The Lucky 15 bet was invented by Betfred in 1984 (at least if you believe Fred Done himself) and like its bigger siblings, the Lucky 31 and Lucky 63, it is a type of full cover bet with singles, primarily used when betting on horse or greyhound racing.
That means it involves multiple selections and every combination of bet possible to include all selections, from all the singles through every possibly double, treble and so on, up to one accumulator involving all selections.
How ‘Lucky’ Bets are Made
All three of the aforementioned bets work on the same principles, but by their nature the precise make up of each bet is different.
The Lucky 15, Lucky 31, and Lucky 63 include the following bets:
Lucky 15
Four selections and 15 bets in total:
- Four singles
- Six doubles
- Four trebles
- One four fold accumulator
Lucky 31
Five selections and 31 bets in total:
- Five singles
- 10 doubles
- 10 trebles
- Five four folds
- One five fold accumulator
Lucky 63
Six selections and 63 bets in total:
- Six singles
- 15 doubles
- 20 trebles
- 15 four folds
- Six five folds
- One six fold accumulator
Usually you would need at least two selections to come in to make a net win, and realistically three or four on the larger bets, although this would always depend on the exact odds of the horses in question. However, increasingly bookmakers are offering enhanced odds should you only get one winner that can sometimes lead to a net win or at the very least restrict your losses – but more on that shortly.
Understanding ‘Lucky’ Bets
Lucky bets are technically multiples, however, multiples such as these cannot be placed at either betting exchanges or spread betting firms and nor are they a usual feature of parimutuel betting and so for people who like this type of bet a standard, fixed odds bookmaker is the best option. Such wagers are primarily used for horse and greyhound races, although they can be used for any sport or even a selection of sports. It is not uncommon, for example, to try and pick the winner of all four top divisions in English football and combine these in a Lucky 15.
The thing to note is that because each bet is effectively many bets in one (15, 31 or 63 depending which option you go for) your stake is multiplied by the number of bets. So, for example, a £1 Lucky 31 will cost you £31 with £1 on each bet. Should just one selection win – a favourite, say, at even money – your return, barring any bookmaker enhancements, would be just £2, meaning an overall loss of £29. On the upside, should you get all four selections right in a Lucky 15, even if they were all priced at just evens and were not subject to any bonus for getting all selections right, your return would be £80 and a net win of £65 from your total £15 stake.
One final thing to note is that Lucky 15/31/63 bets can be placed as either a win bet or an each way bet and the latter is a good way to hedge your options if you like the luck of some horses at large odds.
Example Lucky 15
Now we know the basics of how these bets work, let us take a look at a real-world example of such a bet and how it might pan out depending on how many legs are successful. As noted, whilst these bets are most commonly associated with horse racing, they can be made on any sport and for our example we will look at a bet on four favourites in the Premier League.
- Crystal Palace to beat Fulham at 11/10
- Newcastle to beat Leicester at 6/5
- Liverpool to beat Aston Villa at 3/4
- Chelsea to beat Bournemouth at 1/3
Let us imagine someone with lots of residual income boldly placed a £10 Lucky 15 on these four picks, the 15 separate bets costing £150 in total. Some example returns can be seen below based on a selection of some of the many possible combinations of winning legs.
Note that these returns do not include any of the bonuses that you may well be able to claim and which we will explain shortly.
Winning Picks | Return | Overall Outcome |
---|---|---|
1 | £21 | -£129 |
1+2 | £89.20 | -£60.80 |
3+4 | £54.17 | -£95.83 |
1+3+4 | £188.92 | +£38.92 |
1+2+3 | £262.80 | +£112.80 |
1+2+3+4 | £626.53 | +£476.53 |
As you can see, based on these stats you will need three winners in order to walk away with more money than you began with. To land a really big win, however, with selections like these at short odds, you will need to get all four winners over the line.
Let us now consider a horse racing Lucky 15 where the four legs are priced at 6/1, 8/1, 12/1 and 14/1.
Winning Picks | Return | Overall Outcome |
---|---|---|
1 | £70 | -£80 |
4 | £150 | +/-£0 |
1+2 | £790 | +£640 |
3+4 | £2,230 | +£2,080 |
1+3+4 | £12,790 | +£12,640 |
1+2+3 | £11,190 | +£11,040 |
1+2+3+4 | £179,190 | +£179,040 |
When it comes to horse racing, selections at these sorts of prices, ranging from 6/1 to 14/1, are neither uncommon nor outlandish. And as the table above shows, they might deliver some stunning returns if you manage to land three winners and amounts that would make bookies cry with all four.
As said, these returns do not include bonuses that may be relevant and with longer odds, these can make a really big difference, as we shall see.
Example Lucky 63
Let us now look at a far more ambitious wager, a Lucky 63, involving not four legs, but six. We will look here at two different examples but with both, we will keep the same odds for all six picks. This makes things simpler as we do not have almost countless permutations depending on which particular legs won and all that matters is how many of the six were correct.
In our first Lucky 63 example, let’s imagine you plumped for six over 2.5 goals tips, all at odds of 4/5. For our second one, let’s take a look at a bet with all six selections at 8/1 (perhaps horses, or in football first goalscorer bets, or correct scores).
Note that once again we are not including any bonus payments.
In addition, for these bets the unit stake has been dramatically reduced from £10 to £3. With 63 bets to cover a £10 Lucky 63 is probably a bit beefy for most punters and even at £3 per individual bet, such a wager would set you back £189.
- 1 winner at 4/5, £3 per line – Outcome -£181.20
- 2 winners at 4/5, £3 per line – Outcome -£168.48
- 3 winners at 4/5, £3 per line – Outcome -£126.14
- 4 winners at 4/5, £3 per line – Outcome -£7.60
- 5 winners at 4/5, £3 per line – Outcome +£324.31
- 6 winners at 4/5, £3 per line – Outcome +£1,263.57
Boost the odds for each selection to 8/1, however, and we see a markedly different set of results:
- 1 winner at 8/1, £3 per line – Outcome -£138
- 2 winners at 8/1, £3 per line – Outcome +£108
- 3 winners at 8/1, £3 per line – Outcome +£2,808
- 4 winners at 8/1, £3 per line – Outcome +£29,808
- 5 winners at 8/1, £3 per line – Outcome +£299,808*
- 6 winners at 8/1, £3 per line – Outcome +£839,808*
* – note that maximum payouts, which vary from bookie to bookie, may apply, and thus limit winnings, so always check the terms before staking.
Lucky 15/31/63 Bonuses
As you can see, Lucky 15s (not to mention Lucky 31s and Lucky 63s) can be extremely rewarding in terms of the payout. On the downside, these bets require 15, 31 and 63 separate stakes respectively and so there is a risk, especially if you fail to get enough winners. Thankfully though, there are two fairly mainstream promotions for these bets that can make successful bets even more lucrative, and also provide a nice consolation if you make a real hash of things.
One Winner Consolation
One such offer boosts your odds in the event that you only manage to get one of your picks right. This shouldn’t need stating but if you get no winning selections, or two, this promo does not apply. However, if you only land one winner, the best versions of this promotion sees odds on that pick trebled on a Lucky 15. Place a Lucky 31 with just a single winner and you’ll get four times the normal odds, whilst a one-winner Lucky 63 will be paid at a massive five times the published odds.
If you like these wager types it really can make a huge difference to pick a bookie that boasts this sort of offer. Returning to our Lucky 63 example; with a total stake of £189, placing the bet on horses at 8/1 would yield £123 for one winner with the bonus, but just £27 without it. That’s a big difference and so if the odds are broadly the same, choosing a betting site that includes a one-winner consolation is a no-brainer. Not all bookmakers do and those that do may have different terms, so shop around, with three times, four times and five times the odds (for Lucky 15/31/63) the minimum bonus you should be looking for.
All Correct
At the other end of the spectrum, some sites offer an extra boost to your winnings when you get all your selections correct. Getting four out of four, five out of five or six out of six is no mean feat and if you do achieve it, even without any bonus you should be very happy with your win.
However, our very favourite betting sites offer both this promo and the one-winner consolation, so it makes sense to choose such a bookie if you love the “Lucky” bets. The boost might be as little as 5% or 10% for a Lucky 15, going right up to as much as 25%.
As noted, at longer odds, these can have a really significant impact on your outcome, especially because your win is likely to be substantial anyway. Even at short odds, you might earn a good boost. For example, our 4/5 Lucky 63 at £3 a line (see above) returned £1,442.67. With a 25% bonus that figure would jump to £1,803.34… which isn’t too bad at all.
Returning to our bet on four horses above, the “all right” boost at a fairly typical 10% would take returns to a whopping £197,109. That’s almost an additional £18,000, essentially for nothing but choosing your bookie wisely.
Bets Similar to Lucky 15, etc
There are so many bets and bet types that sometimes the hardest part can be choosing what type of wager to make, let alone actually picking your selections.
If you enjoy a Lucky 15, or one of the other, larger bets, why not check out one of the following?
Patent
A Patent is identical to the aforementioned range of “Lucky” bets but has just three selections. This means a total of seven separate bets, so we could deem this a Lucky 7 – which, let’s face it, has a better ring given the number’s popular association with good fortune. It could be a good starting point for getting into these wagers as there is potentially less risk. You only need to find three winning selections and, what’s more, you can “only” lose seven times your basic staking unit.
On the downside, there are unlikely to be any promotions for this type of bet. In addition, depending on the odds, there is a real chance you would need to get all three of your picks right to enjoy a decent return.
“Lucky 127”
A Lucky 127 does not really exist, at least it is not something you are likely to see promoted by a bookie. Once again, there are unlikely to be offers connected to it, either for getting all winners or just one. That said, if you fancy making seven predictions, rather than the six of a Lucky 63, this is the bet for you.
It contains a massive 127 bets in total, so even with a unit bet of just £1 it will set you back £127. That will include a single sevenfold acca, seven singles, plus a huge range of doubles, trebles and upwards. As with all of these “full cover with singles” bets, just one winner will see you get a return. But in reality you may well need four, five or even six, depending on the odds, to end up in the black overall.
Yankee
A Lucky 15 is a full cover with singles bet and a Yankee is the full cover (without singles) equivalent. This means it is exactly the same bet aside from the fact that you are not placing singles on each of the four included legs. As such, rather than entailing 15 separate bets, a Yankee is made up of just 11; six doubles, four trebles and a fourfold.
Some bookies may offer a bonus for getting all selections correct but there will be no reward at all, let alone a bonus, if you only manage to call one of the four picks right. You must have at least two winners to see anything back on all full cover bets where singles are not included. With just two of your four selections being winners, you will win just one of the 11 bets (the double that features them).
Trixie, Canadian, Heinz, Super Heinz, Goliath
A Trixie is a full cover bet with just three selections and is the same as a Patent, minus three singles. A Canadian, also known as a Super Yankee, is akin to a Lucky 31, but without the five singles features just 26 bets. Unsurprisingly, a Heinz has six selections and can be seen as a Lucky 63 minus the singles, with a Super Heinz going up to seven picks (and 120 bets) and a Goliath featuring a massive eight legs and a whopping 247 constituent bets.
The aptly named Goliath is made up of 28 doubles, 56 trebles, 70 fourfolds, 56 fivefold accas, 28 sixfolds, eight sevenfold accumulators and a single all-encompassing eightfold. As with all of these bets, each individual bet requires a stake of its own so a £10 Goliath will set you back a rather gigantic £2,470!