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What is a Double Bet?

·       A double bet is the most simple type of multiple as it only involves two selections. Both selections have to win for you to get a return and you are only placing a single stake to cover both outcomes. The benefit of a double is that the return you get from both selections winning is more than if you bet on both selections individually, however you will not get a return if one selection loses.

As you explore some of the more complex bet types like Lucky 15s and Heinz bets, you will find that doubles are often the base of most of them and are incredibly common across the betting landscape especially if betting on shorter prices.

Double Bets

All our bookmaker partners offer double bets across nearly all of their sporting markets. To create a double bet you will simply need to make two selections and add them to you betslip. Once in your betslip, you will see the option for the double bet underneath the selections as well as the increased odds on offer.

Double bets must be placed on seperate events. For example, you could not place a double bet on a horse to finish first and another to finish second in the same race; that would be a forecast bet. Instead, you must bet on, for example, Horse 1 to win in Race 1 and Horse 2 to win in Race 2. 

Double bets are very popular because they provide you with higher returns than multiple single bets. The simplest way to explain how the odds are calculated is that the money won from the 'first' bet is put as the stake on the second bet. In other words, if bet one returned £30 then £30 would be the stake on the second bet. 

Applying this to a real world example, you may wish to place a bet on Horse A to win the first race at Cheltenham and Horse B to win the second race at Cheltenham. The odds available for Horse A to win is 5/1 and the odds for Horse B is 6/1. If the stake for this double was £2, the total return would be £84, a profit of £82 including the initial £2 stake.

These winnings can be compared with those that would be made on two isolated single bets to understand the differences between singles and doubles. A £2 stake on Horse A would return a sum of £12 and a £2 stake on Horse B would return £14, giving you a total winnings of £26 which is significantly less than the £84 returned in the double.

The additional risk taken on is that if Horse A wins but Horse B does not, the whole bet would lose and there would be no return.

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Bets Similar to a Double Bet

A double bet is a form of multiple bet, and there are other examples of multiple bets that can deliver even higher payouts than the double bet. It should be noted, however, that these bets have even higher risks as they involve more selections.

Forecast and Reverse Forecast bets are similar to a double as they involve two selections in racing events. In a Forecast bet, you are making two selections in the same race and the order in which they finish. For example, if you select Horse A to finish first and Horse B to finish second, you would need those two horses to finish in that exact order and those exact positions for the bet to win.

With a Reverse Forecast you are still selection two selections in the same race, but you are just selecting the two runners that will finish in the first two spots, regardless of order. For example, Horse A and Horse B in a Reverse Forecast would be a winning bet if either Horse A or Horse B wins, as long as the other horse finishes second.

A Reverse Forecast is made up of two bets, so your total stake would be doubled.

If you are looking to place multiple selections in the same football fixture, then you will need to look at our Same Game Multi and Bet Builder Guide!

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Other Kinds of Multiple Bets

A double is a form of multiple bet and there are a lot of different types of multiple that will involve difference combinations of bets and selections.

You can find full descriptions of all the different types of multiple bets, and worked examples in our Bet Terminology Guide or by selecting the bet type below!

Straight Forecast >

Reverse Forecast >

Combination Forecast >

Tricast >

Combination Tricast >

Treble >

Accumulator >

Trixie >

Patent Bet >

Yankee Bet >

Canadian Bet >

Heinz Bet >

Super Heinz Bet >

Goliath Bet >

Lucky 31 >

Lucky 63 >

Alphabet Bet >

Round Robin >

Flag Bet >

Super Flag Bet >