One of the most common bet types and a phrase you will hear mentioned by gambling people on a regular basis is accumulator. Sometimes shortened and called an acca, this is a bet where the aim is to stake small and win big.
The accumulator bet is the one you need if you want to land a big win, but beware, these are certainly far from easy to get right. The more selections you place in your accumulator, the more difficult it is to win, but the returns grow, so it’s a case of working out where you want to land in terms of risk/reward. What makes an acca tough is that you need every selection to win, there is nothing if you don’t get them all, so you can have a lot of winners, but if one lets you down, you receive nothing back.
The name accumulator comes from how the bet works. Your money wins on the first selection and then accumulates together to go onto the second selection, then onto the third, fourth, fifth etc. At each point, your entire winnings at that stage are accumulated together and put on the next one, which is why you need to have every selection win when you place this type of bet.
How Many Selections are in an Accumulator?
One of the significant aspects of accumulator betting is that the number of selections can vary, you just choose what you would like to bet on. Some people do smaller accas, so they may have four or five selections, while others go for 10+ as they look to win a larger sum of money.
You can mix it up or go with a fixed strategy, but key to remember is that you can choose what you want to do yourself, rather than being limited in a specific way or following the crowd. Some multiple bets force you to pick several selections to fit, but this one doesn’t, so if you want an accumulator bet, then you get the freedom to choose the number of selections you are putting in it.
Of course, when you are putting together your bet, you will have in mind whether you want to go sensible with a smaller number or go for a potentially bigger return and add more. Each punter will see this differently, depending on what type of person they are, some like risk while others like to keep things smaller and simple.
Generally speaking, unless odds on offer a very low for the selections you pick, an accumulator with four or five selections is seen as a small acca, those with six, seven or eight are seen as being in the middle, and anything above that is seen as a big acca.
How Much Does an Accumulator Cost?
Obviously, when you are placing a bet, you can set the stake yourself, but what is great about an accumulator is that the cost is one fixed fee, whatever you choose. Some multiple bets have a wide range of bets inside, so your unit stake is multiplied by the number of bets, and even at small stakes, this can create a sizeable overall stake that some people don’t want.
For example, a Lucky 63 bet has six selections, but with 63 total bets, the overall stake of the wager is always going to be high, too high for some people. With this, an accumulator is a bet that everyone can get involved with when it comes to stake. Want a small stake wager, then that is no problem, you can do so with an acca, and if you want to go a little bigger, then, of course, you can also do that.
The whole reason why many people love placing an accumulator is because they can keep their stake small while giving themselves the chance to win high returns if all selections prove correct.
Are Accumulators Easy to Win?
Many people place accas on a daily basis, but in terms of whether they are easy to win or not, then the simple answer is no because these are bets that often have a lot of risk attached to them. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t make a return from accumulator betting and doesn’t mean that these are not good bets to place.
We will talk more about tips for accumulator betting shortly, but what is key to understand here in terms of if they are easy or not is that you are unlikely to win an acca bet every week. With the bigger odds on offer, you don’t need to either.
Betting on something like singles offers less risk, but the odds are lower to reflect this. You may need to win five out of 10 single bets to hit a return, but when it comes to accas, you could get one right in the season, so one from 40 bets, and find yourself with positive returns. So, in terms of how easy they are to win, the answer is not very, unless you are doing low-risk accas, with four or five big favourites.
When you are picking out your selections, remember that you need every single one of them to win to have a winning bet. The risk is attached to the bet type, so when it comes to selections, try not to put too much-added risk into it. This will not make things easier but can prevent the bet from being even harder to land.
Are They Good Value?
The short answer is no, the longer answer is more complicated. All sports bets carry margins (this is why if you add all the possible odds together you end up with over 100%, the extra is the margin) and this is how bookies make profit.
Let’s say the margin for a team to win a given match is 5% on average. If we now add 5 selections together like this in an accumulator we compound the margin and it becomes additive, 5+5+5+5+5 = 25%. This is exactly why bookies push accas and have bonuses and insurance because they have a high profit margin for the bookies.
Many people, however, place accas not because of the margins but because they can get large odds from a small stake. In this regard if accas are treated purely for entertainment with no real hope of making a long term return then they are perfectly good bets for people to place.
Tips for Accumulator Betting
In terms of tips for betting on accumulators, there are many which depend on the type of gambler you are and what type of bet you want to place. Therefore, the number one tip for accumulator bets is to have a plan in place. This doesn’t have to be exactly the same every time you place a bet. Otherwise, you are taking away the advantage of accumulators being so flexible, but try and place similar bets each week and keep the risk/reward close.
Something else that can help with your bets is the general outlook you have with football betting. Accumulator bets are tough, so you want to place them on selections where you have strong knowledge and potential the upper hand.
If you are being more risky, do this where you have your best knowledge, while if you are betting on a league that you are not an expert on, try and go for a smaller bet.
The last thing to mention about accumulator betting is this is a longer game than most other types of betting, and patience is required. You won’t win every week unless you are incredibly lucky, but when you do win, you have the chance to make high returns relatively small stakes. You are highly unlikely to win in the long run though so it is important to only place accas for entertainment value rather than monetary value.
