What is a Yankee bet?
A Yankee Bet is a popular staple of sports betting, it’s enduring appeal deriving from its broad potential for profit.
It rewards partial success while – as with all accumulators – for total success the bettor can look forward to a huge pay-out.
For the latter to happen all 11 bets based on four selections must come in, those bets consisting of six doubles, four trebles, and a fourfold accumulator.
This is the standard breakdown of a Yankee wager.
As for the cost, a £1 Yankee will amount to £11 – a pound for each bet - while a £1 each-way Yankee costs £22. Naturally, a 50p stake is available and this halves the outlay to £5.50 and £11 respectively.
An affordable multiple bet that pays out handsomely and offers up a wide range of emotional investment along the way?
It’s little wonder that this particular form of multiple bet remains a much-loved favourite among the betting community decades after it first came into existence.
Breakdown of the bet
Let’s use football as an example here, the sport that is arguably most associated with Yankee betting, though horse racing runs it close.
As stated above, a typical Yankee bet is made up of 11 ‘legs’ that are all based on four selections. Let’s go through each, starting with the six doubles.
In this instance, your four selections are backing Liverpool, West Ham, Rotherham and Celtic all to win on a given weekend.
The six doubles therefore are:
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Liverpool and West Ham to win
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Liverpool and Rotherham to win
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Liverpool and Celtic to win
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West Ham and Rotherham to win
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Rotherham and Celtic to win
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West Ham and Celtic to win
To receive any pay-out from a Yankee bet a minimum of two of your selections must come in.
If in this example that is Liverpool and Celtic – with West Ham and Rotherham either drawing or losing their matches – that means that the ‘Liverpool and Celtic to win’ element of your bet strikes.
Their individual odds are combined to determine the sum of money you are paid out.
But there is also four trebles included in your wager, they being –
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Liverpool, West Ham and Rotherham to win
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Liverpool, West Ham and Celtic to win
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Liverpool, Rotherham and Celtic to win
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West Ham, Rotherham and Celtic to win
If only Celtic fails to win then the first line of your trebles above pays out. This is in addition to three doubles that have also come good.
The four-fold element of the wager is self-explanatory, it requiring all four teams to triumph.
To win or each-way?
A basic principle to apply here relates to the price of your selections.
If the four outcomes you are backing are at short prices, it is usually best to go win only.
When you have found some longer priced selections to bet on however, consider going with an each-way Yankee as the profits on this bet can still be very appealing but you are additionally giving yourself a safety net.
Your bet is no longer win or bust. You have a significant margin for error. This principle is applicable to almost every form of multiple bet.
Win Yankee
Four fancied horses are selected, all running at Cheltenham. The odds are 6/4, 4/6, 15/8, and 8/11.
In this example, the £1 Yankee bet costs £11 and if all selections are winners, the payout will be £89.21.
However, though the first three horses romp home, the last leg annoyingly lets your bet down.
That annoyance soon eases when you realise that the Yankee bet still returns a healthy £28.20 (for one treble and three doubles that have won).
In these circumstances, Yankees are a good way of getting a profit from your horse racing bets, even when they are not all winners!
In this example, we have more than doubled the initial stake of £11 for getting three out of four selections correct.
Each-way Yankee
An each-way Yankee can be a great way to uncover big profits for small investments – if you study the form and find those winners!
So, in this case, a £1 each-way Yankee is going to cost an initial outlay of £22 on horses whose respective odds are 15/2, 5/2, 3/1 and 7/1.
If all four selections are winners, your bet would return a total of £1975.12!
Looking at the each-way benefit in this bet, if all four horses fail to win their races but finish in the first three, the total return would be £94.90, ensuring a profit of £72.90 from the initial stake.
Returns on a Yankee bet can multiply surprising quickly and, as the bet provides excellent coverage, you can obtain a profit even when you don’t have a complete set of winning selections.
When you are next looking at placing a multiple selection bet, consider going online and using a Yankee bet calculator to show what returns this bet type would potentially return compared to the bet types you normally employ. You might get a nice surprise!
Benefits of Yankee Bets over Others
Yankee bets are not exclusive to football and horse racing. They can be used in all sports that you choose to bet on, from ice hockey to motor racing.
There are many different multiple bet options available, from an ambitious Canadian – sometimes known as a ‘Super Yankee’ – to the standard bet builder.
Few however trump a Yankee for offering up what can be construed as the best of both worlds. It pays out generously for partial success as well as dangling the possibility of a huge jackpot win.
It's all subjective of course, and will vary from bettor to bettor, but eleven bets from four selections feels like a decent balance between covering a broad range of events and being easy to keep track of.
Yankee Bet FAQs
When Should I Place A Yankee Bet?
If you believe that two or more selections will win then a Yankee is the way to go.
Can You Do Yankee Betting Each Way?
Yes, each way Yankee bets are especially popular in horse racing.
What Sports Are Best For Yankee Betting?
Football is the most popular sport for Yankee betting, but it is simple enough to pick this wager for most sports.
How Do You Place A Yankee Bet With 888sport?
Add your four selections to your bet slip and then click on the permutations tab. From there, add your stake to the Yankee section.
In total, this will give you six doubles, four trebles and one accumulator. So if you want a £1 per permutation bet, it will cost you £11 in total.
