW

For 1X2 you have probably worked out, 1 = home win, X = Draw and 2 = Away Win

WDW simply means Win/Draw/Win and as the main example, is a shorter way of describing the market in terms of home draw or away

This market is the one played most frequently in football accumulators. 

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When you complete your football coupon either in a bookmakers or from the list with an online bookie, you are combining these bets.

It is worth mentioning again that the full time result market ONLY counts for a 90 minute game. 

In the case of knockout cup competitions and play-offs where extra time can be applied in the event of a draw at 90 minutes. 

Many new football punters have fallen foul of this rule over the years expecting to win their bet when a team wins one of these games in extra time, forgetting that at 90 minutes the result is a draw.

Match Winner (Include extra time rules)

If you are betting on a Cup Match, or Play Off game then you could consider playing in this market, which includes any extra played in the event of a draw at 90 minutes.

So, if you had bet on Manchester United to win the match, even if the game is a draw at 90 minutes and extra time is then triggered, your bet would still be alive and they have the extra time period to score to win the match over the complete time.

In the full-time result above, if you had bet on Man Utd, you would have lost your bet and the stake. It would have killed your accumulator too.

So consider the Match Winner market as an alternative to Full-Time Result in games like these.

Half Time Result

The half time result is used far less often but work in exactly the same way as the full-time result, but with the bet being settled on the score at half time.

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The main difference you will notice with this market is not in the choices you have, they are exactly the same, but in the odds available. In the half time market, the draw odds will be much shorter, in most cases, than in the full-time result markets.

Double Chance

The double chance bet, is a little bit like going onto the exchanges and laying a team to lose a game. 

You have options of betting on two of the possible three outcomes in a single bet. It looks like this

1. Home/Draw
2. Away/Draw
3. Home/Away

There are three betting option here, to effectively predict that

1. The Away Team doesn't win
2. The Home team doesn't win
3. That the game doesn't end in a draw

The odds on these markets are going to be much shorter than in the one option bets, simply because you are covering 2 possible outcomes out of three, thus the probability is much higher.

This is a great bet, if you are confident that a home team will win, but will do no worse than draw, and that the away team just won't win the game. 

There is often a  discussion on whether backing double chance or laying the third outcome is the right way to play this type of bet.

Draw No Bet

Draw no bet is similar to Double Chance but quite different at the same time.

With Draw no bet, you will have the option to bet on 

• Home Draw No Bet
• Away Draw No Bet

This bet triggers the 'push' option into football betting, a feature more frequently seen in asian handicap betting.

A 'Push' means that you get your stake returned, and the bet is deemed void in the event of a draw outcome.

So, if betting on a Home Win in the Draw no bet market, you will win if the team you select wins the game, 

You will get your stake back if the result is draw, 

The bet will be lost of the away team win the match.

Once again, as with double chance you will note that the odds on these markets will be shorter than the full time result markets, as there is the added safety of getting your stake back in the event of the draw.

Both Teams to Score

No prizes for guessing what this market covers, but often because of the way the market is named, punters exploring different betting markets do not realise that you can bet on this event not happening with the No options.

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There are two options when betting on this market, and they are quite simple

1. Yes
2. No

The YES option confirms the name of the market in that you will be predicting that within the 90 minutes both teams will score at least once. 

The much forgotten No option is betting on the opposite, requiring at least one, if not both teams to end the game without scoring.

Because of the way football bettors like to bet on something happening in a game and are averse to betting on something NOT happening, the NO option is far less used, but it might be worth exploring. because of this simple trait of football punters, the value in this market is often on the side of betting 'NO'

Half Time / Full Time

Half Time Full Time betting is a Double bet of sorts. It is a bet on the half time result combined with the match result bet.

The options on this bet are as follows

1. Home/Home
2. Home/Draw
3. Home/Away
4. Draw/Home
5. Draw/Draw
6. Draw/Away
7. Away/Home
8. Away/Draw
9. Away/Away

It is quite easy to understand once you do, but often is misunderstood for beginners.

You are predicting

• The outcome of the first half
• The outcome at Full Time

The most common confusion with this bet is thinking that you are betting on the winner of each half. For example

Halftime - Man Utd 2-0 Arsenal - Full-Time Man Utd 2-1 Arsenal is HOME/HOME

It can often be confused with Home/Away given that Man U won the first half 2-0 and Arsenal won the second half 0-1, but this is incorrect.

Correct Score

Correct Score Betting on Football is predicting the final score of the game once the 90 minutes [plus added injury time] has completed.

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This is a popular bet thanks to the larger odds available, and if you can predict once of those crazy games that ends 3-3 you are in for a big return.

It is a very easy market to play, you simply find the game you wish to bet on, navigate to the correct score section and pick the score, or scores you feel are most likely in the game.

As always, this market is always applicable to 9 minutes betting, including any injury time added at the end of each half, and does not include extra time in games that need to be decided in cup and play off competitions.

Goalscorer Markets

The goalscorer market has become more and more popular over the year and there are now lots of variations extending from the original First Goalscorer market which was the only one available when first introduced.

First goalscorer

As the market name would suggest in the first goalscorer market you are predicting which player will score the first goal. 

Check the individual rules with whichever bookmaker you are using to see if 'own-goals' are counted or not. generally they are ignored for the purpose of this market and the scorer of the second goal would therefore be the winner.

You can also, in places, play this market each way, whereby, the bookie will pay a fraction of the price, if the player does not score the first goal but goes on to score a subsequent goal int he match. 

There are other options for this potential outcome such as any time scorer or last goalscorer which may be of more interest to you and we convert that below.

The final thing to remember on the first goalscorer market is that if you bet a player to score first but they are not on the field at the time that the first goals is scored you will lose the bet. 

However, if the player does not start the game, but comes on as a substitute and subsequently scores the first goal of the game, you have a winner.

The former situation does apply over and over again, and from questions that have often arisen we know that it has caused much confusion in the past.

Last Goalscorer

This market is again as it says on the tin

Betting on the last goalscorer is predicting which player will score the last goal scored in a 90-minute match of football.

Perhaps one, if you have an inkling for a player who may start on the bench as a substitute but often comes on in a scoring position. 

The odds on this market are often very similar to the first goalscorer market, but when you consider these players may start the game and could be injured or substituted off the field of play during the match, for me personally, it is a high-risk market to play. 

Anytime Goalscorer

A far more popular market for predicting goalscorers is to stick with the AnyTime goalscorer bets. 

As it suggests this cover the player for the entire game as long as they are on the field when the first goal is scored.

You will find prices to bet on in this market much shorter than the first or last goalscorer options.

Player to score

This sounds a bit confusing to begin with doesn't it? Is this not the same as the anytime goalscorer market above? No!

The player to score market in football will name a player and you will have two options to bet on. Eiter 'Yes' or 'No'

This is actually quite a good betting market to combine a few selections into a multiple bet or accumulator 

Player to score 1/2/3

To extend the player to score market, there can also be options to predict how many goals the nominated player will score. 

So you can bet on individual players to score just one, two, or 3+ goals in a game.

As this market requires a more precise prediction, you will find betting odds much higher, especially as you go up the goal numbers.

Totals Bets

Totals bets in football are based generally around goals and the number scored within a 90 minute match.

Over/Under Goals

Betting the Over/Under Goals markets can look confusing the first time you come across them as the most common market for this is Under or Over 2.50 goals

'How can anyone score half a goal?' is the most common query on this, but actually, if you think  about it literally, we are saying scoring less than 2.5 goals, which is 2 or fewer or over two and a half goals which is of course at least 3

So, in layman terms, we are betting 2 or less or 3 or more on the Under/Over 2.5 goal market.

There are more splits available here, most commonly, 1.5, 2.5 and 3.5, but these do extend, especially in games where many goals are expected up to and beyond 7.5 goals.

The same under over theory applies and is required to be predicted correctly to make a winning bet.

Asian Handicaps

Asian handicaps are a more complicated way of betting on football, with either side being given a start of some degree.

To this end, as it is a more specialised subject, we have a separate more in-depth betting school article based solely on Asian handicap betting to help you understand it fully. 

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Scorecast

Scorecast betting involves betting on a scorer in the game, usually the first or anytime, and then predicting the correct score too

So this might be referred to as FGSCS betting, or first goals scorer correct sore betting.

As you can already tell this is a pretty tricky market and outcome to predict correctly at all, let alone on a regular basis, and as such you can combine players and scoreline to gain some fantastic odds to bet on.

So, you will have to predict either the first, last or anytime goalscorer along with the correct score of the ninety minutes game to win this bet

Wincast

A slightly less difficult market has grown from this, but let's not kid ourselves it is an easy bet to predict, the Wincast will nominate a player and the final result of the game, as opposed to trying to guess the correct score.

For instance, in this bet, you can predict A player to score at anytime, and then if the match will be Home, Away or Draw

Result & BTTS

Another extension to both the Full-time market and BTTS bets, this is predicting both what the final result will be combined with both team to score yes or no options, to increase the odds you get on your bet.

Remember that to predict a team to win and BTTS No, is the same as betting on a team in the 'To Win To Nil' market!

What do you have to do with this bet? Predict Home Win, Draw or Away Win and Yes or No as to whether both teams will score a goal.

You can also bet BTTS & under/Over

Results & Over/Under

A slight variation to the Results and BTTS bet, on this occasion you will be predicting the final result and then whether there will be more or less goals than the number stated.

This is usually an Under/Over 2.5 goals market, but you will often find also 1.5 and 3/.5 goal options

So here if You predict a home win and Over 2.50 goals, you will need the home team to win the match and concede one goal [2-1 would be the minimum score possible in this case], or the home team to do all of the work and win by at least a 3-0 score line.

Clean Sheet Yes/No

The Clean Sheet market in this format is simply to predict whether there will be a clean sheet achieved by either team taking part in the match. 

Ultimately if you bet YES on this market, one team has to fail to score.

If you bet NO, then you need Both teams to Score.

The above examples are pretty much BTTS betting, but this market can also apply to single teams, so you may have the option of betting Clean Sheet 'Yes or No' applied to an individual team

Win to Nil

Yet another variation on a theme, a slightly different football betting market is the Win to Nil market.

Here you are predicting that one side or the other will win the game and will keep a clean sheet into the bargain.

These markets are very similar but not exactly the same. There are slight differences.

Betting Everton to both keep a clean sheet and Win to Nil, will require the other side to NOT score. 

However, to win on the Win to Nil market, Everton would of course have to score whilst keeping a clean sheet, whereas in the Clean Sheet market, if they too fail to score, then you win the bet.

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Half with most goals

This is an interesting market to play with and I have to be honest and admit I dove into this one not really thinking about it and lost some money

Quite simply you need to predict one of three options

• 1st half
• Equal
• 2nd half

My initial thought on this market was that the second half would almost always be the half that would see most goals, and in fact quite often this is the shorter price. 

This suggest that the probability for second-half goals is higher, but of course, it is not always that way and certainly not as simple as that to predict.

Score in both halves

This bet is predicting that one side or another will score both in the first half of their game as well as the second half.  

This market is very tempting, as the odds are much higher, 

If you can correctly find three or four sides that manage to do this, then using them in a football accumulator, big returns can be achieved. 

However, you have to bear in mind that you are saying these teams will also score at least 2 goals

Half Time Correct Score

Just as it sounds, half time score is the task of predicting what the score will be once the first half has completed. 

There are also a host of other half time markets including half time over/under, goal line and asian handicap markets

Corners and Cards

Betting on the number of corners there are awarded in game as well as the number and colour of cards has become quite popular, and for the latter, 

If you can spot some potential flashpoints or areas of weakness in a defence when the team news comes out, you could be in a good position to make some accurate predictions and pick up profit.

Over/Under Corners

Using the Under/Over format as we have already seen in the goals markets, here you are predicting how many corners there will be in a game of football. 

Again, this refers only to the 90 minutes of normal time. In the case of extra time in cup and play off games, any corners in these periods will not count.

So, each game will have a number of corners suggested, working on the half as we have seen before.

These will usually be sitting between 7.5-12.5 corners, and you have to predict under or over. 

Over/Under Cards

The cards markets can work in a couple of ways, either as physical predictions on the number of cards or more usually on a points system with different points being allocated for yellow or red cards, and once again, predicting under or over the value provided in the market.

FAQ

Responsible Gambling

Whatever type of bet you choose, one constant is the need always to gamble responsibly. 

On OLBG, we have advocated this responsible approach since the site was created in 2002. 

With this in mind, we have added a range of responsible gambling articles on the site; two examples are below. 

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Responsible Gambling Features, Function and Help

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How to be Sensible and Gamble Responsibly (Examples)

We also have links to charitable gaming organisations at the foot of every page to assist you if you feel your gambling is getting out of hand.

Author

OLBG Betting Expert Nigel Skinner wrote and subsequently updated this betting article. Nigel who started his career in betting shops and came across many of the more complex bets featured above has been wagering on football and horse racing for now more than twenty years. If you have any questions on types of bet please do use the contact form. 

Nigel Skinner

Blog Content Manager

Nigel is one of OLBG's senior editors with 19 years of industry experience. Today he specialises in researching and writing about the betting angles to political and mainstream news stories and being the OLBG in-house expert on 'next football manager' betting markets.

Specialist Subjects🔬📚

⚽️👨‍💼 Nigel is an Arsenal fan first and foremost but has an unrivalled knowledge of English football managers at every level. Meticulously putting together our Next Manager articles, Nigel can quite possibly name you every manager of every club in the land, not to mention a pretty good eye for predicting replacements when changes happen. 

📈📊📉 A long-time exchange trader and spread betting fan, Nigel is our go-to for advice on the subjects and uses them daily in his own betting activity. 

🗳️💼 Finally, Nigel loves his politics and [some would say] has an unhealthy interest in the day-to-day events in the UK's political landscape, contributing to all our Political betting content and new pieces.