Accas are one of the most popular ways to bet on sports thanks to the high returns they can generate from low stakes. They’re a staple of betting in Ireland, however not many people know how they work.
The phrase ‘acca’ is short for ‘accumulator bet’, and they let you combine several bets into one. These offer very high returns from a single stake, although the trade-off is every leg must hit in order for an acca to win.
You can use a simple bet calculator tool to find out how much your acca will be worth once you add together all your legs, and this is a great way to help decide if the risk is worth it. If you want to know more about the maths behind an acca, though, then keep reading to see exactly how they work.
The basics of an acca
An accumulator bet combines multiple selections into a single wager. These individual bets that make up an acca are referred to as ‘legs’ or ‘folds’, and all need to hit for the acca to win. In the event that a leg is voided, such as by a horse not taking the start of a race, then don’t worry, you don’t lose your acca. The voided leg is simply removed from your selection and the odds adjusted accordingly.
The easiest way to think of how an acca works is to imagine each leg as a link in a chain. Your winnings from one leg get put onto the next one, and the next one, until the money has been multiplied through all the bets.
Here’s an example of a €1 bet on a four leg acca with the following selections
- Team A to win at 2.0 (evens)
- Team B to win at 1.5 (1/2)
- Team C to win at 3.0 (2/1)
- Team D to win at 1.8 (4/5)
When you multiply all of these odds together, you’ll get returns of 16.2 (76/5) and a €1 bet would win €16.20. To see how, here’s how the money moves through the four legs.
- Team A wins: €1.00 stake × 2.0 odds = €2.00
- Team B wins: €2.00 (new stake) × 1.5 odds = €3.00
- Team C wins: €3.00 (new stake) × 3.0 odds = €9.00
- Team D wins: €9.00 (final stake) × 1.8 odds = €16.20
This means the €1 bet has returned a €15.20 profit, plus the original €1 stake.
It doesn’t matter what order you add your legs to your betslip, either, as the returns will always be the same. The biggest thing to keep in mind with an acca is that your legs can’t contradict each other. Otherwise, there are few restrictions on what can be included.
Different kinds of accas
There are two main types of accas. The first is a traditional acca, where you pick the outcomes of multiple games, races or events. The other kind is a same game acca, and these are most popular on sports such as football.
These are sometimes referred to as ‘bet builders’ or similar by some bookies, but all work exactly the same as an acca. The only difference is that rather than picking the outcomes of different games, you pick from markets within a game or games.
For a same game acca on a football match, for instance, you’ll be able to take popular markets like the match winner, numbers of corners, goalscorers, assists, and fouls. They then work exactly the same as a regular acca, with the odds rolling over.
Like with a regular acca, you won’t be able to make picks that contradict each other. For instance, you couldn’t have two choices for first goalscorer. You’ll also still need every leg to hit for your bet to win.
Always play accas responsibly
Like with any form of gambling, it’s important to place accas responsibly. This means making sure to always stick to your budget, never chase losses, and take regular breaks from playing. It’s also highly recommended to set up your deposit and loss limits before placing any wagers.
The high returns that accas offer can be tempting, but these are a reflection of the low likelihood of every leg hitting. For our example above, for instance, the 16.2 returns mean there’s a 6.7% of every leg hitting. This makes playing responsibly a must.
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