All about Acca Insurance – Tips and Best Bookies Online
Don’t worry if you aren’t familiar with the term. “Acca” is simply short for accumulator, a type of bet popular with many punters looking for bigger wins, especially those who like to bet on football. And acca insurance is a great way to enhance your overall profits. But before we talk about insurance, let’s start with the basics.
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What Is an Acca?
In simple terms, an acca is one bet made up of a series of selections. All of the selections need to come in for the acca to win. It’s called an accumulator because your potential payout accumulates as each selection wins, building into far bigger winnings than you would achieve by backing all the bets individually.
It’s easy to get confused as different people have different terms for accas. You may hear an acca referred to as a ‘combo’, a ‘multiple’ or a ‘four-fold’. But they all refer to the same thing: a bet made up of a series of selections, paid out at the sum of the individual odds.
Traditionally, an accumulator refers to bets with 4 or more selections. A bet with 2 selections is called a “double”, and a bet with 3 selections, a “treble”. Still, “acca” often gets used for any type of multiple bet.
Accumulators, combos, multiples… there are many different names but “acca” seems to be the term that’s sticking and is recognised and used by both bookmakers and sports bettors alike.
How Does an Acca Work?
Before we cover accumulator bonus, it’s important to understand how acca promotions work. Football is the most popular sport for acca betting, and every weekend in the UK and across Europe, thousands of football punters try to land a big win by combining their football predictions into one bet and swapping acca tips.
Part of the appeal of acca boost is that you can win a big payout from smaller stakes. Whereas you might have to bet £100 to win £100 on a single bet, you could get a £100 win from just a £10 stake with a winning acca boost.
So what does a typical accumulator bet look like? Say you’re planning to bet on Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Barcelona to win on the same weekend. All four teams are big favourites and so have low prices in the Match Odds market. You like the fact they each have a good chance of winning but want a bigger return from your bet. This is where placing an acca makes sense.
Let’s say that the four teams are priced up as follows:
- Liverpool @ 1.4
- Arsenal @ 1.5
- Manchester City @ 1.2
- Barcelona @ 1.3
If you combined these teams in a football acca, and bet £10 on it, your return would be:
- £10 x 1.4 x 1.5 x 1.2 x 1.3 = £32.76
If they all win you make £22.76 profit. But if you had placed single bets on each selection, your net profit would only have been around £14 – and you would have had to risk more money, perhaps 4 x £10 stakes if the matches were played at the same time.
You can see why accumulator bets are so popular, they’re a simple way to win more money with smaller stakes.
Acca Insurance
Of course, there is a potential downside to the football acca: you need all of your selections to win to get the big payout. If just one of them fails to win, you lose your stake. This can make accas really frustrating and it has become a running joke among bettors that one selection, often a “banker”, always lets you down.
That’s where accumulator bonus comes in. Bookies came up with this offer to appeal to everyone familiar with the agony of getting excited about a big win… only for one selection to lose at the last moment. Acca insurance aims to save you from this pain by returning part or all of your stake if all but one of your selections wins.
This is a useful money-saving device for acca bettors and reduces the risk involved. If your acca bet wins, you still get all of the profit but you have less chance of losing your stake if things don’t go your way. But as with most aspects of betting, acca insurance offers differ between bookmakers.
Types of Accumulator Bonuses
Although the principle of acca insurance – refunding your stake if one bet lets you down – remains the same throughout the betting industry, different bookmakers provide different types of acca insurance, and there a number of varying terms and conditions to consider.
Maximum Stake
One of the most common conditions you’ll see is the maximum stake level. Most bookmakers will only provide acca insurance to a certain level, usually around £25. This may seem like a low figure but remember that accumulators are usually low stake-high payout bets.
With the combined odds of accas often being quite high, you might find that the £25 upper limit doesn’t really affect you. And you always have the option of placing the same accumulator with another bookie if you want to get the best acca bonus. Still, it pays to be informed so make sure you know that your stake will be covered before placing the bet.
Odds Restrictions
Another common restriction you’ll find is set minimum odds. Many bookmakers require you to have at least 4 selections with minimum odds of anywhere from 1.2 (Paddy Power) to 1.6 (10Bet). If your bet doesn’t meet these terms, then you’re not covered!
Note that the combined odds of your acca – and the likelihood of winning – will be greatly affected by the number of selections and minimum odds of each. 4 selections at 1.2 gives combined acca odds of 2.07. 5 selections at 1.6 comes to 10.48. Bigger payouts but less chance of a win.
Competition Restrictions
Another one to look out for is a restriction on the competitions you can bet on as a part of your acca. Some bookies will allow you to bet on any sport, others only football (Paddy Power). Occasionally you might find that the accumulator bonus is only valid for bets placed on specific competitions such as the Premier League or Champions League. If you’re planning to fill up your bet slip with some matches from lower or foreign leagues, make sure they don’t invalidate your acca insurance.
Claiming Your Acca Insurance
The process of claiming your accumulator bonus will vary to a degree, depending on which bookmaker you use, but it’s usually an easy process. Most of the time it’s just a case of placing a qualifying bet. Make sure you meet all the criteria and you will get a refund or free bet if you miss out by one selection. There are some bookies, such as Novibet, that require you to opt-in to the acca insurance before placing your bet. Novibet also ask you to send them an email to claim your refund. If this seems like a lot of hassle, it’s worth noting that they offer a huge refund of up to £500 if one leg of your acca loses!
Using Acca Insurance
Once you’ve claimed your acca insurance it is simply a question of waiting for the outcome of your bet. Hopefully your acca wins, in which case you won’t need the insurance! But if just one of your bets loses, you will either be given an automatic refund or a free bet to the same value. The best online bookies for accumulators will credit your account within minutes of your acca bet being settled.
While you might be lucky enough to find a special offer covering you if 2 or more selections lose, most of the time acca insurance only kicks in for one losing selection.
If the bookmaker offers a free bet instead of a cash refund for your accumulator bonus, make sure you check the terms and conditions. You will usually have to use the free bet within a set amount of time, often 7 days, and it may be restricted to football markets only.
Acca Insurance: The Verdict
The acca is a much-loved and integral part of many football fans’ betting habits. The possibility of getting a big win from a relatively small stake makes this type of bet very appealing.
Whether you regularly place acca bets or are doing it for the first time, it just makes sense to take advantage of acca insurance. The insurance reduces your risk by making it less likely you will lose your stake. Not to mention overcoming the most frustrating experience of acca betting: that gut-punch feeling of being so close to a big win only for one match to let you down!
Similar to betting sign up offers, an acca bonus comes with certain terms and conditions attached. Just make sure you’re happy with the T&Cs of the acca insurance being offered. Does the bookie cover the level of stake you want to place? Do you get a cash refund or free bet? Do each of your selections meet the minimum odds requirement? If everything looks good, place your bet knowing that your acca insurance is giving you another edge in your betting!