Our easy Acca guide takes you through the whole process of making your first accumulator (Acca) bet online. All you have to do is follow the step-by-step instructions below and we also provide tips and advice on common mistakes to avoid.

Now, I did say the guide was easy to follow, but I didn’t say it was short! Stick with it, as you’ll find everything you need to know about doing an Acca (Accumulator).

If you already have access to an online bookmaker that’s great but if you don’t then try either Paddy Power or Bet365. Both offer promotional deals for new customers and often give enhanced odds or moneyback specials on football accumulators. There’s nothing to stop you joining both bookmakers and checking which site offers the best deals and odds. Of course, you can join any online bookie as this guide isn’t dependant on you being a member of any particular site.

This guide explains the ‘four-fold’ football accumulator, which is the smallest type of acca you can do. Essentially you’ll be placing a bet on the outcome of four football matches. To make the bet you’ll need to select four football games and predict the outcomes of the matches. Decide if each game will be a home win, away win or a draw.

You can pick any match your bookmaker is quoting odds on but the most popular games are Premier League or top European fixtures. However, you’re not restricted to just those leagues, good value can be found in the lower divisions too. It makes sense to stick to leagues where you have a good knowledge of the teams and their abilities.

Most punters prefer picking games which are due to be played within a few hours of each other or kicking off at the same time.  Nothing is stopping you picking games that are weeks or months apart, just be aware that your money will be tied up longer.

Now the difficult part – making your selections! It really is worth studying trends and form before making your selections. To help you do this I’ve listed a couple of websites that you will find useful: SoccerStats is a free collection of footballing stats which covers all the important data. Football365 is another site with a huge amount of information on trends & stats. Many bookies websites also offer head-to-head stats on individual games. Fixtures can be found on the bookmakers sites, but if you want a list of games which will be shown live on TV then try this Live Football on TV Guide.

Remember to bet with your head and not your heart, try to stay objective. We know you love your team, but if they’re bottom of the table with no fit strikers and the 3rd choice keeper between the sticks are they really likely to win away at Man City?

Don’t discount home advantage. Last season Premier League sides won at home 47% of the time. Away teams triumphed in 32% of matches and draws accounted for the remainder 21% of outcomes.

One of the biggest mistakes I see new punters making is overestimating top teams away form. Last season’s champions, Manchester City, won just 52.6% of their away games which is exactly the same percentage as Manchester United who suffered one of their worst seasons in living memory. Don’t worry though, there are options for accumulator insurance which can reduce your risk if your team is not having the best season.

You’ve done your research, you’ve picked your selections… now you need to place the accumulator bet.

Login to your bookmakers website and navigate to the football section. Here you’ll see a list of fixtures with odds boxes next to the team names. Usually three boxes – Home, Draw and Away. Just click on the odds box to select that option.

Below is an illustration of how to do this at Paddy Power. The game features Brazil Vs Croatia in the world cup and as Brazil is the home team their name comes first. Croatia is the away team and their name comes last, the draw box is usually found in the middle.

For this example we’re going to assume you’ve selected Brazil to win and you’ve click the 1/3 box under HOME (1/3 being the odds you’ll get). Once you’ve click the box that selection is added to your virtual betting slip.

At this stage your bookmaker doesn’t know you want to make this an Acca bet, so just leave the betting slip open and DO NOT enter any stake yet. Because, if you enter a stake now, you’ll be betting on the match as a single and not an Accumulator!

Go back the fixture list and pick your next selections. For this example we’ll assume you’ve clicked on Mexico (home), Holland (away) and Chile (home). Your Acca now consists of Brazil, Mexico, Holland, Chile – by the way, it doesn’t matter the order in which you select the teams. You’ll now have four picks in the virtual betting slip and it will automatically update and give you the option to make the Acca (see image below).

Now you must decide on the size of your bet and enter it in the small box next to where it says ‘Accumulator’. I would advise anyone betting for the first time to keep the stakes small at no more than £10. Keep it fun as acca’s can be hard to land and that’s why the odds are so good!

In the image below you can see where to enter your stake and how that automatically shows the potential returns. At this stage you can change the stake amount and see how that effects the returns.

Now all you have to do is click the BET NOW button which usually at the bottom of the virtual slip. You’ll then be asked to confirm the bet before it’s placed.

That’s it! You’ve placed your first accumulator. If you’d like to give it a go then visit Paddy Power.

A fourfold accumulator is won when all the selections you’ve predicted in the bet are correct. If you’ve selected four home wins and all the home teams win, you’ve won! If one or more teams on your betting slip draw or lose then the bet is dead. Your stake is now in the hands of the bookies 🙁 .

The mechanics of the accumulator bet are both simple and complicated. You get bigger odds as your small initial bet grows with each win. If £1 is bet on a team at odds of 10/1 and that team win then you’ve got £10 riding on the next game, instead of £1.

If the second team wins you’ve got a bigger pile of money on the third game and finally the whole lot is placed on the last game, giving you a potentially massive return. With the accumulator bet this all happens automatically.

It’s essentially no different than walking into a bookies on Friday and placing a £1 bet on Wrexham F.C., you return to the bookies on Saturday and place the Wrexham winnings on Arsenal. You come back again on Sunday and place the Arsenal winnings on Chelsea and so on.

Doing those bets separately or as an accumulator is really the same thing but of course the benefit of doing it as an accumulator is it saves you all that walking! And more importantly the games can be taking place simultaneously and you still get the multiplier benefit.