Significance of Odds

The variations on return and payout stretch from losing all multiples (as none or only a small number of selections win) to all selections and therefore all lines winning. This means it may in fact be possible to settle completely even with very small profit or loss if the performance of selections was typical. Image 1 shows doubles across five bets being placed, this means ten lines are placed at £10 each giving a total stake of £100. Three of the five selections win at evens, 6/5 and 2/7 with the other two selections losing. This represents an average performance and the three lines out of ten which win recoup £98 meaning a proportionally very small loss.

Multiple bets do not require all chosen selections to win and the returns can vary dependant on how many selections win, and the odds of the winning selections. As not all selections have to win, it is popular to put some longer odds selections into multiples bets, which maybe would not be confident selections in an accumulator.

If the longer odds selection wins then the reward on the successful lines including that selection would be greater than the reward for a shorter odds selection. This is because the long odds multiply into the lines to produce a greater return. An appealing feature of multiples betting is rewarding wins at longer odds and therefore better calls. It is possible to bet on combinations of trebles for example and have a greater return from just three selections winning than four selections winning even though with four selections winning more lines win. Image 2 and 3 show the same bet slip, with image 2 showing a £164 profit from a total stake of £100 with three selections and one line winning, where as image 3 shows a lesser profit of £110 from four selections and therefore four lines winning. This is because the slip in image 2 includes a win at 5/1 which the slip in image 3 losses.