Sports betting has delivered some of the most life-changing gambling wins, and it’s often those risky but insanely profitable accas working the magic. This is because accumulator bets are combination bets that allow two or more selections in one. The odds are multiplied together, taking the payout potential to exponential heights.
It’s not easy to win these bets since all your picks must succeed in order to receive a payout. However, every so often, a really savvy (and very lucky) bettor scores their acca, taking home a win for the ages and providing some good publicity for the betting company.
In this feature, I’ll be discussing some of the biggest acca wins to have occurred in recent times, many of which have made the news for how massive, outrageous or purely genius they are.
5 Biggest Acca Wins
Below is a top 5 list of some of the biggest accumulator bet payouts and the stories of how they won:
1. £650,000 Payoff on Insanely Risky Bets
- Stake: £100
- Odds: 6542/1
Back in 2014, one really gutsy player splashed £100 on a series of games and eventually won one of the highest-recorded acca wins ever. Whether the punter was brave or simply off the wall, we’ll never know. What we do know is that they bet on 8 in-play games that were all losing with only 20 minutes of play left.
The bet included a draw for West Ham which was losing 2 – 0 to Stoke. Similar draw predictions were made for Charlton (already losing to Sheffield Wednesday), and Fulham vs Wigan.
Coventry’s injury-time equaliser against Leyton Orient was what sealed the deal, bagging this bettor a massive £650k in winnings. This isn’t just one of the biggest acca wins. It also takes the crown for the wildest accumulator bet in our books.
2. 19-Fold for Half a Million
- Stake: £0.80
- Odds: 683,738/1
One of the biggest acca wins comes all the way from Malta, where an anonymous bettor took William Hill to the cleaners, bagging a whopping £585,000 on a 19-fold bet. The deciding match was Chelsea vs Liverpool, with the former the favourite to win.
This bettor had put his money down on Liverpool taking the win. Although they scored the first goal, Chelsea soon levelled. Just as things were looking more and more like a tie outcome, Glen Johnson netted a winner for Liverpool in the 87th minute.
According to William Hill, this rodeo turned the lucky bettor into a Liverpool fan, understandably so, since The Reds had just gifted this anonymous punter a life-changing sum. Another highlight of this win is that the punter has used only 80p to place the bet. This means a whopping 683,738/1 odds.
3. £272,000 Banking on a Major Upset
- Stake: £2.50
- Odds: 108,800/1
Back in 2011, no one in their right mind would have bet against back-to-back La Liga winners Barcelona. With a lineup consisting of Messi, Xavi, and Iniesta, there wasn’t a better team at the time. However, one punter would prove crazy enough to predict a draw between Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona in a nine-match accumulator that included other underdog victories.
Barcelona was leading 1-0 till the very end until Fernando Llorente equalised in the 85th minute, levelling the score and making this one lucky punter a quarter of a million pounds richer. This turned out to be Ladbrokes’ largest payout ever.
4. £250,000 – Biggest Early Acca Cash Out in History
- Stake: £5
- Odds: 50,000/1
This early acca cash out makes it to this list for being one of the smartest cashout decisions ever. In 2021, Paul Dean, a 40-year-old from Stockson, Teesside, placed a five-fold horse racing bet at the Cheltenham Festival. The first four legs of his bet were successful, but the fifth event wasn’t to be held until the following day.
Compared to his foursome of winners which included Bob Olinger at 25/1 and Gordon Horde at 12/1, the final leg on Envoi Allen was a hot favourite, having been on an 11-race unbeaten record.
However, this savvy punter who had spent hours in research had planned to pull out early from the start. So he took the £250,000 cash out on his winners, as opposed to the £511,000 he was on course to win. This would prove to be the smartest betting decision he’s ever made, when Envoi Allen and jockey Jack Kennedy went tumbling at the fourth fence in the 1.20 pm race.
5. From Chump Change to £157k
- Stake: £0.60
- Odds: 263,109/1
Sometimes, what makes a big win isn’t the amount won per se, but the ratio of the amount won to your stake. Imagine winning £157,000 on a measly 60p bet. That’s what happened in 2022 when an anonymous punter at Ladbrokes placed a 16-fold accumulator across all Premier League and Championship outcomes.
This impressive feat certainly caught the bookmaker’s attention. Spokesperson Alex Apati, in a statement branded the win “truly remarkable stuff” He said: “What makes the acca even more impressive is that there was just one draw across all 16 games.” This punter accurately predicted all match results, including the singular draw outcome, amounting to a massive ROI of 26,310,831.7%.
Acca Betting Tips
It doesn’t take much to realise that the reason bettors love accas is because of the profit potential. Most of the examples above confirm that it’s possible to win big on only a very small stake.
Bookmakers love accas too, although for a different reason. These bets are difficult to win, so there’s always a good chance the bookie will be the one keeping your money rather than paying out. There’s also the fact that each additional leg increases their profit margin.
The point is that accas comes with big profits and equally big risks, so the best tips will always revolve around balancing the scale.
Here are some of the top tips that work for us here at BettingTools:
Research Research Research
Luck alone may help you win a single event or a two-fold bet, but winning a 19-fold accumulator simply by luck borders on impossible. Researching team stats, player lineups, injuries, previous head-to-heads, and other data is what increases your chances of winning. Smart bettors who put money down on an underdog, for instance, do so because their research has led them to point out where bookmakers might have underestimated the likelihood of an outcome.
Place Small Bets to Reduce the Risk
The beauty of an acca is that you can win big from literal chump change. The more selections you make, the higher the total odds. This means you can lower your stake and still rake in dazzling payouts. Placing smaller bets reduces the risk on your bankroll. Unless you have a humongous bankroll, it’s best to stake only a small amount on these bets.
Keep an Eye on Cash Out Values
One of the best sportsbook features ever created may prove to be the difference between losing and winning your acca. If your accumulator bet is doing well but you’re unsure about the remaining legs, cashing out will allow you to secure a profit. It may not be as large as the expected payout, but depending on the number of winners you already have, it’s still going to be a hefty sum. Not all bookies are great for cash out, however. I have a separate guide on the top betting sites with cash out which is a must read.
Take Advantage of Bookmaker Bonuses
Placing an acca bet with a bonus reduces the risk on your bankroll while providing extra value. So take advantage of bonus offers and free bets where they are available. Other bookmaker offers like enhanced odds, acca insurance, and payout boosters can also increase your chances and winning potential on accas.
