Getting treble betting explained to you
If you’re wondering what is treble betting, then we can help make sense of that. It’s very simple. treble betting is where you place a bet that contains three legs from different events. You can also go each-way on this 3 leg multi bet and turn your treble into a system wager in the form of a patent. We’ll make sure treble betting is explained in an easy to understand way.
Treble betting is popular in horse racing because the odds are multiplied together as each leg of the bet comes off. If you back horses at 2/1, 4/1 and 6/1 separately at £1 each separately, then you receive a total return of £15 from a total £3 stake. However, put them all in one 3 leg multi bet off £1 and you receive £105! That’s a massive difference, but reflects the risks involved.
Wagering on three outcomes separately allows you to cover your losses if one bet goes down. You can’t do that when you’re all in. What is treble betting? It’s three times the risk of a regular win single but for big rewards if it comes off.
There are ways to mitigate the risk, however. Treble betting can go each-way, so you still receive a fraction of the win odds if a horse finishes in a place. Here you are placing two trebles in one – the first is for all three horses to win and the second is for them to place. In order to break even on the latter, you’ll need each leg to have a place price of even money. Betting on a horse at 2/1 in our above example would be no good for these purposes. Depending on the place terms of a race, you’ll need either 4/1 or 5/1 minimum for an each-way treble to have this cover.
Now that each-way treble betting is explained, there’s another form of it to consider; the patent. Here you take your three selected horses and turn them into seven bets in one. You back them all to win individually, three doubles (AB BC AC) and the treble. This means you can still be in profit if one leg lets you down. If two horses were to win, for example, then three of the seven bets would be winners.
A £1 patent would be a wager of £7. Using our above example of horses, the return of such a bet on horses at 2/1, 4/1 and 6/1 would be £191 if they all won! You can also go each-way on patents if you wish, further increasing your chances of success, though in this case you’d be staking £14. As with a straight each-way treble, you’d need all the selections to have a place price of evens under the race’s betting terms in order to be guaranteed your money back on the bet if they at least make the frame.
What is treble betting like when it comes off? It’s a great feeling, you’ve beaten the odds and called three legs correctly, so you’re bound to be happy. There’s margin for error, though, unless you consider some of the alternative approaches. Imagine how gutted you’d feel if the three and final leg let you down losing by a narrow margin on a photo finish.
Here’s the thing about treble betting. It doesn’t just have to apply to horse racing. You can use it on any sport that takes your fancy and bookmaker will accept bets on, but remember not all events involve the each-way angle. This is an important consideration to make.
A 3 leg multi bet like this is a very basic form of an accumulator, or acca for short. Now you’ve got treble betting explained, it should help you understand other types of multiple wagers out there. We’ve got full details of those other bets you can place and much more throughout our glossary section.
