Full Cover Bets Explained What is a Full Cover Bet? Popular with punters and bookmakers alike, you might be more familiar with full cover bets with their individual names. A Lucky 15 and a Yankee are just two examples. Once you understand how they work, they can create new opportunities for betting on horse racing. In short, they provide a way to 'package up' multiple bets. Within a full cover bet, such as a Lucky 31 for instance, you will have various sub bets that include all the multiple options between the selections and is made up of 31 different bets including single bets on each selection. Let's bring this to life with an example. When you bet on a Lucky 15, you actually have 15 bet across four different selections. It features four singles, six doubles, four trebles and one fourfold accumulator. A €1 win-only Lucky 15 bet, therefore, has a stake of €15. Full cover bets can feature singles or exclude them, and there is no limit to the number of selections they can have. A goliath bet consists of 247 bets across eight selections. How Bet Winnings are Calculated The amount you can win from your full cover bets depends on the number of selections that win. If only one or two horses out of the selections win, then it is likely the payout will be low and may not cover your initial stake. The more horses that do win, and at the better the odds, will inflate the potential winnings. Bet slips on the bookmaker's websites will instantly inform you of the potential total winnings. What it is unlikely to do is to project potential winnings if only some of the horses win. If you're in a betting shop or online and want to simulate various outcomes and how that will impact your winnings, then using a betting calculator such as this will be key. A good betting calculator will allow you to specify different bet types, and specify the outcome of each leg. Based on these scenarios, you can start to work out potential winnings for a variety of scenarios. Why Full Cover Bets Are So Popular Unless you have an utterly disastrous time, chances are your bet will return some form of winnings. With full cover bets consisting of doubles and trebles (often singles too), just two horses winning within the full cover bet will provide some form of return. This is just one reason why they are popular with punters. Another is the potential for large amounts that can be won. Much like a traditional accumulator, the odds compound exponentially. The more selections you add, the larger the odds and the bigger the potential payout. It's not difficult to create a full cover bet with a potential four, or even five-figure payout for a relatively small outlay. What Are the Most Common Full Cover Bets? The following full cover bets include singles: Patent - seven bets across three selections Lucky 15 - 15 bets across four selections Lucky 31 - 31 bets across five selections Lucky 63 - 63 bets across six selections The following full cover bets exclude singles: Trixie Bet - Four bets across three selections Yankee Bet - 11 bets across four selections Super Yankee - 26 bets across five selections Heinz Bet — 57 across six selections Super Heinz — 120 bets across seven selections Goliath Bet — 247 bets across eight selections Lucky 15 Bets vs Accumulators Full cover bets are just one form of multiple bets, like a conventional accumulator. Each has advantages and disadvantages which might govern which you may opt for. The advantages of full cover bets are that the chances of payout are considerably higher. Providing one or two horses win, you are guaranteed a payout. This is in contrast to an accumulator where every single selection needs to win in order to get paid. The drawback is the cost of the stakes with a full cover bet. Because it contains many smaller bets it is far more expensive than placing an accumulator. It does however represent an alternative to an accumulator which has an 'all or nothing' approach to betting. By placing a full cover bet across your selections you're able to offset that annoyance when you're let down by just one horse.
