Combination bets, such as the Lucky 15 and Lucky 31, are tricky, yet lucrative if you’re good enough or lucky enough. An even more ambitious bet, however, is the fantastic Lucky 63. Bets, such as the Lucky 63, can be used across many sports, but are most popular with football and horse racing fans. You can even use a combination of sporting events in your Lucky 63.
The cost is the major factor with a Lucky 63. As the name suggests, this bet features 63 individual wagers meaning at £1 per line, the bet would cost you some £63. Naturally, the ultimate goal is to win with all 6 initial selections, meaning 63 combination bets landed. The number involved means that getting two or three winners is possible, meaning there is often a fair return for the initial outlay with this bet.
How the Lucky 63 Works
To get started with a Lucky 63 bet, you’ll need six individual selections. This can be six horses, six football teams, or a combination of selections from various events. This makes up 63 bets in total. The six initial selections must all be for different events. Unlike a Bet Builder wager, you cannot choose multiple bets from one game or one race. Your Lucky 63 bet is made up of the following combination of bets:
- 6 x Singles
- 15 x Doubles
- 20 x Trebles
- 15 x Four-Folds
- 6 x Five-Folds
- 1 x Six-Fold
As mentioned, the key thing to keep in mind with a Lucky 63 is the overall cost. As these bets multiply, the cost per line greatly multiplies too. Even at a small 20p per line, a Lucky 63 would cost £12.60 but wouldn’t offer much of a return per winning line. At £5 per line, it would cost you £315! In our example below, we’re going for an ambitious Lucky 63 on six British horse races:
Here, our six horses can be backed in a Lucky 63 giving us 63 individual combination bets. At £1 per line, our bet total is £63 exactly. If you go too high, the overall cost is massive. Too low and the potential winnings per line is not worth it. You can play around with your unit cost to find an overall stake that works for you. With a Lucky 63, every single winning combination is covered between the six selections. For example:
- A double on horses 1 & 3
- A treble on horses 2, 4 & 5
- A four-fold on horses 1, 3, 5, & 6
- A six-fold on all six horses
Though we have some horses at relatively short prices in here to give us a good chance of some returns, even landing three wins out of six would give us a reasonable return. Getting four, five and ultimately six would raise the returns markedly. Should we only get three legs of this six-leg bet right, let’s say on horses 1, 3 and 5, then we’d get a return of £100.29 for our £63 bet at these odds. This is based on:
£1 single on Celtic Champion @ 2/1 returns = £3
£1 single on Climate @ 11/8 returns = £2.38
£1 single on Huddleton Mac @ 11/2 returns = £6.50
£1 double on Celtic Champion & Climate returns = £7.13
£1 double on Celtic Champion & Huddleton Mac returns = £19.50
£1 double on Climate & Huddleton Mac returns = £15.47
£1 treble on Celtic Champion, Climate & Huddleton Mac returns = £46.31
Now, if you think if that as a £63 single, it’s the same as betting on a 4/7 shot. That’s at these odds, of course, so you can add some bigger-priced horses in there, though that would also mean bigger risk. Had you placed this as a 20p Lucky 63, then the singles would return just over £2 in total. This is why you really have to balance out the risk versus the potential reward with such a big combination bet.
We’ve used sensible selections here, with reasonably priced horses in winnable races. It shows that you really need to be getting four out of your six selections right to be in the green with this sort of bet, though that fourth winner really does accelerate things greatly.
Calculating a Lucky 63
If you want or need to calculate the possible returns from all 63 bets in a Lucky 63 manually, this can prove to be some task! In terms of the overall return (all 6 selections winning), this is listed on your bet slip when you place the bet online. There are also free bet calculation tools you can use online.
One tip – go back to your online bookmaker. Enter each of the 63 combo bets into a bet slip. This will show the potential returns at your chosen line stake. Just don’t put that individual bet on again. To work out the returns for each line individually, however, remember that you’re working out singles, doubles, trebles etc. in the way you normally would. To look at each leg individually, simply use the 31 bets listed above. Calculate each leg, based on the odds you have been given by your bookmaker.
For example; a treble on three selections at odds of 2/1, 3/1 and 11/2 is worked out like this: £1 x 2/1 + £1 (stake) = £3 x 3/1 + £3 (stake) = £12 x 11/2 + £12 (stake) = £78. You can do this will all doubles, trebles, four-folds, five-folds and your six-fold if you like to see what each and every individual bet in the Lucky 63 is worth.
Lucky 63 Versus Heinz
The Heinz bet is beautifully named, as there are 57 bets (varieties) involved! Both the Heinz and the Lucky 63 are made up of six individual selections, from six different events. The other major similarity is how the bulk of those bets are made up; 15 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 four-folds, 6 five-fold and a six-fold. The biggest difference is that with the Heinz, no single bets are included. This is how we’re left with the above 57 bets rather than 63.
With a Heinz, you’ll therefore need to win at least two legs of your bet to seal in a return. At £1 per line and £57 in total, you’ll need a 56/1 double just to make your money back. That’s the equivalent of two 13/2 shots more or less. That’s possible but unlikely in horse racing and near impossible with football. If that’s an issue, then stick with the Lucky 63 which offers single bets too. At 57 bets rather than 63, the Heinz can be slightly cheaper to place. It also means that, if you’re using the same budget, each winning line is worth a little more.