What is Acca Betting in Football?

Accumulators are one of the most popular betting methods across a variety of sports, not least football. But exactly what are 'accas', and what is acca betting in football?

At Betfred Insights Education, we have produced an explainer article below to help you better understand acca betting in football.

What is an acca?

An accumulator, or an 'acca', is one bet made up using multiple selections, all from different events. It can be anything more than one selection, which is termed a single, though two selections are usually referred to as a double and three selections as a treble. Typically, an acca involves at least four separate selections, so you can have a fourfold acca made up of four selections, a fivefold acca made up of five selections, and so on.

The odds of each selection are multiplied together, so if you bet on four teams to win their respective matches at odds of 2/7 (1.29), 12/5 (3.4), 9/10 (1.9) and 2/5 (1.4), you would be given overall odds - in a fourfold accumulator - of 10.62/1 (11.6).

If your acca is successful - ie all four selections win - you are given your winnings as well as your stake back. So, £10 on a 10.62/1 accumulator would return £116.20 (£106.20 in winnings and your £10 stake).

What's the difference between a bet builder and an acca?

A bet builder involves making multiple selections from within the same event, whereas an acca uses one selection from multiple events.

So, if you back there to be over 2.5 goals, under 9.5 corners, over 49.5 booking points and an anytime goalscorer - all in the same Newcastle United vs Chelsea game, for example - that would be classified as a bet builder, with the four separate selections multiplied together.

Meanwhile, if you back Liverpool to beat Manchester United, Sheffield United to beat Sheffield Wednesday, Aston Villa to beat Birmingham City, and Leicester City to beat Coventry City, that becomes an acca, as you are betting on four outcomes in four separate events.

What is the value of acca betting in football?

Accas multiply different bets by one another to produce larger odds. Of course, if you wagered £10 on odds of 5/1 - subsequently returning £60 (£50 winnings plus original stake) - and then wagered the £60 on odds of 4/9 - winning £86.67 - and so on, you would receive the same end amount as if you staked £10 on the games as a double (7.66/1), but placing an acca can enable you to wager just once and receive the same return.

So, let's make this easy to read. Here is an example of four selections:

1. Liverpool to beat Manchester United @ 2/1
2. Sheffield United to beat Sheffield Wednesday @ 1/2
3. Aston Villa to beat Birmingham City @ 4/5
4. Leicester City to beat Coventry City @ 1/1

Overall odds @ 15.2/1

For this fourfold accumulator to win, you would need all four selections to land, so Liverpool, Sheffield United, Aston Villa and Leicester City all to beat their respective opponents.

If you have wagered £10 on this accumulator, the winnings would be calculated as demonstrated below:

• Your £10 stake on Liverpool to beat Manchester United (2/1) returns £30 (£20 winnings and £10 stake)
• This £30 is then used on Sheffield United to beat Sheffield Wednesday (1/2), which returns £45 (£15 winnings and £30 stake)
• This £45 goes on Aston Villa to beat Birmingham City (4/5), returning £81 (£36 winnings and £45 stake)
• Finally, this £81 is used on Leicester City to beat Coventry City (1/1), which returns £162 (£81 winnings and £81 stake)

The downside is that there is an increased risk - if one selection fails to land, the whole acca will lose.

What else do I need to know about acca betting in football?

Accas don't just need to be on match outcomes like win/draw. In a fourfold accumulator, you could back Arsenal to beat Everton, over 1.5 goals in Portugal vs Armenia, over 10.5 corners in Juventus vs Bologna, and Neymar to score in Brazil vs Bolivia. Those four selections would still be multiplied by one another to form overall odds.

Betfred also offers bonuses on certain accas. For example, ahead of Euro 2024, Betfred has been offering a 'Group Winner Bonus', giving punters a cash bonus on winnings up to 25% if their group winner accumulator bet wins.

This is not applicable to all markets and events, but instances such as these do offer the opportunity to increase winnings if successful.

Betfred's Acca Flex is another example of an offer applicable to accumulators. Here, you place a pre-match 5+ leg football accumulator and receive a cash bonus up to 50% if all of your selections win, or your money back as cash if one leg lets you down.

Keep an eye out on the Betfred.com football page to keep abreast of all the latest offers and promotions.

For more information, check out How to Bet on Football Online with Betfred

You can check out all our latest Football Betting Odds on the market page at betfred.com and all of our Football Betting Tips here.