How do you define a Yankee bet?
Table of contents
A Yankee bet is a form of multiple selection bet that offers coverage of every possible combination of wins from four selections on a bet slip. The only win not covered by the Yankee are individual single selection wins.
Although it can sound complicated, it is actually a very easy bet to understand.
It also offers punters a different way to bet on multiple selections other than backing them as singles, or as a single accumulator bet.
Let’s explore what a Yankee bet is in more detail.
Explaining a Yankee Bet
A Yankee bet is a form of multiple selection bet. It is known as a Full Cover bet, in that it covers all possible multiples from the combination of the four selections, but not any of the selections as a single bet.
Each of the different combinations of outcomes for a Yankee bet must be covered with a unit stake and as there are eleven of these possible outcomes, your stake size will be 11x your unit stake.
An example of a Yankee Bet
Here’s an example of how a Yankee bet is composed.
A punter adds the following selections to their bet slip:
- Selection 1 - Horse Racing - Guest Star to win the 2.35 at Roscommon - 7.50
- Selection 2 - Soccer - Sweden to beat Estonia - 1.25
- Selection 3 - American Football - Houston Texans to beat the Green Bay Packers - 2.35
- Selection 4 - Boxing - Mike Tyson to beat Jake Paul - 3.40
To back the four selections as a Yankee, requires the punter to cover all possible Doubles, Trebles and Fourfold bet combinations.
There are eleven of these combinations in total.
The bet requires at least two of the four selections to win in order to generate a return. If one or no selections win, then the bet is lost.
However, if two, three or all four selections win then your bet will generate a return. The more winners landed in a Yankee bet, the greater the value of the return as it will mean more of the lines covered will be winners.
Obviously, the higher the odds of the winning selections in a Yankee bet, then the better the return from those selections will be and the more likely you can guarantee yourself a profit, or at least break even with the bet.
How much does a Yankee Bet cost?
As there are eleven possible combinations for a Yankee bet, the total bet amount is 11 x the Unit Stake you wish to place on each line.
So, if your standard Unit Stake is £5, then to place a £5 Yankee bet on the four selections above (or any four selections for that matter), would cost you £55.
Remember though, you can scale down the size of your unit stake to make a Yankee bet much more affordable. So in the example above, it you place this Yankee bet as a £0.50 Yankee, then the total cost for this bet would be £5.50, which is more in keeping with your typical total bet stake.
What are the possible winning combinations of a Yankee Bet?
We mentioned previously that there are eleven different winning combinations on a Yankee bet. Using Selections 1-4 as outlined above, those combinations are:
Doubles
- Selections 1 & 2 win.
- Selections 1 & 3 win.
- Selections 1 & 4 win.
- Selections 2 & 3 win.
- Selections 2 & 4 win.
- Selections 3 & 4 win.
Trebles
- Selections 1, 2 & 3 win.
- Selections 1, 2 & 4 win.
- Selections 1, 3 & 4 win.
- Selections 2, 3 & 4 win.
Fourfold Accumulator
- Selections 1, 2, 3 & 4 all win.
Of course, how much each of these different lines will return is entirely dependent on the odds of the four selections and which ones combine as winners in the bet.
How Yankee Bet winnings are calculated
Let’s use the four selections above and show how these different selections combine for different winning amounts as part of a £5 Yankee bet.
Let’s say that we placed a £5 Yankee (total bet £55) on these selections. So to break even, our returns from the bet must add up to £55 or more to make a profit.
We’ll substitute these figures into the different winning combinations to show how much each winning combination would pay out individually in a Yankee bet. Profits are shown in bold, losses in italics.
Doubles
- Selections 1 & 2 win. Odds = 3.40 x 2.35 = 9.38. Returns - 9.17 x £5 = £46.87 (-£8.13 loss)
- Selections 1 & 3 win. Odds = 3.40 x 1.25 = 17.63. Returns - 17.63 x £5 = £88.12 (£38.12 profit)
- Selections 1 & 4 win. Odds = 3.40 x 7.50 = 25.50. Returns 25.5 x £5 = £127.50 (£77.50 profit)
- Selections 2 & 3 win. Odds = 2.35 x 1.25 = 2.94. Returns - 2.94 x £5 = £14.68 (-£40.32 loss)
- Selections 2 & 4 win. Odds = 2.35 x 7.50 = 4.25. Returns - 4.25 x £5 = £21.25 (-£33.75 loss)
- Selections 3 & 4 win. Odds = 1.25 x 7.50 = 7.99. Returns - 7.99 x £5 = £39.95 (-£15.05 loss)
Trebles
- Selections 1, 2 & 3 win. Odds = 3.40 x 2.35 x 1.22 = 22.03. Returns - 22.03 x £5 =£110.15 (£55.15 profit)
- Selections 1, 2 & 4 win. Odds = 3.40 x 2.35 x 7.50 = 31.88. Returns - 31.88 x £5 = £159.37 (£104.37 profit)
- Selections 1, 3 & 4 win. Odds = 3.40 x 1.25 x 7.50 = 59.93. Returns - 59.93 x £5 = £299.62 (£244.62 profit)
- Selections 2, 3 & 4 win. Odds = 2.35 x 1.25 x 7.50 = 9.99. Returns - 9.99 x £5 = £49.93 (-£5.07 loss)
Fourfold Accumulator
- Selections 1, 2, 3 & 4 all win. Odds = 3.40 x 2.35 x 1.25 x 7.50 = 74.91. Returns - 74.91 x £5 = £375.53 (£320.53 profit)
However, the key thing to note with a Yankee bet is that if more than two selections win, then you will have multiple winning lines.
For example if Selections 2,3 and 4 win, this generates £49.93 as a winning treble bet. But also the Doubles for selections 2 and 3, 2 and 4 and 3 and 4 will also win. This means you will win £14.68, £21.25 and £39.95 from those bets, meaning that your total return would be £125.81 a (£70.81 profit).
If all four selections win, then the total return would be £1,332.91, offering a total profit of £1277.01.
It is therefore very easy to see why Yankee bets can be so popular with customers as they offer flexibility when betting on multiple selections, while still offering a chance of a bigger return.
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