Round robin bets

These bets include three doubles, a treble and three up and down singles stakes. These bets are placed using three selections from any betting market.

The Round Robin is a popular bet for experienced punters because it can significantly amplify winnings if all three selections win, and even one winning selection can generate a return.

As a simple example, three £1 singles placed on three winning selections priced at 3/1 would generate a profit of £9. By contrast £3 wagered on a round robin would return a £43.20 profit if all three selections won their events.

While the Round Robin can be a lucrative bet, it can also be one of the more complex combination bets to get your head around due to the use of up and down singles when constructing the bet.

So, how many bets in a round robin?

A Round Robin bet is a combination of:

• Three doubles
• One treble
• Three up and down bets, which equates to six any-to-come bets.

The bets in a Round Robin are structured to ensure that each one of the selections features in at least one type of sub-bet.

How does a Round Robin bet work?

The first step in choosing a Round Robin bet is making three selections in the betting markets.

While Round Robin bets are popular among horseracing punters, the bet can be made using any selection from any betting market.

As with other combination bets, you want to leave your long shots out of a Round Robin. Instead you should focus on placing three bets with a high degree of confidence that the selection will win.

Once you have your selections you can place the various sub-bets that we identified in the section on What a Round Robin bet is.

While placing the three doubles and the treble is straightforward, the up and down singles are not quite as simple.

Each up and down single is comprised of two any-to-come bets.

What this means is that a stake is placed on the first selection in the bet. If this wins a single bet of the same stake is automatically placed on the second selection of the bet.

Likewise, a stake is placed on the second selection in the bet and if that wins, the same stake is automatically placed on the first selection in the bet.

The three up and down singles therefore comprise six any-to-come bets, which cover every possible combination of two selections from the three available.

Confused yet?

Here’s a Round Robin bet example

A punter decides to place a Round Robin bet using three selections from a day of racing.

He identifies three horses which he thinks can win (for simplicity’s sake we will give them all a price of 2/1):

• Hungry For Fashion (2/1)
• Class Bishop Lady (2/1)
• Chalk Stream (2/1).

To place the bet the punter makes the following bets:

• A treble featuring all three horses
• Doubles featuring Hungry For Fashion & Class Bishop Lady, Hungry for Fashion & Chalk Stream, Class Bishop Lady & Chalk Stream

The up and down bets are then set up.

Up and down bet #1:

• An any-to-come bet is placed on Hungry For Fashion. If the selection wins the same stake is placed on Class Bishop Lady.
• An any-to-come bet is placed on Class Bishop Lady. If this selection wins the same stake is placed on Hungry For Fashion.

Up and down bet #2:

• An any-to-come bet is placed on Hungry For Fashion. If the selection wins the same stake is placed on Chalk Stream.
• An any-to-come bet is placed on Chalk Stream. If this selection wins the same stake is placed on Hungry For Fashion.

Up and down bet #3:

• An any-to-come bet is placed on Class Bishop Lady. If the selection wins the same stake is placed on Chalk Stream.
• An any-to-come bet is placed on Chalk Stream. If this selection wins the same stake is placed on Class Bishop Lady.

Assuming a £1 bet is placed on each entry, the bet has the following permutations.

• If only one selection wins the bet will pay out a total return of £4, for a £6 loss.
• If two selections win the bet will pay out a total return of £23 for a total profit of £13.
• If all three selections win, the bet will pay out a total return of £84 and a total profit of £74.

Of course, the permutations above are simplified by the fact that all three selections have the same price. In reality odds will vary, which will create additional permutations as the payout for any permutation with a losing selection will be affected by which selection wins or loses.

Which bookmakers accept Round Robin bets?

Unlike many other combination bets Round Robin bets are not a default betting market that will automatically appear on betting slips at online bookies once you make enough selections.

Instead this special betting market must be requested directly from bookies and is available via telephone betting from some bookmakers.

Most bookies do not even allow users to assemble the Round Robin sub-bets without their assistance.

The exception is Boylesports, who allow you to simultaneously place Single Stakes About (another name for Up and Down bets), as well as the required doubles and singles on their betting slip.

Round robin betting strategy

You do not need a complicated betting strategy to get the most out of round robin bets.

Rather than trying to create round robin bets with selections you are not absolutely confident in, consider a round robin when you realize you have bankers on your hands.

In these cases, the Round Robin is going to offer you a much bigger return on your stake than placing single bets on all three of your selections.

Also keep an eye on the total stake for a Round Robin bet. Your base stake is going to be multiplied by 10, so you need to keep in mind the overall stake can inflate rapidly as you raise the base stake.

Finally, while it may be tempting to stick to one sport when placing Round Robin bets, there is really no need to.

Don’t be shy to hunt around betting markets and events across different sporting codes to find selections that offer value and a solid chance of winning their bet.

Round robin bet FAQ