Goliath Bet Explained

With a total of 247 sub bets, a Goliath bet gets its name from its sheer size. However, while this is a massive bet, it’s easy to understand and make use of.

So, how many bets in a Goliath bet?

There are 247 multiple bets in a Goliath bet. These sub-bets are structured in such a way that every selection appears at least once in each bet type.

How does a Goliath bet work?

A Goliath bet works by placing every possible variation of available multiple bets on eight selections from the betting markets.

While you can only pick one winner from any one market, your eight selections can be made across a variety of sports and betting markets.

That said, it’s common for punters to focus on a specific sport and market type when placing their Goliath bets, for example only placing horseracing win bets.

Placing the bet is straightforward.

Simply make your eight selections from the betting markets at a bookie. If you’re betting online the Goliath bet option will appear on your betting slip automatically once your selections are made.

You will then need to set your base stake. Keep in mind that this stake will be multiplied by the number of sub bets in the Goliath, so a £1 stake will result in a total stake of £247.

All you need to do at this point is submit your bet and wait for your selections to compete in their events.

While it’s technically possible to earn a profit on a Goliath bet with just two winners, this is extremely unlikely as the odds of the two winners would need to be high.

In reality at least half your selections will need to win for you to break even, although the exact number of winners required to earn a return depends entirely on the prices of the winners.

Goliath betting calculator

Unless you fancy several hours of arithmetic, you’ll want to use a betting calculator to calculate your Goliath bet. Our Goliath betting calculator lets you quickly and easily calculate the permutations of different stakes and results in your bet.

*Select “Goliath” from the bet type drop-down

Goliath betting strategy

As with other combination bets, you can take either a conservative or aggressive approach to betting with a Goliath.

The conservative approach involves optimizing your chances of winning the overall bet by backing selections at low odds, typically under Evens.

The advantage of this type of bet is eight winning selections in a Goliath will generate a much bigger profit than you’d have made with eight winning singles.

For example, backing eight horses who are favourites at odds of 1/3 will generate a profit of £618.98 on a winning Goliath bet. Compare that to the £2.40 you’d have earned from eight winning singles.

The downside of this approach is that just one or two selections need to lose for your chances of making a profit to go down the drain.

The aggressive Goliath betting approach involves walking a thin line between getting the highest odds you can on each selection while sticking to selections that have a solid chance of winning.

Usually this requires you to know your sport and selections so well that you can pick up bargains in the betting markets, where bookies have under-priced certain selections.

Pull one of these Goliath bets off and the payouts can be massive.

For example

If you placed a Goliath on eight winning horses each priced at 3/1 using a base stake of £1, you’d make a profit of £390,345 against your spend.

And you don’t need to win all eight bets to win big.

Using the same example, you’d make:

• £77,849 from seven winners
• £15,353 from six winners
• £2,857 from five winners
• £361 from four winners

That said, while you can profit from a Goliath bet if half your selections win, you’re going to get better returns off smaller combination bets if you’re not able to make eight solid selections.

For example, while four winners at 3/1 in a Goliath will make you £361, the same number of winners in a winning Yankee bet will earn you a profit of £597.

Something else to keep in mind when placing a Goliath bet is to keep your base bet small, particularly if you’re taking the aggressive approach.

With big potential rewards you have the freedom to decrease your stakes substantially to reduce the risk to your bankroll while still having a chance of scoring big.

For example, a stake of just 1 cent per sub bet in a Goliath would cost you a total of £2.47 and if all eight selections won at prices of 3/1, you’d still make a profit of £3,903.45!

Goliath bets FAQ