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The Yankee is a classic British multiple bet. You pick four selections and the bet combines them in 11 different ways: doubles, trebles and a four-fold accumulator. It is a favourite for weekend horse racing and football, because it offers accumulator-style returns while still paying out if one of your picks lets you down. In this guide we explain how a Yankee works, what it costs, how many winners you need and how it compares with a Lucky 15. Use the Yankee calculator to work out your own returns.
Yankee calculator
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What is a Yankee bet?
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A Yankee is a full cover bet with four selections in four different events. It consists of 11 bets of equal stake:
| Part of the bet | Number of bets |
|---|---|
| Doubles | 6 |
| Trebles | 4 |
| Four-fold accumulator | 1 |
| Total | 11 |
Because every bet is at least a double, you need at least two winners to get a return. A £1 Yankee costs £11, a £2 Yankee costs £22 and a £1 each way Yankee costs £22, because each of the 11 bets then has a win part and a place part.
The name is said to come from an American punter who landed a big win with this combination in the UK, although nobody knows the full story for certain. What is certain is that the Yankee has been a fixture in British betting shops for decades.
How many winners do you need?
| Winners | Winning bets | What pays |
|---|---|---|
| 0 or 1 | 0 | Nothing |
| 2 | 1 | One double |
| 3 | 4 | Three doubles and one treble |
| 4 | 11 | Every bet |
With two winners you collect on one double. Whether that is a profit depends on the odds: two winners at evens (2.00) return £4 from an £11 stake, a clear loss, but two winners at 4/1 (5.00) return £25, a profit of £14. With three winners the returns jump quickly, and with four winners every one of the 11 bets pays.
Yankee example
You place a £1 Yankee (£11 total) on four horses at 5/2, 2/1, 6/4 and 3/1.
- All four win: the 11 bets return £301, a profit of £290.
- Three win (5/2, 2/1 and 3/1): three doubles return £10.50 + £14 + £12 and the treble returns £42, so £78.50 in total, a profit of £67.50.
- Two win (2/1 and 6/4): one double returns £7.50, a loss of £3.50.
Change the results in the calculator above to test your own scenarios. You can also turn on each way and choose the place terms.
Each way Yankee example
Take the same four horses as a £1 each way Yankee (£22 total) with place terms of 1/5. Suppose none of them wins, but all four finish in the places. The place odds become 1/2, 2/5, 3/10 and 3/5, and the 11 place bets return £29.08. The win part loses, but you still make a profit of £7.08. That is why each way Yankees are so popular in big handicaps: four placed horses can be enough, even without a winner.
Yankee vs Lucky 15
The Yankee and the Lucky 15 use the same four selections. The only difference is the four singles.
| Yankee | Lucky 15 | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of bets | 11 | 15 |
| Cost at £1 per bet | £11 | £15 |
| Singles included | No | Yes |
| Minimum winners for a return | 2 | 1 |
| Bookmaker bonuses | Rare | Common |
Which is better? If you are confident that at least two of your selections will win, the Yankee is cheaper and puts more of your stake into the multiples. If you want cover for a day where only one pick lands, the Lucky 15 is the safer choice, and bookmaker bonuses such as double odds on a single winner often make it better value.
Other full cover bets
The Yankee belongs to a family of full cover bets. All of them combine selections into every possible multiple:
- Trixie: three selections, 4 bets (three doubles and a treble).
- Patent: three selections, 7 bets (a Trixie plus three singles).
- Super Yankee (Canadian): five selections, 26 bets.
- Heinz: six selections, 57 bets.
- Super Heinz: seven selections, 120 bets.
- Goliath: eight selections, 247 bets.
Our bet calculator covers everything up to the Heinz and Lucky 63. The more selections, the bigger the total stake, so always check the total before you confirm.
Yankee on horse racing and football
The Yankee is most popular on horse racing, where four races on a Saturday card make a natural set of selections. It works well each way in competitive handicaps, as the place parts can still produce a return when horses finish second or third.
On football, a Yankee is a good alternative to a big accumulator. Instead of one bet that dies with the first wrong result, you get 11 bets that still pay if two or three of your four teams win. Football odds are often shorter, so pick selections at roughly evens or bigger if you want the doubles to make a profit.
Tips for a better Yankee
- Choose selections you genuinely fancy. Each one is part of 7 of the 11 bets.
- Prefer odds of around evens and bigger. Short prices make the doubles too small to cover the stake.
- Use Best Odds Guaranteed on racing. If the starting price is bigger than the price you took, you get the bigger price on every leg. See our Best Odds Guaranteed guide.
- Watch for non-runners. A non-runner is settled as a void leg, which turns your doubles into singles and your four-fold into a treble.
Yankee costs at a glance
| Stake per bet | Win only | Each way |
|---|---|---|
| 10p | £1.10 | £2.20 |
| 50p | £5.50 | £11 |
| £1 | £11 | £22 |
| £2 | £22 | £44 |
| £5 | £55 | £110 |
Work back from your budget: if you want to spend £20 in total, a £1 each way Yankee is close, while a £2 win-only Yankee costs £22.
Is a Yankee a good bet?
A Yankee is a good bet if you have four selections you rate and you want more than one route to a return. Compared with a single four-fold accumulator, it costs eleven times as much per unit, but it does not lose everything when one selection lets you down. Compared with a Lucky 15, it is cheaper and pays nothing for a single winner. The honest answer is that no bet type changes the odds: the bookmaker margin applies to every leg. Choose the Yankee because its structure suits your selections, not because it seems to improve your chances.
Place your Yankee
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Our pick: place your Yankee at Inky Bet, or compare prices at Tip-Top and Jackpot City. Set your budget before you start and remember that a £1 Yankee costs £11.
Key points to remember
- A Yankee is 11 bets on four selections: 6 doubles, 4 trebles and a four-fold.
- You need at least two winners for any return.
- A £1 Yankee costs £11, or £22 each way.
- A Lucky 15 adds four singles for cover when only one selection wins.
- Odds around evens and bigger give the doubles a chance to make a profit.
A Yankee is a bet on four selections made up of 11 bets: 6 doubles, 4 trebles and 1 four-fold accumulator. A £1 Yankee costs £11.
At least two. With two winners you collect on one double. Three winners pay four bets and four winners pay all 11.
A Lucky 15 adds four singles to the Yankee, making 15 bets. That means one winner already gives you a return, but the bet costs more.
£22. Each of the 11 bets has a win part and a place part.
The non-runner is treated as a void leg at odds of 1.0. Doubles including it become singles, trebles become doubles and the four-fold becomes a treble.