NFL Accumulators Explained

Accumulators are a type of NFL bet you can make. It is essentially a combination of two or more bets and is sometimes referred to as a parlay bet or a multiplier bet. The bets need to be connected in one way or another so that they can be treated as the same wager. This makes all those separate wagers cheaper. They also come with more advantages but there are disadvantages too.

NFL bettors and accumulators go hand-in-hand, so we have made sure to include all about them in our extensive NFL betting guide. Below, you will find all you need to know about accumulators and more. We will show you how to make the best possible accumulator bet with the best possible odds and an unearthly payout.

What Are Accumulator Bets

Accumulator bets can be any combination of two or more bets. They offer better payouts than the individual bets would altogether. Additionally, you can place an accumulator bet and it will cost you less than placing the same bets but separately.

So, you will make more money from accumulators than individual bets. You may wonder what the catch is at this point and you would not be wrong to – if you get one of the bets wrong, you lose the entire accumulator. It is definitely not a risk-free bet. However, there are ways around that and ways to minimize the risk you would be taking.

Variations

Mostly, accumulators differ only because of the number of bets they contain but that is not always the case. There are a few variations that can be found online and we will go over the ones most commonly found.

Open accumulators are one such variation. If you chose to make this type of bet, you will be able to add more to the accumulator even after you have placed it. This means that if you, for instance, have placed an accumulator bet on two NFL games and both of them win, you can add more bets to the accumulator afterward.

There are also the so-called progressive accumulators. If this is the variation you pick, you will be given a payout even if all of your bets are not successful. There is a different threshold of successful you must reach to get paid but usually, it needs to be at least over three. Keep in mind, that this way you will not get the same payout as from a regular accumulator because this significantly reduces the risk. Still, the more bets you get right, the bigger the payout gets.

Another variation is the multi-chance accumulator. This is similar to the progressive accumulator in that you will still get paid even if you do not have only successful bets in your accumulator. However, the key difference here is that you will not get paid more if you go over the preset threshold. This limits your winnings but it also limits your losses – you can barely cover the minimum of correct bets and you will still win the full amount of money from this bet.

Special Cases

Sometimes a bet might push and you need to make sure you know exactly what a sportsbook’s policy is for dealing that. In some cases, you might lose your entire accumulator bet because of a single push. We highly recommend you check with the sportsbook’s support team. The most frequently implemented practice is simply excluding that bet and getting paid as if your accumulator had one less bet.

There’s also the problem most players have with accumulators which is that the odds are far from true. There is a way to surpass this – you simply need to pick bets with different odds, some of which are higher than the true odds that you have calculated. This way the overall odds of the accumulator will be higher and can reach the true odds. This is referred to as forcing true odds.

Advantages and Disadvantages

As we already mentioned, the advantages of accumulators are first and foremost that they offer better payouts. It is precisely accumulators that have allowed bettors to win unbelievable amounts of money. A successful accumulator bet can truly change your life.

Placing an accumulator bet means that you are risking a small amount of money compared to the potential profit from a win. Like with any other bet, you could potentially lose, but you would not be losing nearly as much as you could stand to win.

Despite the outward allure of accumulators, they are actually a high-risk wager. You stand to lose a lot if you make just one wrong bet. Along with the higher potential profit comes a gigantic risk. This is why you need to be careful when placing accumulator bets and only include wagers on events with outcomes you can predict accurately.

Accumulators also have another flaw which is that the more bets you add to them, the further the true odds go. You are actually betting at lower odds than you should be. This can be fixed in a manner we will go over in a bit, but the flaw remains nonetheless.

When to Use Accumulators

Experienced bettors know to use accumulators carefully and selectively. Unless you can force the true odds or are absolutely certain in the outcome of all games this is a highly risky bet to make. Of course, you can make it at no cost at all but if you are a high-roller, you may want to bet a little less when it comes to accumulators.

The right time to use accumulators depends on each individual and their betting style and strategy. Later on, we will go into more details about this. For beginners, we would recommend starting out with smaller accumulators and working your way up as you advance as a punter.

Calculating Profits

The easiest way to calculate the profit you would stand to make from a winning accumulator is to simply place it online. Most online sportsbooks will show you what you could win before you have even finished placing your bet. They will never display wrong payouts, so you can count on their calculations’ correctness.

If you still want to do it yourself, there are a number of equations that can help you with that. However, you must keep in mind that most of those are done with what are considered to be the true odds which means that your result will most likely be a little off.

The way to go about calculating the payout by yourself is to first multiply all odds. Then, you need to multiply your bet by the sum total of the odds. This is most easily done with Decimal odds. We already covered how you can convert Moneyline odds into Decimal ones earlier.

Once again, it is much easier and faster to simply use an online sportsbook. You will immediately know what you could potentially win, both with and without your original bet.

Conclusion

It is quite tempting to place an accumulator bet and there are plenty of ways to do it right. If you know what you are doing, then placing this type of bet could prove quite profitable for you. The most important thing when it comes to accumulators is making sure that the odds are in your favor. Of course, as we said, always make sure that you know what happens when a push occurs. As always, make sure you are playing for fun and responsibly.