An accumulator bet, also known as parlay, is one of the most profitable wagers in sports betting, where a low stake can provide large returns.

It basically involves placing multiple bets at one go and if the results of all bets go your way, you win a big pay out.

Big odds, big returns is the way accumulator bets work.

But to understand those big accumulator odds, let’s first fully grasp what an accumulator bet is.

What is an accumulator bet?

An accumulator bet combines several single bets into one wager. The minimum number of betting selections needed to be counted as an accumulator is two, whereas there is no upper limit for selections.

It must be noted that all the selections need to win for an accumulator bet to go your way, otherwise all the amount at stake is lost.

To understand this better, let’s take an example of an accumulator bet involving three selections.

The first selection is India beats Australia, second is Pakistan beats New Zealand and the third is Sri Lanka beats South Africa.

Now to win the above accumulator bet, India needs to defeat Australia, Pakistan needs to beat New Zealand and Sri Lanka must overcome South Africa.

However, if any one of India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka lose their match, the accumulator bet is lost.

But what makes accumulator bets so lucrative?

The returns of an accumulator bet multiply with every winning selection. This means that the winning from each selection is used to bet on the next selection. This compounding effect is what makes accumulator bets so profitable.

However, with each additional selection, the probability of losing it all also increases.

Moreover, the odds for accumulator bets are also different for single bets.

How are accumulator odds calculated?

Accumulator odds are calculated by multiplying the odds of all the single selections in it.

If the odds for three selections are 2.0, 2.0 and 3.0, our accumulator odds will be 12.0 (2.0 x 2.0 x 3.0).

For instance, an INR 100 bet with odds of 12.0 will give us a return of INR 1200.

Let’s try to understand this with the example we used earlier.

The odds for our first selection between India and Australia are 2.0. Meaning, if India win, we will get 2x the amount on our stake.

To make things simpler, let’s wager INR 100 for the first selection.

As per the odds (2.0), we will win INR 200.

Now this INR 200 will be used to bet on Pakistan beating New Zealand, which again carries the odds of 2.0

If Pakistan win, our INR 200 will turn into INR 400 and will be used to wager on the last selection – Sri Lanka beats South Africa.

The odds for this match are 3.0, meaning the INR 400 will give us a 3x return, amounting to INR 1200.

So, from our initial stake of INR 100, we were able to win INR 1200, which is 12 times the amount or has an accumulator odd of 12.0

As seen above, from small amounts bettors can win big with accumulator bets.