What is a Lucky 15?

A Lucky 15 is a method of betting on sports which you are most likely to hear mentioned around horse racing. It consists of 15 bets (Hence Lucky ‘15’) across four selections and the idea behind that is it improves your chances of taking a return from the bet. An interesting thing about a Lucky 15 bet is that if all four selections are winners (with zero void selections or non-runners) then a 10% bonus is added to your final return.

If you place a Lucky 15, the return will be established by the number of selections that actually win and the odds of each. Going back to a Lucky 15 being 15 bets across four selections, you only need one winner from the four to claim a return once your bet is settled. However, it is worth noting that a solitary winning selection isn’t going to make up for your original stake – so, keep that in mind.

To break down what a Lucky 15 is: it consists of four singles, six doubles, four trebles and a four-fold accumulator. Confused as to why you would place a Lucky 15 rather than just a standard accumulator? Well, there is simply far less risk associated with a Lucky 15. When you lose just one selection on your everyday accumulator, you may as well screw up your slip and chuck it in the bin. If you are confident that you have several winners within your four picks then choosing to place a Lucky 15 will increase your chances of banking a profit.

So, what are the disadvantages with placing a Lucky 15? The main one is that the stake is going to be much higher than your standard accumulators. Since they consist of 15 bets, it’s obviously going to make it 15x whatever you put on, for example: If you were to stick £1 on a win-only Lucky 15, then your total stake on the bet would be £15. The Lucky 15 provides a much higher chance of securing a return, and that is why it is worth the higher-level of staking, but that is something you need to consider if you are thinking about divulging into a Lucky 15 for the first time.

Is it possible to place a Lucky 15 bet each way?

Yes, it certainly is possible. Covering your bet with the each way option simply means your selections will win at smaller odds, say for example that one of your horses finishes third in a race and has therefore placed rather than won the race outright.

To place your Lucky 15 each way, simply add your four selections of choice to the betslip as you usually would and then you should notice a box labelled E/W (Each way) and you will be able to tick it. As you have already been made aware, a Lucky 15 is 15 separate bets. However, if you were to place one each way then it would become 30 bets if you back all four selections each way. If you were to place £1 on a Lucky 15 which is to be covered each way then your total stake would be £30 as you are adding covering bets to the original 15.

Example of a Lucky 15 bet and how it works

Finally, here’s an example of a Lucky 15 and how the returns are calculated. If you wanted to place £1 on your Lucky 15 then you would actually be staking £15 – a pound on each of the 15 bets. In this example, let’s imagine you have picked four horses to win four separate races, all at odds of 5/1. A £15 stake would return a tidy £2,400 if all your picks ended up being successful. And those returns don’t even include the ‘winner’s bonus’ that most bookmakers offer to entice punters into placing a Lucky 15 in the first place.

As well as the winner’s bonus, bookies will offer punters what is called a ‘one winner consolation’ and that basically means that you get paid out at double odds if just one of your four selections ends

up winning. Therefore, you are given more of a chance of gaining your stake back if things start to go pair shaped with your horses or whatever you end up betting on.