A multi bet joins two or more bets, called legs, into one ticket that pays only if every leg wins, at the legs' odds multiplied together. With illustrative prices, $10 on legs at $1.50, $2.20 and $1.70 gets a combined price of 1.50 x 2.20 x 1.70 = $5.61, so it returns $56.10 if all three win and nothing if any one of them loses.
The bookmaker's margin in each leg multiplies too, so a multi returns less per dollar on average than its legs bet one at a time. Parlay is the US name for the same bet, and accumulator the UK one.
How a multi combines its legs
A multi works like a chain: the whole return from each leg is bet again on the next, which is why the prices multiply instead of adding. Each selection is one leg of the bet, and the order the games finish in changes nothing.
| Leg | What rides on it | Price | Running return |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leg 1 | $10.00 | $1.50 | $15.00 |
| Leg 2 | $15.00 | $2.20 | $33.00 |
| Leg 3 | $33.00 | $1.70 | $56.10 |
The profit is $56.10 - $10 = $46.10. The combined price implies 1 / 5.61 = 17.8%, which is the three implied chances multiplied: 1 / 1.50 x 1 / 2.20 x 1 / 1.70. Multiplying chances like that is only right when the legs have nothing to do with each other, which is why a standard multi takes its legs from separate events. The multi bet calculator works out any set of legs, void and dead heat legs included.
On the tote, the racing version is an all up bet, which re-invests each race's declared dividend instead of a price fixed when you bet.
What you can and cannot put in a multi
- Legs from different events fit: games in different sports and competitions, from any of the markets in sports betting explained, and racing legs such as a win or place bet where the bookmaker allows them. The NSW rule book for bookmakers licensed in NSW to take sports bets allows all-up bets across different events (clause 4.2).
- Linked legs from one game do not, such as a team to win and the same team to win by 20 or more. One result changes the chance of the other, so a bookmaker refuses them in a standard multi or prices them together as a same game multi.
- Two selections in one market, such as both teams in a head to head, cannot share a ticket, because they cannot both win.
- Where a bookmaker lets a futures selection into a multi, an all-in one that never takes part loses its leg and takes the multi with it.
The most legs a ticket can hold, the largest payout and which markets can share a ticket are set in each bookmaker's terms. The whole ticket goes on at one bookmaker, so a multi cannot take each leg's best price from different bookmakers.
How each leg's margin multiplies into the multi
Each leg comes from a market whose prices add up to more than 100%. With illustrative markets behind the three legs:
| Leg | The market it comes from | Market adds up to |
|---|---|---|
| $1.50, an AFL head to head | $1.50 and $2.55 | 105.88% |
| $2.20, a soccer result | $2.20, the draw $3.40, the other side $3.30 | 105.17% |
| $1.70, a tennis match | $1.70 and $2.15 | 105.34% |
Those totals multiply as the prices do: 1.058824 x 1.051693 x 1.053352 = 1.172968. The multi carries a 17.30% overround, where no single leg carries more than 5.88%. With each market's margin taken out in proportion, the multi's fair price is 5.61 x 1.172968 = $6.58, so at fair odds $10 would return $65.80, $9.70 more than the $56.10 on offer.
Adding the legs one at a time shows the cost climbing. On the same proportional assumption, average return per $1 = 1 / combined book:
| Legs on the ticket | Combined price | Combined book | Average return per $1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leg 1 | $1.50 | 105.88% | 94.4 cents |
| Legs 1 and 2 | $3.30 | 111.36% | 89.8 cents |
| Legs 1 to 3 | $5.61 | 117.30% | 85.3 cents |
| Plus a player leg at $1.75 (Yes $1.75, No $1.85, a 111.20% market) | $9.82 | 130.43% | 76.7 cents |
The player market carries more margin than the match markets in this example, so its leg costs more to add than any of the first three. Bookmaker margin shows how to measure a market before you add it.
Voids, scratchings and dead heats inside a multi
One leg that cannot settle as written changes the whole ticket, and each bookmaker's terms say how. NSW's Bookmaker Declared Betting Events Betting Rules (checked October 2026), which bind bookmakers licensed in NSW and authorised to take bets on sport, settle a multi leg by leg (clause 5.1.9). A losing leg loses the lot, a tied leg is cut by the dead heat method, and a leg whose event is abandoned, or postponed beyond three calendar days, drops out at 1.00 (5.1.6 and 5.1.9). On the $10 ticket:
| What happens | How that leg counts | $10 returns |
|---|---|---|
| All three legs win | 1.50 x 2.20 x 1.70 = 5.61 | $56.10 |
| The AFL game is drawn, and its market offered no draw price | Half its price, 1.50 / 2 = 0.75 (5.1.8, 5.1.9) | 0.75 x 2.20 x 1.70 x $10 = $28.05 |
| The soccer game is drawn, and the draw was priced | Lost (5.1.7) | $0.00 |
| The soccer game is called off with no official result | Out, at 1.00 (5.2.7.1, 5.1.9) | 1.50 x 1.70 x $10 = $25.50 |
| A tennis player retires during the match | Out, at 1.00 (5.2.8.3) | 1.50 x 2.20 x $10 = $33.00 |
A two-way dead heat halves the ticket whichever leg it hits. Had the AFL game been abandoned rather than drawn, the ticket would have returned 2.20 x 1.70 x $10 = $37.40, so on a leg priced under $2.00 a draw costs you more than a void. Dead heat rules explains the method.
Racing legs bring scratchings. When another runner is scratched late, the stewards declare a deduction in cents in the dollar for fixed-odds bets struck before the scratching, as Racing NSW's Rules of Betting (BR 14) set out for NSW on-course bookmakers. Swap the soccer leg for a horse at $2.20 and take an illustrative 8c deduction:
- Face-value reading: the leg counts at 2.20 x 0.92 = 2.024, and $10 returns 1.50 x 2.024 x 1.70 x $10 = $51.61.
- Winnings-only reading: the leg counts at 1 + 1.20 x 0.92 = 2.104, and $10 returns $53.65.
- Your own horse scratched: under a rule that refunds it, the leg drops out at 1.00 and $10 returns $25.50.
Scratchings and deductions sets out which reading applies where. A whole-number line that lands exactly is a push in betting terms, and where a bookmaker's terms refund a push, that leg counts at 1.00 like a void one. The NSW rule book sets a points start at half a point unless agreed otherwise (5.1.3), so its lines cannot push. Other bookmakers write their own multi rules, so check how yours settles a draw, a retirement and a scratching before you add the leg.
When combining legs into one ticket makes sense
Bet the same three legs as $10 singles and, with each market's margin spread in proportion, they return 94.4, 95.1 and 94.9 cents per $1 on average: about $28.45 back on $30, a loss of 5.2 cents per dollar. The $10 multi averages $8.53 back, a loss of 14.7 cents per dollar, and on the fair chances it lands about once in 6.6 tickets (1 / 0.152).
Combining makes sense in three cases:
- You rate every leg above its price. Then the edges multiply instead of the margins, and the multi can average more per dollar than the same singles.
- You want one large return from a small stake, and you accept that most tickets lose.
- A promotion on the multi is worth more than the extra margin it carries.
If only some legs are value, singles keep that value without paying the margin on the rest. Multis vs singles works the comparison through, losing runs included.
Risk: Betting involves risk. A multi of value legs still loses on most tickets, one losing leg loses the whole stake, and there is no guarantee of profit. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
Multi promotions: winnings boosts, refunds and bonus bets
Promotions on multis come in a few common shapes:
- A winnings boost: when the ticket lands, the bookmaker adds a stated percentage to its profit, often only once the ticket has enough legs.
- A one-leg-fails refund returns the stake, usually as a bonus bet with a cap, when every leg but one wins. Multi insurance values one.
- Staked with a bonus bet, a multi pays back only its winnings. Its longer combined price keeps a bigger share of the token's face value until the extra legs' margin outweighs that, a trade-off bonus bets on multis works through.
A promotion changes what a multi pays, never the chance that every leg wins. With an illustrative 20% winnings boost, the $5.61 ticket pays 1 + 4.61 x 1.20 = 6.532 times the stake, still under its fair $6.58. On the fair chances it returns 0.15197 x 6.532 = 99.3 cents per $1, and it still loses about 85 tickets in 100. Each offer's terms set its minimum legs, minimum odds per leg, cap and expiry, so read them before you build a ticket around it: whether that ticket qualifies is the bookmaker's call.
Risk: Betting involves risk. A boost or refund changes the price, not the result, and a bonus bet that loses pays nothing. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
Multi mistakes and what they cost
| Mistake | What it costs, on this page's numbers | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Building the ticket at the first bookmaker you check | If another bookmaker has each leg 5c higher, 1.55 x 2.25 x 1.75 = 6.103, so $10 returns $61.03 instead of $56.10 | Price the whole ticket at more than one bookmaker |
| Treating a short leg as a sure thing | A $1.20 leg from a 105.56% market ($1.20 and $4.50) lifts the price to 5.61 x 1.20 = $6.73, but cuts the average return from 85.3 to 1 / (1.172968 x 1.0556) = 80.8 cents per $1 and adds a fourth leg that must win | Price it like any other leg: at $1.20 it pays its way only if you rate its chance above 1 / 1.20 = 83.3% |
| Expecting a drawn two-way leg to be refunded | Under the NSW dead heat rule the drawn AFL leg leaves $28.05, not the $37.40 a void would pay | Read the draw rule for every leg |
| Adding legs or raising the stake after a losing run | The four-leg ticket above keeps about 23.3 cents of every dollar on average | Keep to the stake and the deposit limit you set |
Risk: Betting involves risk. Avoiding these mistakes lowers what a multi costs on average, but every leg still has to win, and on these numbers most tickets lose. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
Shopping each leg before you build the multi
Because the legs multiply, a few cents on each leg move the whole ticket, as the first mistake above shows. B337's Terminal sets out prices from 40+ bookmakers across racing and sports side by side, one bookmaker per column, with the best available price on each selection picked out and exchange back and lay prices beside them. On sport it covers head to head, line and total markets, and player props where bookmakers offer them. For a leg from one of those markets, you can see which of the bookmakers shown prices it highest before you choose where to place the ticket.
The Terminal reads prices on a repeating cycle, not tick by tick, so a price on screen can trail the bookmaker's own: confirm each leg in your bookmaker account before you bet. A free account opens a limited view of the Terminal with live odds.
Risk: Betting involves risk. A better price on every leg still needs every leg to win, and bookmakers can limit stakes or void bets under their terms. See responsible gambling for limits and support.