Football betting is big business, with millions of punters every week placing bets online and at their local betting shop. Of those bets, one of the most popular types of bet is the accumulator. For the uninitiated, accumulators are bets that combine multiple different results on a single betting slip, accentuating the odds to deliver even more generous returns than betting on the results individually. The snag? All of the results have to come up for the betting line to pay as a winner, so there’s no margin for error.
Accumulators tend to be a case of predicting multiple results at a comparatively smaller stake, in the hope of a significant payoff. The returns can soon mount up, and when you start to look at 8, 9, 10 or more bets in one line, the returns can rack up into the multiple thousands. Even a couple of pounds at these odds can be devastatingly effective if your results come in, and there have been some pretty juicy wins from successful accumulators in the past.
Of course, these are offset by your actual odds of winning, and in most cases, the bookies will profit either way by offering returns that are shorter than the true odds of any outcome. But just how much money is at stake, and what are the chances of landing that winning accumulator bet?
How Much Can You Win On An Accumulator?
As we’ve already mentioned, accumulators allow you to grow the odds of different results exponentially, by combining them into a single ticket. If you imagine three outcomes, A, B and C. Betting on each individually might give you a return of 2.0 in decimal odds. So betting on all three would logically pay out at 6.0, right? Wrong. The odds in this case might shoot up to 8.0, in recognition of the increased difficulty of the bet over just backing each of the outcomes individually. In some cases, this will rise even higher, and the more outcomes you add to your accumulator bet, the higher the odds will rise.
This can lead to some pretty tantalising returns. The biggest ever accumulator was won on an in-play bet, with the gambler picking 8 results correctly – including teams that were in the midst of losing their matches. After miraculous turnaround, all of his results came up, and his accumulator paid out at the incredible juicy rate of 6542/1. For most gamblers sticking a pound or two on this outcome would have them dancing around, jumping for joy – roughly £13,000 back for £2, all for an afternoon of sports.
But in this case, the gambler didn’t opt for a £2 stake – he opted for a £100 stake. The result? £650,000 – a life changing amount of money in anyone’s books.
What Are The Chances?
For some, £650,000 might pale in comparison to, say, winning the National Lottery. But in reality, this works out to be a pretty sweet deal. At 6542/1, the odds are exponentially better on even this record-breaking accumulator than on the national lottery, which currently stands at over 44 million/1 on winning the jackpot. And considering the prizes are usually significantly less than the £2 entry x 44 million, it’s actually a terrible deal – whichever way you paint it.
As the above example, and the thousands of other massive accumulator wins over the years will testify, it’s significantly easier to win on an accumulator than the National Lottery. That said, it’s still an impressive feat, particularly to win such a huge amount.
How Does It Compare To A Slots Win?
The other obvious comparison is to a slots win – specifically a progressive jackpot. Wins of progressive jackpots regularly range in the tens of millions, and these are prizes that have to be won. Unlike accumulators, there’s no real skill involved – it doesn’t matter if it’s your first time playing online slots or if you’re an expert, your chances of winning remain pretty consistent from start to finish. While the amount you can win is undoubtedly bigger, there’s little you can do to influence the outcome. For example a lucky player from Brazil recently won almost $1Million playing Party Casino’s online slots from just a $2 spin – if you’re lucky, you’ll win. If you’re not, you won’t.
This is off-putting to some purists, who feel their sporting knowledge gives them an edge in accumulator bets. But in reality, even slots can at times be a better deal, given that the playing field is completely even, and that somebody has to win.
Whichever way you cut it, accumulators can be worth a lot of money. Yet it’s an achievement to win one, and the bookies know exactly what they’re doing in pricing up such long odds. They are unlikely to happen, and you’re most likely to lose your stake, but sometimes, the odds can be upset. It’s certainly far better than the lottery.
As an alternative, slots progressive jackpots fall into a similar category. Your chances of winning are way better than the National Lottery, plus with the right jackpot, your earnings can even be much bigger too. For many, a spin on the slots wins every time, as the easiest, lowest-odds way to get yourself in with a chance of winning millions.