The 15 bets are four singles, six doubles, four trebles and a four-fold accumulator. Unlike larger group bets like a Heinz, you're also placing single sports bets here.
That means as few as one selection winning will give you a return of some kind, but you'll need at least two winners or more if your doubles or better are going to be successful.
Pros and Cons of the Lucky 15 bet
The way in which a Lucky 15 is compiled again lends itself better to Horse Racing than it does team sports which typically offer a lower price. Bookmakers often offer promotions on this type of bet than can be found in terms and conditions and they are as follows: you'll receive increased odds (often double the odds) or winnings by a certain percentage (usually 10%) if only one selection wins. Even after that bonus is applied, you're making big losses if only one out of four selections wins.
You may also receive a little odds or profit boost (again generally 10%) if ALL of your selections wins, or if you manage to pick three winners amongst your four selections. Even picking two winners could result in a loss for many sports, whilst three winners puts you into good profit margins.
- Pro - There's definitely an excitement and a draw about placing a bet like this, as all four bets winning (usually even money odds as a rough example) could return £90 from £15.
- Pro - You're covering more bases and outcomes whilst still staking less than you may be tempted to do if you placed an array of similar multiples.
- Con - Unless you're identifying selections at best odds of 3/1 and above, you won't be getting much of a return for your money unless you can identify three out of four.
- Con - Although the Lucky 15 is moderate compared to say a Heinz 57, you're still giving the bookmaker a great profit margin than if you went and placed four singles that could win.
A Lucky 15 falls into the category of being a much lower risk system bet. Four selections including four singles makes it a much more likely that you're going to earn some sort of returns, even on a bad day. Picking four winning selections in one day is more than achievable in any sport, and so if you have confidence in a group of sports bets then a Lucky 15 may be a worthwhile punt.
A Lucky 15 involves making four selections that are sorted into 15 separate bets by your betslip for you. There's no need to place them manually. Beware that whatever stake you enter into the stake box, that will be placed on each of the 15 legs of your bet, which are four singles, six doubles, four trebles and a four-fold accumulator.
Three winning selections from four (at the right odds) will result in profit from sports betting. If you're applying this system bet to a group of horse racing bets as so many do, then at the right odds it's possible even two singles could return a handsome profit from betting overall which makes this such an attractive option. Below is an example of a Lucky 15.
The maths behind a Lucky 15
If you're not fully confident in the types of bets that come together to make this Lucky 15, then you should read more about doubles, trebles and accumulators. The involvement of singles bets makes it much easier to let loose and place a Lucky 15 as opposed to other system bets, where you realistically need to be winning three to four of your five to six selections (or more) because multiple bets are the main focus.
On paper, you could have just one single winning here and turn a profit. It all depends on the odds of the selection and some sports are far more likely to turn up a 20/1 winner than others. If you're betting a 20/1 outsider against Federer, then you'd better hope there's an injury withdrawal or a blue moon. But it's never that big a surprise to see an undervalued horse at a similar price storm to the front.
Below are the equations and how returns are calculated for each separate leg of a Lucky 15.
- Singles (x4)= Stake x Betting Odds = Return
- Double (x6) = Stake x Betting Odds x Betting Odds = Return
- Treble (x4) = Stake x Betting Odds x Betting Odds x Betting Odds = Return
- Four-Fold (x1) = Stake x Betting Odds x Betting Odds x Betting Odds x Betting Odds = Return
If you're going to be applying the Lucky 15 bet to sports such as Tennis, Football or other markets that hold similar prices (1.50 to 3.50 most commonly) then you're going to need three out of four. But because of the different dynamics that having four selections in a system bet as opposed to five, six or more creates, it's much easier to profit from sports betting overall when using a Lucky 15.
Making use of Lucky 15 bets
Picking three sensibly priced winning selections out of four is a likely enough occurrence. Four is a much nicer number of selections to have in a system bet and even at best odds as low as 1.60 per selection, you'll make money winning three out of four selections because you're getting 75% of our overall risk back before consider any profits even.
The same logic applies to horse racing and the Lucky 15 may even creep into the reckoning where the most careful and professional bettors are. If you have four selections at tasty prices, and you plan to bet them as singles anyway, then presumably you're hoping to have identified more than just one winner.
For the sake of a few units extra staked you have the chance to increase your returns by considerable amounts whilst using a betting strategy that is still overall fairly low risk due to the inclusion of four single sports bets.
Horse racing punters are all over this system bet. And that doesn't mean just the casual punters, as professional bettors may see the value in a Lucky 15, too. It's a fantastic way of chasing the big wins for punters whilst professional bettors may use it to try and make the most of their selections if they feel they have a group of good bets for the days meets.
Whilst it has been criticised above in consideration of other sports and lower odds selections, it does seem a fantastic option for horse racing. Just two wins at 2/1 and 3/1 and two losers could result in a slim profit and that doesn't seem to be asking a lot.
Despite this, on paper even just the one winner could mean profit at odds of 8/1 or greater whilst a 20/1 outsider would make you nearly 200% even if the other three selections lost, so a Lucky 15 can be a fantastic option to have for horse racing betting.
If you're feeling comfortable with terminology, it might be the right time to learn about the different bet types and how to use them to your advantage.