When it comes to betting on football there is an almost limitless number of betting options. From standard markets, such as the match odds and both teams to score, through to less common bets like which team will have the most corners, or a named player to register an assist, there is so much choice. That’s before we even get to things like bet builders, in-play options and time-specific bets, such as wagers based on the first 15 minutes of a match or either half, for example.
On top of all that you have the option to place various accas and multiples on football. These bets take markets from a number of different games and combine them. The Lucky 15 is one such bet and that is our focus here.
Can You Make a Lucky 15 on Football?
If all you want is a simple answer to a simple question, then that answer is a resounding yes. You can indeed place a Lucky 15 wager on football. Lucky 15s are most closely associated with horse racing betting but they can be placed on football and, indeed, pretty much any sport you fancy.
You can even mix and match if you want, placing a Lucky 15 on football, racing, tennis and golf – or any combination of sports and markets that you fancy. The only rule, as with all accas and multiples bets that include them, is that the selected legs must be unrelated. In football terms, that typically means they must be from different games.
What Is a Lucky 15?
The Lucky 15 bet is reputedly one that was created by Betfred co-founder and owner, Fred Done. It is an example of a full cover bet, with singles also included. It has four selections, or legs, and includes 15 bets in total. It is the “little brother” of the family that also includes the Lucky 31 (five selections, 31 bets) and the Lucky 63 (six selections and, you’ve guessed it, 63 bets). A Patent sits beneath the Lucky 15 in this “family tree”, with three selections and just seven component wagers.
All of these bets, not to mention a host of other, broadly similar ones, such as a Yankee or a Goliath, can be made on football. The simplest way to explain how a Lucky 15 works is through an example, so let us imagine you opted to go for a simple wager on four La Liga games. The four legs for your bet could be as follows:
- Barcelona to win
- Real Madrid to win
- Atletico Madrid to win
- Valencia to win
The Lucky 15 would require 15 stakes to cover the 15 component bets. These bets would be four singles, one on each side to win, plus the various doubles and trebles that can be made and the single fourfold accumulator where all four legs must be successful.
- 4 Singles – Each team, individually, to win
- 6 Doubles – All six doubles, so based on the above, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 2-3, 2-4 and 3-4
- 4 Trebles – The four possible trebles: 1-2-3, 1-2-4, 1-3-4 and 2-3-4
- 1 Fourfold – The one possible acca that includes all four teams winning their respective games, in a single bet
In order to see any return at all you need just one of your four picks to win but this would mean just one winning single and 14 losing stakes. With two winners, you would win both singles, plus a double, so three out of 15 bets. This means that most of the time you would need at least three out of your four selections to be successful in order to win overall, though this depends on the odds of your winners.
As said, you can make all four bets on football, or make just some on the beautiful game and others on whatever takes your fancy. Equally, whilst our example above focuses on the match odds, you can place your Lucky 15 on whatever football market you want. Why not go for glory and pick four correct scores, or play it really safe and go for four games with over 1.5 goals. Alternatively, as with sports, you can also use different markets.
For example, you might decide to back Barcelona to win, opt for BTTS in the Real game, over 2.5 goals in the Valencia clash and under 1.5 in Atleti’s match. The football world is your betting oyster and so you can create a football Lucky 15 that suits your taste, or just try and find the value across whatever games, markets or even sports you want.
Best Markets for Football Lucky 15s
There is no such thing as a “best market” when it comes to making a Lucky 15 and it really is down to you and what your preferred bets are, or what your approach to risk/reward is. The most common markets used are often simply the most popular football bets. This means that the match odds, both teams to score and over/under 2.5 goals (and other goal totals) are frequently used. These are also popular because they typically offer reasonably low odds, often not too far either side of evens. That means they strike a nice balance between giving you a decent chance of landing three or even four of your picks, whilst also offering a decent payout.
However, as we have said, Lucky 15s are very popular amongst horse racing punters too where the odds on the race winner market are often much longer. Of course, some racing bettors may opt for four odds-on favourites but others will go for horses at odds of 6/1, 10/1, 12/1 or even bigger. In the same way, football fans chasing a big win may decide to try a Lucky 15 on anytime goalscorers, or even first (or last) goalscorers.
Other popular markets for footballing Lucky 15s at lengthier prices include half time/full time, correct score, BTTS and match odds, or even options, such as selecting a player to be booked. If you land just one, or perhaps two, winners at odds typically available with these markets you might just land a nice win despite losing most of your 15 total bets.
Lucky 15 Offers
With this in mind, it is worth pointing out that many of our favourite football betting sites have great offers that apply to Lucky 15, Lucky 31 and Lucky 63 bets (and sometimes other similar wagers too). One of these boosts the odds of your selection where you only get one out of four winners. For a Lucky 15 the enhancement usually doubles the standard price, meaning that if your only correct call was, for example, 1-1 at a price of 8/1, you would actually get paid at 16/1.
This offer makes longer odds picks more tempting because with just one of your four picks winning, and only one of 15 bets, you can still end up beating the bookie. The other Lucky 15 promo may, however, favour selections at shorter odds. That is because it boosts your winnings when you get all four correct. Obviously it is easier to get four BTTS bets over the line than four first goalscorers. The “all-correct” offer is less generous than the one-winner bonus, and usually boosts winnings by between 5% and 20%. That said, given you have won 15 out of 15 bets, including a fourfold acca, the chances are your winnings are already substantial.
How Much Might I Win?
What you will win with a Lucky 15 football bet will depend on your stake, the odds, how many winners you get and whether there is a bonus involved. However, to give you an idea of what you might win, here are a few examples. Note that all of these are based on a unit stake of £1, so a £15 bet in total, with the figure shown indicating your total returns.
- One winner at 8/1 with double-odds bonus – £17
- One winner at evens with double-odds bonus – £3
- Two winners at 6/1 and 10/1 respectively – £95
- Two winners at 4/5 and 11/10 respectively – £7.68
- Three winners at 5/4, 6/1 and 12/1 – £363
- All correct at 8/11, 4/5, evens and 6/4 with 10% bonus – £87.10
- All correct at 8/1, 4/1, 7/1 and 6/1 with 10% bonus – £4,750.90
Examples of What Punters Have Won
As you can see, it is possible to land some very nice wins with a Lucky 15 bet, even when your stake is just £1 per bet. As said, that does mean £15 in total, so most recreational punters are unlikely to stake too much more than that, though of course some will. But even at small stakes, long odds can produce very handsome wins, even where you don’t manage to get all four of your selections over the line.
As recently as April 2022, one punter scooped over £5,000 at Betfred on a football Lucky 15. Patrick Aguilar, a chef, cooked up the tasty bet and backed Brighton’s Leandro Trossard to net first at Spurs, Jan Bednarek to open the scoring against Arsenal (for Southampton), and, the most left-field selection of all, Ibrahima Konate to score first for Liverpool against Man City in the FA Cup semi at Wembley.
Trossard was priced at 12/1, with the other two winners at 22/1 and 50/1, respectively, landing Aguilar a very nice £5,241. That was despite his fourth pick letting him down. Had Paul Pogba scored first for Man Utd at Old Trafford against Norwich he would have won a massive £72,000! The lucky, not to mention plucky, chef, only staked £4.50 in total, so 30p per line, so winning more than £5k was a great effort!