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Accumulator bets are something that typically divides a lot of bettors. Many see them as an interesting side to regular wages because they offer a chance at a larger payout from a small stake. But by their very nature, they are some of the riskiest bets out there.
If you visit the page of Legalbet, a service which analyses, reviews and rates betting sites, you will see that many online bookmakers have some offers for accumulator bets, such as Acca Free Bets or an Acca Boost feature. The latter provides a boost on the returns from a successful accumulator wager. But as this feature doesn’t mitigate any of the risks of playing one, that raises the question whether the bonus enhancement is genuine value or a tool that encourages riskier betting.
The Basis of the Acca
An acca bet collates at least three different selections into one wager. All the legs that are put into it have to win for the bet to be realised, which is where the risk is created. The more selections that are used, the less chance it has of winning.
The odds of the selections with the accumulator are simply multiplied to give a larger quote. An example is three selections 1.8 x 2.4 x 2.0 = 8.64, so a £100 stake returns £864 in total, which equals £764 profit. But even accumulators consisting of odds-on home favourites still have a lot of risk, because sport is unpredictable and upsets happen.
Acca Boost
Accumulator boosts work on a sliding scale, such as successful Doubles getting a 2.5% boost, 4-folds getting a 10% boost up to something like a 70% boost for a successful 14-fold accumulator. It’s worth noting that sometimes the Acca Boost offers are restricted to a certain sport, competition or even market.
Bets placed with bonus credits don’t usually qualify for the acca boost either and when boosts are earned, they are often paid out as withdrawable cash on the user’s account, though some bookmakers instead pay them as free bets or bonus credits. At the top end of things, there will be a cap to how much can be won from an acca boost.
The Sliding Scale Lure
The sliding scale format is the interesting part of the reward. It could easily be a blanket 10% boost on any winning acca of any size, of course. But it’s not, and this can potentially tempt players into playing bets that they weren’t planning on.
In setting up an accumulator, a bettor may look for selections that meet certain criteria, such as horses between 4.0 and 6.0 odds that have previously won on the course, or away wins in the Premier League for teams priced between 2.1 and 2.5 only.
From a list of six potential candidates for example, the bettor may decide to play a Treble. But then because of the acca boost’s sliding scale, they notice that a Treble returns a 5% boost, but a 4-fold is double at 10%.
So the temptation will be to put in the extra leg for the bigger reward, which immediately increases the risk and volatility of the wager. It gives a greater edge to the bookmaker, as a bettor’s overconfidence usually gets the better of them when accumulator betting.
For a day of horse racing betting, picking four winners would be a tough thing to do, and trying to get four in a single bet where the cost of just one losing causes a complete loss of stake, is extremely tough.
Odds Not Profit
Accumulators offer significantly higher potential winnings than single bets from the same bets. Returning to the three sections of 1.8, 2.4 and 2.0 odds, a £100 stake placed on each as a Win Single would return £320 of profit. In contrast, with the accumulated odds, the accumulator would return £2,292 in profit if the accumulator stake is also £300.
It’s not the profit, it’s the accumulator odds that need to be looked at for a clear way to assess the risk. If the accumulator odds come out to something like 18.0, consider how confident you would be at backing a single win selection at those odds.
Alternative Options
Acca boosts can be great, but they shouldn’t force a bettor to go above and beyond what they were initially planning. No betting promotion is worth over-extending a budget or risk for. If they accentuate the regular betting plans, then that can be a nice reward.
But other accumulator offers are worth considering. The first is Acca Insurance, which is where a lost stake is refunded if only one leg of the bet loses. Some bookmakers also offer an editing tool, where selections can be added or removed from active accumulator bets, for legs that have yet to start.
