You have picked 4 selections, opened the multiples box on your slip, and spotted the Yankee option sitting under the fourfold. It is one of the most-used multiples in UK betting and one of the most misunderstood, mainly because the stake box works differently from an acca. So what is a Yankee bet, what does it cost, and how are the returns worked out? Read on to know more.
If you bet on racing, read How does each-way betting work first, because the each-way version doubles everything.
A Yankee is a single bet made up of 11 separate bets across 4 selections: 6 doubles, 4 trebles, and 1 fourfold accumulator. At least 2 of your 4 selections must win for the bet to return anything, because a Yankee contains no singles. That is where most punters trip up: 1 winner from 4 returns nothing.
It began on the racing coupon and is still most common on a 4-race afternoon at Cheltenham or Aintree, but it works just as well on football. Four match winners, 4 Both Teams to Score selections, or a mix of the two all run through the same 11 lines.
Label your 4 picks A, B, C, and D. The combinations break down as 6 + 4 + 1 = 11.
| Line | Bet Type | Selections Included |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Double | A and B |
| 2 | Double | A and C |
| 3 | Double | A and D |
| 4 | Double | B and C |
| 5 | Double | B and D |
| 6 | Double | C and D |
| 7 | Treble | A, B, and C |
| 8 | Treble | A, B, and D |
| 9 | Treble | A, C, and D |
| 10 | Treble | B, C, and D |
| 11 | Fourfold | A, B, C, and D |
Each line is settled independently, so a losing selection only kills the lines it appears in.
Take 4 football selections at 4/5 (A), 6/5 (B), 5/4 (C), and 2/1 (D). At £1 a line, the total outlay is £11. Say A, B, and D win and C loses, which leaves 4 live lines:
Total return: £27.84 from an £11 outlay, a profit of £16.84.
If only C and D land, 1 line survives: the C-D double at 2.25 x 3.0 = £6.75. That is a return, but it sits below the £11 staked, so the bet has lost £4.25 overall. A partial return is not a winning bet.
| Quick tip: Check the potential returns figure on the slip against a rough mental fourfold before confirming. If it looks 11 times bigger than expected, the stake field is reading as a total rather than per line. |
The stake box on a Yankee is per line, so the total is always 11 x the unit stake.
Taken each-way, the bet becomes 22 lines, so £1 each-way costs £22. Some slips default to a total-stake field instead. Set your unit stake from the total you are comfortable staking, not the other way round.
A fourfold acca pays nothing unless all 4 selections win, while a Yankee still returns something on 2 winners. The trade-off is cost: 11 units against 1.
Using the same 4 prices, a £1 fourfold returns £26.73. All 4 winners in a £1 Yankee return £106.23 across the 11 lines, from £11 staked. The acca returns a higher multiple on your stake; the Yankee covers you if 1 of the 4 lets you down.
These full-cover multiples differ only by selection count and whether singles are included.
| Bet | Selections | Lines | Structure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trixie | 3 | 4 | 3 doubles, 1 treble |
| Yankee | 4 | 11 | 6 doubles, 4 trebles, 1 fourfold |
| Lucky 15 | 4 | 15 | Yankee plus 4 singles |
| Super Yankee (Canadian) | 5 | 26 | 10 doubles, 10 trebles, 5 fourfolds, 1 fivefold |
A Lucky 15 returns something off a single winner, which is why it suits shorter prices, and our Lucky 15 bet explained guide works through that maths in full. A round robin is a different structure again: 3 selections across 10 lines, made up of 3 doubles, 1 treble, and 3 up-and-down pairs. As a rule of thumb, Yankees suit higher prices where 2 winners can still produce a meaningful return.
The structure only works if the 4 names are worth backing. We build ours off recent form, head-to-head records, and goal trends rather than stacking 4 obvious short prices.
An each-way Yankee is 22 bets, 11 to win and 11 to place, settled at the bookmaker’s place terms. A permed Yankee runs multiple Yankee combinations from a pool larger than 4, so 5 selections permed gives 5 Yankees and 55 lines. If a horse is a non-runner under the rules of racing, that selection is void, and the Yankee reduces to a Trixie on the remaining 3, with any Rule 4 deduction applied to the surviving lines. A postponed football fixture is treated the same way.
Compare a Yankee with a Lucky 15 before you load your next slip. Have a question about a bet type you have seen on your slip? Get in touch with our team, and we will talk it through.
Betting Village is not a bookmaker, and all tips reflect our personal opinions, so always do your own research before placing a bet. Betting should be fun, and gambling should stay responsible. 18+ only.
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4 horses, running in 4 separate races. Those 4 selections generate 11 lines: 6 doubles, 4 trebles, and 1 fourfold. Selections from the same race cannot be combined, as bookmakers treat them as related contingencies.
Neither is better outright. A Lucky 15 costs 15 units instead of 11 and returns on 1 winner, which favours shorter prices. A Yankee puts all 11 units into doubles and upwards, which pays more when 2 or 3 bigger prices land.
Settle each of the 11 lines separately at your unit stake, then add the winning lines together. A £1 double at 6/5 and 2/1 returns 2.2 x 3.0 = £6.60. Subtract the £11 outlay to see the profit or loss.
Yes. Any 4 football selections from 4 different fixtures can go on as a Yankee, including match winners, Both Teams to Score, over 2.5 goals, or a mix. The 11-line structure and 11-unit outlay are identical to the racing version.
