What the bet costs, how many bets are in it, and what comes back — for Lucky 15, 31 and 63, plus Trixie, Patent, Yankee, Canadian and Heinz.
The stake is the unit stake multiplied by the number of bets — a £1 Lucky 15 costs £15, not £1. That is the part people get caught by. Bookmaker consolation bonuses (one winner from a Lucky 15, all winners, and so on) vary by bookmaker and are not included here.
A £1 Lucky 15 is not a £1 bet. It is fifteen separate £1 bets, so it costs £15. A £2 Lucky 63 costs £126. The unit stake is per bet, not per slip, and the total is what leaves your account.
That is not a trick — it is what the bet is — but it is the single most common reason someone looks at their balance and thinks something has gone wrong.
| Bet | Selections | Bets | Contains |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trixie | 3 | 4 | Doubles and a treble |
| Patent | 3 | 7 | Trixie plus 3 singles |
| Yankee | 4 | 11 | Doubles, trebles, four-fold |
| Lucky 15 | 4 | 15 | Yankee plus 4 singles |
| Canadian | 5 | 26 | Doubles upwards |
| Lucky 31 | 5 | 31 | Canadian plus 5 singles |
| Heinz | 6 | 57 | Doubles upwards |
| Lucky 63 | 6 | 63 | Heinz plus 6 singles |
The pattern is simple: the “Lucky” bets are the same as their plain equivalents with the singles added. Singles are what let one winner return something, and they are also what makes the bet cost more.
Most bookmakers add consolations to Lucky bets — double the odds on a single winner, or a 10% bonus if all four land. They differ between bookmakers and change without much notice, so putting them in the maths here would tell you a number your slip does not agree with. Check the terms where you are betting.
They are a way of spreading risk, not of beating a margin. Every one of those fifteen bets carries the bookmaker’s edge, and the multiples compound it — which is the same reason accumulators lose over time. Covering more combinations reduces variance, it does not create value.
Enjoy them for what they are. 18+ · BeGambleAware.org
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