Yankee is a slang name for an American, often used in a derogatory fashion and sometimes shortened to Yank. In America, it more specifically refers to someone from the north and the states in and around New England. But in betting terms, a Yankee is something entirely different and that is, unsurprisingly, our focus here.
We’ve got various articles on just about every different type of bet there is, from a very basic double up to a Goliath, a Round Robin and an Alphabet. Lots of the information is relevant to all of them and so to avoid repetition, some of the explanation that follows is relatively brief, with links provided to where you can find more in-depth analysis and advice.
On that note, let us point you to a previous article that will help you better understand some of the information that follows, should anything seem lacking. That previous article is our on a Trixie, because just like a treble is the next obvious step following a double, so a Yankee follows on from a Trixie.
What Is a Yankee?
A Trixie is a multiples bet that takes three selections, legs or predictions, call them what you will, and combines them to create a treble and three doubles, meaning it is really four bets in one. A Yankee adds a leg and in so doing creates a further seven bets. Is that magic? Witchcraft? No, it is simple mathematics, or certainly mathematics at the very least, if not simple. The table below shows the different bets that make up both a Trixie and a Yankee:
| Trixie | Yankee |
|---|---|
| 3 selections | 4 selections |
| 4 bets in total so four stakes | 11 bets in total so 11 stakes |
| 1 treble | 1 fourfold bet |
| 3 doubles | 4 trebles |
| 6 doubles | |
| £1 Trixie costs £4 | £1 Yankee costs £11 |
A Yankee uses your four selections to make 11 bets that cover every combination of bets possible from the four legs. This is called a full cover bet (excluding singles) and in order to get anything at all back, at least two legs must win. If two of your predictions are right, then just one of your 11 bets will win – the double that combined them. Let’s look at how many of the 11 bets win depending on how many legs are successful.
- No Legs Win – Unsurprisingly, no winners means 11 losing bets.
- 1 Winner – As a Yankee does not include singles, if only one leg wins, once again, all 11 bets fail.
- 2 Winners – 2 winners means that, as said, you have just one winning bet, the applicable double.
- 3 Winners – With three winners you have one winning treble and three winning doubles, so four bets win and seven bets lose.
- 4 Winners – Boom! All 11 bets win. Drinks are on you.
If that hasn’t made things clear, let us look at a real-world example. A popular bet with Premier League football is to back the “Big Four” all to win their games on a given weekend and combine them into an acca. We’re not sure there is a “Big Four” anymore and if there is it certainly doesn’t include Arsenal (sorry, Gooners) but for argument’s sake let’s say you decide to create a bet that includes Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea and Man United all to win. Rather than opt for the accumulator, a single bet where it is win or bust and all four have to win, you decide to place a Yankee instead. The wager would consist of:
| Fourfold | Trebles | Doubles |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Accumulator | 4 Trebles | 6 Doubles |
| Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea & United |
1) Liverpool, City, Chelsea 2) Liverpool, City, United 3) City, Chelsea, United 4) Liverpool, Chelsea, United |
1) Liverpool/City 2) Liverpool/Chelsea 3) Liverpool/United 4) City/Chelsea 5) City/United 6) Chelsea/United |
What Sports & Markets Can I Place a Yankee On?
You can place Yankees on any sport and market at all and even combine different sports and markets. Pretty much anything can be added to a Yankee, so you might create a bet as above, from four football games on the same day, or you might make one that is far more creative. Yankees are very popular in horse racing betting and might combine four races from a single card, four from a day’s action around the country, each of the Cheltenham Festival’s Championship contests or even four big races spread out over a whole season.
But Yankees can also be placed on other sports and even specials markets, such as Eurovision, the Christmas number one, I’m a Celebrity or the Oscars. Or how about an Oscars Yankee on the Best Actor, Best Actress and the two Best Supporting awards?
The only thing to bear in mind is the issue of related contingencies, something we look at in more detail in our doubles article. In short, as with any acca or multiple, you cannot include legs where the probabilities of each are related to one another. So, Lionel Messi to score first and PSG to win cannot be a double, as if the Argentine maestro scores first, his side are more likely to win.
Equally, you could not have a Yankee where the four legs were Novak Djokovic to win a match, Djokovic to win 3-0, Djokovic to win the first set and him to win -4.5 games. The odds for him to win 3-0 already cover him to win the first set and the game, whilst they are also heavily related to him overcoming whatever games handicap is set. In short, you cannot combine bets on the same game or match, or where the outcomes are related or linked.
Example Returns from Yankee
Obviously the returns you will get from a Yankee depend on how many of your 11 bets win and what the odds were. As we have explained above, if one or none of your four predictions are right, you won’t win any of the 11 bets, whilst two right means one winner, three right means four winners and four right means 11 winners. Here we will take a look at two hypothetical Yankees at different odds to give you some idea of what sort of returns can be expected.
For the sake of simplicity, let us first imagine a football Yankee on anytime goalscorers where each of the four selections are priced at odds of evens. Let us then imagine a horse racing Yankee where all four legs are at the rather longer odds of 8/1. The following returns are based on a £10 multiple with 11 stakes and a total cost, therefore, of £110. As the odds for each leg are the same, it doesn’t matter which of them is successful when we are calculating returns for partial wins.
Anytime Goalscorer Yankee: All Selections Evens
If all four of your tipped goalscorers manage to find the back of the net you’ll be looking at a very tidy net win of £610. For full returns, see the table below:
| Example Predictions | 2 Score | 3 Score | 4 Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Richarlison to Score Anytime | Scores | Scores | Scores |
| Firmino to Score Anytime | Scores | Scores | |
| Raphinha to Score Anytime | Scores | Scores | |
| Jamie Vardy to Score Anytime | Scores | Scores | |
| Winning Bets/Net Win | 1 – lose £70 | 4 – £90 | 11 – £610 |
With odds of exactly evens for all four picks, you will need three correct to return a net win. With just two out of four right you will lose more than 60% of your total stake. Get all four right and you will get £720 in total back for a net win of £610, equivalent to odds of around 11/2. That is a great return but it is worth noting that had you simply backed the fourfold acca your returns would have been 15/1 and your net win would be more than doubled at £1,650. On the flip side, had just one of your four picks flopped, you would lose everything.
Horse Racing Yankee: All Selections 8/1
At odds of 8/1, just two winners from your four picks, and thus one winning double from your 11 bets, would land you a net win almost as much getting all four goalscorers right.
| Predictions | 2 Score | 3 Score | 4 Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tiny Tim to Win 1.30 | Wins | Wins | Wins |
| Big Bob to Win 2.10 | Wins | Wins | |
| Weeny Winnie to Win 2.40 | Wins | Wins | |
| Giant Jim to Win 3.10 | Wins | Wins | |
| Winning Bets/Net Win | 1 – win £700.00 | 4 – £9,610 | 11 – £99,520 |
As you can see, at odds of 8/1 the returns very quickly add up and whilst a tidy net win is secured from getting two predictions right, with three or all four the sums are staggering. Clearly, landing a winner at 8/1 is a tough task, so landing two, three or four is really tricky. However, with such handsome returns on offer, it is easy to see why so many opt for this sort of bet, especially as even a stake of just 50p per bet, or line, (total cost £5.50) could see you win almost £5,000!
Each Way Yankees?
Given the difficulty at getting an 8/1 winner over the line, opting for an each way Yankee may well appeal to many horse racing fans. Such a Yankee can be made on any sport where each way betting is available but horse racing is certainly the most common. Other options, though, include golf or outright bets, such as bets on the top goalscorer in each of the four divisions of English football.
As long as all four legs within your Yankee can be backed each way, an each way multiple makes sense when you are including a number of selections at longer odds. What constitutes “longer odds” is in some ways a personal decision. Some would say for a Yankee 2/1 and up is worth considering each way whilst others might say 4/1 or even higher.
We explain more about each way multiples in our piece on doubles but essentially an each way Yankee would entail 22 stakes. 11 work as a standard bet, with a further 11 each way, or place, bets, on the relevant doubles, trebles and fourfold. For the place part of the bet, any selections that win or place are enough for you to land the bet whilst the win part of the wager works as a normal Yankee and only winners count towards successful multiplies.
As an example, let us return to our 8/1 horse racing acca, and assuming again a £10 bet and each way terms that pay at one quarter of the odds. Some hypothetical results and returns can be seen below:
- Two Wins & Two Places – Returns £3,240
- Three Places, One Loss – £540
- Four Places – £2,430
- Four Wins – £101,840
Getting a placed horse at 8/1 seems a far more realistic prospect and as you can see, can still lead to some very fruitful each way Yankees. Even if you reduce those odds slightly, three places at 6/1, 4/1 and 4/1 respectively will still yield a small net win, so you certainly don’t need huge prices to make this type of bet worthwhile.
How Do I Place a Yankee?
To place a Yankee online the first step will always be to add four selections to your betting slip. Navigate to the sport, match, market and selection you want to make and with most bookies you simply need to click on the odds. You may need to click “Add to betting slip” or similar. Repeat this process then head to the slip which is normally located in the top right. As with all steps described here, there may well be variations from one bookmaker to the next.
You may well see the option to place a Yankee, with most of the top online betting sites that we work with now offering smart betting slips that present you with just about every available bet automatically. Simply enter your stake next to the Yankee option and you will see that whatever you put there is multiplied by 11 to cover the 11 bets this wager includes; so a £3 Yankee will cost £33, this figure being shown alongside “Total Stake” at the bottom of the slip or screen.
It really is very simple, although note that if some of your slips contravene the rules with regards to related contingencies you will get an error message. The other potential issue is that some sites do not, or certainly did not in the past, allow Yankees that spanned a range of sports. If you are not presented with the option to place a Yankee for this or any other reason (maybe your bookie does not offer these multiples automatically) then you can go about things manually.
As we have seen, a standard Yankee consists of a fourfold acca, six doubles and four trebles. At most bookies, you will see options to place these bets one by one and if you simply enter £3 in each box you arrive at the same end product: 11 bets, covering the acca and all available doubles and trebles, with a total wager of £33.