Lucky 15 betting is a betting concept that’s been around for a good while now. It was originally created by Fred Done, who is the owner of Betfred, but is now widely adopted by the majority of the major bookies within the UK, such is the popularity of the bet.
These types of bets fall under the ‘full cover bet’ and there are plenty of variations that you can choose from, including the likes of Trixie, Yankee, Heinz, Lucky 31 and Lucky 63, to name just a few. It allows punters to include a series of selections into their bet and then see a number of different outcomes for those selections return money.
It’s not too dissimilar to how an accumulator bet works, but for this you don’t need all selections to come away with a net win. If you manage to do sweep your Lucky 15 then there is a good chance that you’re going to be able to win a large sum of money from a relatively small initial outlay, but as mentioned, not all results are needed to be classed as ‘wins’ to make this bet type worthwhile.
What is a Lucky 15?
The process of a Lucky 15 bet means that you include 4 selections in your bet. Ideally you want all these selections to win but it’s not essential. You only need one win, or a place for each way bets, to see a return, which is probably the biggest difference to that of an accumulator.
After choosing your four selections, the bet is then broken down in to what are known as betting lines. The ‘15’ represents the number of betting lines for this bet type and your stake will reflect the amount you want to wager per line. So, if you bet £1 per line, then the total stake would be £15. If you bet £10 per line, then the total wagered would be £150 and so on.
The four bet types that are included are as follows:
- 4 x singles
- 6 x doubles
- 4 x trebles
- 1 x 4-fold accumulator
As you can see, the bets above total that of 15 in total. The combination of bets are as follows:
- 4 x singles
- Selection 1
- Selection 2
- Selection 3
- Selection 4
- 6 x doubles
- Selections 1 & 2
- Selections 2 & 3
- Selections 3 & 4
- Selections 1 & 3
- Selections 1 & 4
- Selections 2 & 4
- 4 x trebles
- Selections 1, 2 & 3
- Selections 1, 2 & 4
- Selections 2, 3 & 4
- Selections 1, 3 & 4
- 1 x 4-fold accumulator on all 4
- Selections 1, 2, 3 & 4
Lucky 15 Bet Example
Let’s run through a quick example of how this might work in the real world. As the Lucky 15’s are best used with horse racing, we will use this as our sport, but theoretically, it could be used with any sport and any market, as long as the markets are independent of each other. This basically means that you can’t have two selections from the same event, such as two horses to win from just one race.
We decide to take on 4 horse races running at Carlisle on the same day.
- Keep At It, running in the 1:30, priced at 2/1
- Run Fast, running in the 2:00, priced at 3/1
- Dark Rum, running in the 2:30, priced at 7/2
- Black Panther, running in the 3:00, priced at 6/4
We decide that our total stake for this bet is going to bet £2 per line, which brings our total wager amount to that of £30.
For simplicity in calculation we’ve converted our odds to decimal format:
- 2/1 becomes 3.00
- 3/1 becomes 4.00
- 7/2 becomes 4.50
- 6/4 becomes 2.50
We get lucky and all of our horses have won their respective races. Our payouts would then be as follows.
Singles
The first thing to target would be the 4 single bets that we had. So, we know that for each single we have £2 invested per line, meaning our payouts would be as follows:
- Keep At It – £2 @ 3.00 = £6.00
- Run Fast – £2 @ 4.00 = £8.00
- Dark Rum – £2 @ 4.50 = £9.00
- Black Panther – £2 @ 2.50 = £5.00
The total amount that we’ve returned from the singles would then be, £6 + £8 + £9 + £5.00 = £28.00. Straight from the off, we know we’ve made a net win already. But this net win is only going to increase from the remaining bets. The next thing to look at is the 6 double bets.
Doubles
The double bets returns are as follows (for ease we have numbered the horses 1, 2, 3, 4 in the same order as you see above. Also, to get the double price we just multiply the odds of each horse together, which you can see below:
- 1 & 2 = 3.00 x 4.00 (odds) = 12.00 (double odds) x £2 (stake) = £24 (return)
- 1 & 3 = 3.00 x 4.50 = 13.50 x £2 = £27
- 1 & 4 = 3.00 x 2.50 = 7.50 x £2 = £15
- 2 & 3 = 4.00 x 4.50 = 18.00 x £2 = £36
- 2 & 4 = 4.00 x 2.50 = 10.00 x £2 = £20
- 3 & 4 = 4.50 x 2.50 = 11.25 x £2 = £22.50
The total returns for this section would be; £24 + £27 + £15 + £36 + £20 + £22.50 = £144.50
Trebles
The next section would be to work out the trebles. The same format in terms of horse number and formula layout are used as the doubles section above.
- 1, 2 & 3 = 3.00 x 4.00 x 4.50 (odds) = 54.00 (treble odds) x £2 (stake) = £108 (return)
- 1, 2 & 4 = 3.00 x 4.00 x 2.50 = 30.00 x £2 = £60
- 2, 3 & 4 = 4.00 x 4.50 x 2.50 = 45.00 x £2 = £90
- 1, 3 & 4 = 3 x 4.50 x 2.50 = 33.75 x £2 = £67.50
The total returns from the trebles would be; £108 + £60 + £90 + 67.50 = £325.50
4-Fold Accumulator
The final section to work out is that of the accumulator. This is a simple process to get this price, all you need to do is multiply each price by the other to get the single line.
- 1, 2, 3 & 4 = 3.00 x 4.00 x 4.50 x 2.50 (odds) = 135.00 (acca odds) x £2 (stake) = £270 (return)
The Total
We’re now at a point where we have all the sections worked out and the returns in place. All we need to do now is add them together to get the final return.
- £28 + £144.50 + £325.50 + £270 = £768
As we can see from the numbers, this Lucky 15 has proved to be highly lucrative. From our initial stake of just £30, we have managed to return a massive £768, highlighting just how worthwhile these bet types can be.
What If One Horse Loses
But, the concept of the bet is to allow you to get winners when you don’t necessarily get all the results correct. We aren’t going to go through the whole workings for this next part, but we wanted to highlight what sort of returns you could expect say if 1 of the horses failed to win. For this we will remove Dark Rum or horse number 3 priced at 7/2, 4.50 as decimal odds.
The returns would then be drastically reduced to just £138 in this case. It’s a big drop off, but still offers a good return from your initial bet and well worth winning.
The Difference Between a Lucky 15 and a Yankee
We spoke very briefly at the top of the article about how there are plenty of other full cover bets that you can choose from. A popular one is that of the Yankee. This bet type is one that is commonly mistaken for the Lucky 15, but they are actually very different bets.
The main difference comes from the fact that it includes just 11 bets or lines if you’d rather. This is because a Yankee removes the singles bets that you see in the Lucky 15. So, instead of having 4 singles, they just have the 6 doubles, 4 trebles and 1 accumulator.
There’s not a major reason why, other than it just offers another variant of this bet type. It also means that you are able to reduce your overall bet due to the fact there are 4 fewer lines to bet on. Some people prefer this bet, but we think the best way to look at is by assessing your selections.
If you’ve lots of high priced selections, say at odds of 10/1 (11.00) or higher for example, then the Lucky 15 might be a better shout as even a single win is going to be fairly significant. If you are betting on lower end bets, say 4/1 (5.00) or lower, then the Yankee might be better as it allows you to invest higher in the accumulator type bets and remove what would essentially be pretty low value returns for a single win.
You can adjust these numbers as you wish in terms of line but try and look at it through the point of the returns that you make. Ask yourself are the single bets going to be significant or is it better to invest the 4 lines that you’re saving into a Yankee?
One winner and all winner bonuses
Now that you’ve got the basics of how a Lucky 15 works I principle, we are about to confuse things a little further for you… we are kind like that you see!
Obviously the ’15’ part of the Lucky 15 is pretty self-explanatory now, in that there are 15 lines that you stake on. But, what about the ‘Lucky’ part? Well, this is because the majority of bookmakers offer some sort of bonus for getting just one winner or all winners.
The original concept that was thought up by Fred Done offers up double odds if you got just one winner correct and they would also give you a 10% bonus on your total winnings if you managed to sweep your Lucky 15 (i.e. got all selections correct).
But, it’s worth noting that if you got 2 or 3 selections correct, there would be no bonus added. It’s been designed to allow you to get a little more money back for having a bit of a mare and just getting one correct, but also a tidy reward for having a clean sweep.
Some general terms that you will find are as follows:
- The bonus on only one selection winning will normally be double or treble the odds of that winner, depending on the bookmaker
- No bonuses are paid on any Lucky 15 that has 2 or 3 winners
- Bonus are paid on clean sweeps for a Lucky 15 (4 winners). Again, bonuses range from 10% to 20%
However, we need to make you aware that there are some bookies that don’t offer all or even any of these bonuses. There are several that offer just the 1 winner bonus or even just the sweep bonus but are also some that don’t offer either. If you are betting with a bookie that doesn’t offer at least one, ideally both, then you are likely going to be losing a ton of value.
Find the best bonuses
Finding out if a bookmaker does include the bonus is relatively simple. A quick Google of the bookmaker + “Lucky 15 terms” should find you what you need to know. Failing that, the information will probably be contained on the bookmaker’s promotions page.
These bonuses differ massively from each bookie. By spending just 20 minutes researching who offers what for the Lucky 15 bets, it could potentially make you that net win in the long run. That’s all we’re going to say on the matter.
Strategy
The strategy examples for the Lucky 15 listed below assume that you are applying the basics to your bet. These include, but aren’t limited to, proper bankroll management, key research for all selections, betting what you can afford to lose (more for casual punters) etc. If you aren’t doing these then you really need to get these basics dialled in before moving forward.
One Long Price, Three Short Prices
A good strategy that we have had a lot of success with Lucky 15’s is by choosing 3 short priced bets and one long price bets. The reason behind this is that the 3 ‘bankers’ are going to be our bread and butter and try and make sure that we at worst make some or all of our original stake back.
The long-priced bet is going to be our wildcard, if you will. This is going to be the bet that potentially makes us the most and sees the big returns that are capable with a Lucky 15. We’re almost free rolling with this bet and it allows us to really get creative with our selections.
The prices of your bankers and your wildcard are going to be subjective. We can’t say exactly what will work. As a general rule of them we like to work with bankers that are no higher than 2/1 (3.00) and the wildcards often come in at around 9/1 (10.00).
But, it does depend on the sport that you are working with. The best results of these are that of horse racing, especially at the prices we mentioned above. If you are betting on football say for example, then finding a 9/1 winner from a single bet is going to be much tougher than finding a 9/1 runner in horse racing. It’s for this reason that you may need to adjust your banker and wildcard odds for the sport you’re betting on.
Can Lucky 15’s Be a Bankroll Builder?
Rarely will you see a professional bettor place an accumulator bet priced at 20/1 or even higher, at least not on a consistent basis. The risk is too high, and the rewards are too few and far between. Their bread bad butter is lower odds, bigger stakes and this is how they build up their bankroll by negating their risk.
Many people see Lucky 15 bets as a possible way to get rich quick and win the big money. But, they are losing sight to what is one of the most underrated bankroll builders in the industry. The lucky 15 allows you to win slowly, but also gives you that chance of winning big, the perfect combination in our opinion.
For the accumulator bettors amongst you, how many times have you placed a 4-fold acca and won? We’re guessing not all that often. Now, how many times have you placed a 4-fold acca and had 1 or more selections be right, with 1 or 2 letting you down? We’d guess very often.
The Lucky 15 allows you to still make a net win from these types of results, where an acca could just see you lose. The point being that you are still building your bankroll in a timely manner and if the big one hits, you could be quid’s in.
Embrace the potential of winning small with a Lucky 15 and it will change your attitude to these bet types for good.
Other full cover bets
There are actually a wide range of other full cover bets that you can bet on. The principle with all of them is the same, the only variables that change are the number of selections and therefore, the number of lines.
Lucky 31
The next step up from the Lucky 15 is that of the Lucky 31. Again, a similar process, but with 5 selections instead of 4. The bets include 5 singles, 10 doubles, 10 trebles, 5 four-folds and a five-fold acca. For this bet, you have 31 bet lines, which means that £1 stake per line would cost you £31 total.
Lucky 63
The next step is that of the Lucky 63 and this is as high as these types of bets go. For this you get 6 selections, which includes the following breakdown of bets: 6 singles, 15 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 four-folds, 6 five-folds and a six-fold acca.
This is the final bet type that includes single bets, the bets below are similar bet types, but instead don’t include single bets, just the multiple bets.
Trixie
The Trixie is a popular bet with American sports, which includes 3 doubles and a treble. The bet requires you to win at least 2 selections from your 3 total selections.
Yankee
Spoken about in depth earlier in the article, a direct attachment to the Lucky 15 in that it requires 4 selections, but the removal of the single bets means it only has 11 paylines: 6 doubles, 4 trebles and a four-fold accumulator.
Canadian or Super Yankee
Depending on where you are in the world, the next step up is known at the Canadian or the Super Yankee. With this you have 26 bets in total coming from 5 selections. The bets include: 10 doubles, 10 trebles, 5 four-folds and a five-fold accumulator.
Heinz
Another hugely popular bet for football punters, the Heinz is a massive 57 bets in total, taking its name from the same company that makes those infamous baked beans, in reference to their 57 varieties of products. The bet includes 6 selections and the following bets; 15 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 four-folds, 6 five-folds and a six-fold accumulator.
Super Heinz
You can see where we are going to go with this one, right? The Super Heinz has 7 selections involved in total, with 120 separate bets. The bets are made up of 21 doubles, 35 trebles, 35 four-folds, 21 five-folds, 7 six-folds and a seven-fold accumulator. With it you need at least 2 selections to come out with a net win.
Goliath
The final one on our list is the Goliath. Not all that many bookies offer this bet anymore, but the 8 selections for it means that there are in total 247 bets. Again, 2 selections are needed for the bet to return any money and include the following bet types; 28 doubles, 56 trebles, 70 four-folds, 56 five-folds, 28 six-folds, 8 seven-folds and an eight-fold accumulator.