We are nothing if not thorough and here, joining our features explaining fourfolds, fivefolds and sixfolds, we have yes, you guessed it (or just read the title), all you need to know about 7-fold betting. First a spot of what we believe they call “housekeeping” in the business world: this type of bet is sometimes called a sevenfold, others may call it a 7-fold or a 7 fold or just about any other variation. We will use the terms interchangeably and they all mean exactly the same thing.
The second point to note is that as we already have a number of similar articles (linked to above, plus others), we will point you to those as appropriate, rather than repeat ourselves. In short, this piece will provide you with the basics about sevenfold betting but you can find more detailed information elsewhere on the site.
What Is a Sevenfold?
A sevenfold is an accumulator bet, or acca, that has seven different, unrelated selections. These selections, which are often referred to as picks, legs, bets, or, even folds, must all win in order for the overall bet to win. The simplest baby acca of them all is the double and in our feature on doubles (which are essentially twofold accas) we explain how you can include virtually anything you want into an acca.
The only exception, generally speaking, is that the various selections, in this case seven of them, must be unrelated. We don’t mean they can’t be in the same sport or related on a general level (for instance, seven bets on over 2.5 goals but in different matches). The bookmaking concept of related contingencies is something we look at in most detail in our doubles feature. In simple terms, it means that the different legs of an acca must not have an impact on the probabilities of each other.
This is because the odds for each leg, as quoted by the bookie and then subsequently added to your slip and acca, are calculated independently of each other. So, for example, the odds for a football team to win 2-0 already “include” the odds for that team simply to win. A team might be even money to win, and 6/1 to win 2-0. If such a double was permitted it would deliver effective odds of 13/1 and would, of course, win, if the side in question won 2-0. Clearly, more than doubling the odds without altering the prediction would not be fair or reasonable and so this is not possible.
Related contingencies come in many shapes and sizes, some more obvious than others and some more directly and clearly related than others. The good news is that you do not really need to worry about this. When you try to place such a bet online you should receive an error message that your selections cannot be combined. If you are in any doubt, contact your bookie’s customer service staff but as a general rule, including markets or selections from the same game, match or contest tends to not be possible with an acca; such bets are usually allowed via a bet-builder tool or request-a-bet service, rather than as an acca, with these systems using their own algorithms to generate odds that cover all the various elements to the bet you want to include.
All or Nothing Means Big Wins Possible
With an acca such as a 7 fold you either win or you lose – there is no partial win. All seven of your predictions must be correct and, if that is the case, the stake and winnings roll over (accumulate) from one leg to the next. If just one leg lets you down, be it a horse losing by a nose, an over 2.5 goals bet that sees three missed penalties and ends up finishing 1-1, or anything else, you lose all of your stake.
The good news is that should you have the skill (or luck) to land all seven legs, the returns really can be impressive. A £10 bet on seven odds-on football favourites at odds between 1/5 and 1/3 would return almost £56. If we increase the odds on three of the legs that were 1/3 up to evens, that return jumps to almost £190. If all seven legs, perhaps seven draws from the weekend’s football, are priced at between 2/1 and 3/1, a winning £10 sevenfold would see you make a net win of more than £70,000!
For all you horse racing fans that are feeling lucky, if you placed just a £1, 7-fold at odds of 2/1, 5/2, 11/10, 6/1, 12/1, 16/1 and 8/1 your net win would be… £307,001.15! A £10 acca on those same selections would land you a cool payday in excess of £3m (subject to any maximum payout restrictions).
Nobody is saying that landing a sevenfold acca is easy. In truth, getting seven winners on a market as seemingly nailed on as over 1.5 goals in football isn’t always easy. If it was, how would the bookies pay for all those shiny shops, sponsorship deals and corporate hospitality days? Certainly landing a racing sevenfold is a serious feat… but there are serious rewards on offer too!
Different Options with Sevenfolds
If the thought of getting seven winners over the line sounds a bit of an ask, how about seven places? As with any acca, you can (assuming all seven of your selections offer the facility), place your 7 fold as an each way bet. This doubles the stake and as normal one half goes on the “to win” part of the bet with the other half on the place.
The bets are independent of each other and as normal, to win both, all of your picks must win. To land the place portion of the bet all must place (place terms and number of relevant finishing positions specific to each individual leg) or be a mix of selections that win and place. Note that no matter how many winners you get, unless all of them win, that half of the bet will lose. And, as with any acca, should even one leg fail to at least make the places, both bets will be lost.
7 Folds from Multiple Selections
Another alternative option is to include more than seven selections and then to place bets on all the possible sevenfolds that can be created from them. For example, if you decided to use all 10 Premier League games one weekend, you could place a “sevenfolds from 10 selections” bet. Each sevenfold is individually an all-or-nothing bet but overall you have a bigger margin for error.
If you get seven, eight, nine or, hopefully, 10 of your predictions correct, you will be looking at a return. It should be noted that each of the many different sevenfolds that such a wager includes requires its own stake, making this an expensive bet to place. The more folds and more selections you make, the more stakes you need to cough up. If you placed a fourfolds from six selections bet, for example, there would be a total of 15 different fourfold accas included, meaning that a £5 bet would cost a total of £75.
When we up that wager to a sevenfolds from 10, the number of possible combinations of seven of the games jumps to a massive 120. That same £5 bet would now cost a fairly prohibitive £600! Even a 50p bet would set you back £60. However, depending on the odds of each of your bets, getting just seven out of 10 would probably get you a net win, whilst eight or more and you would be looking at a really huge win, even from a small unit stake.
How to Place a 7-Fold
Whichever variation of a sevenfold you opt for, most of the best betting sites out there make placing such a wager really simple. Just add your required picks to the betting slip one at a time by clicking on the relevant odds. You’ll need seven for a straight sevenfold acca or more if you decide to go down that route.
Once your legs are added, the slip will present you with various options, including each way where relevant and to back sevenfolds if you have added more than seven selections. Just pick which bet you want to make, checking that all the bets you have added are correct and the total stake matches how much you wanted to bet overall… then hit confirm, cross your fingers (and your toes) and wait for the action to begin!