Yankee Betting Explained: A Guide to Yankee Betting

Published: 3rd May 2018
Author: Josh Stewart
Last Updated: 27th January 2021
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Yankee Betting Explained: A Guide to Yankee Betting

A yankee is one of the most popular multiple bets and a great way to place a wager on a wide range of sports. It is a very old bet and has stood the test of time, still being used today by punters all over the world.

If you have never placed a yankee bet before, or you have but didn’t really understand the bet fully then this guide will show you how to place a yankee, what the benefits are and some useful tips when making your selections. By learning about new bet types you will make yourself into a better punter, and that is only going to help you win more profit from the bookmakers. Different bets are needed for different situations, and a yankee can be used to great effect in many different ones so add this bet to your arsenal when you take on the bookmakers.

Yankee Betting Selections

A Yankee requires you to pick four selections to be able to place it. This can be four horses, four football teams, or any other sports and if you want you can combine different sports to give yourself a bet across many sports. This means a wide range of people place yankee bets, it isn’t confined to just one sport.

If you are betting in sport, such as horse racing, where each way betting is available then you can also place an each way yankee on your selections, with the place terms being dictated by each individual event that you are betting on.

When you are choosing your yankee selections, you need to keep a couple of things in mind. The first is that you need at least two winners for you to have a return, and the second is that inside a yankee is an accumulator bet on all four of your selections to win. With this in mind, don’t aim for too many outsiders, go for selections you think are going to win, otherwise, you may find yourself with one big priced winner, but no returns on your bet.

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What is a Yankee Bet?

A yankee consists of 11 bets in total, so when placing a yankee you will need to multiply your unit stake by 11 to give you your total bet cost. If you want to place an each way yankee then like you do with other each way bets, you need to double the total cost to take into account the place part of each bet, so an each way yankee is a total of 22 bets.

The 11 bets inside a yankee give you full coverage across four selections, with the exception of singles. That means that you have every possible combination of double and trebles on your selections, plus an accumulator on all four. The 11 bets are split down as follows:

  • 6 doubles
  • 4 trebles
  • 1 accumulator

To get a return on a yankee you need to have two winners or more. No winners or just one winner will not give you a return as singles are not included in this bet. That is the only frustrating side of the bet you could have one nice priced winner and not get a return from your bookmaker. However, with double and trebles this bet cuts out the frustration that many accumulator punters face when they get close to landing a bet. For example, an accumulator punter having three winners out of four would get no returns on their bet, but a yankee punter would have four winning bets in total, three doubles and one treble and be paid out on those.

The yankee also covers the benefits of accumulator punting by including an accumulator on all four of your selections. This means that if you place a yankee, you are going to get the same big priced winner as you would if you were to place an accumulator on the four selections. It is the combined features of both this and the fact you get some kind of return for two or three winners out of four that makes the yankee such a popular bet with punters, regardless of the sport.

Yankee Bets Explained

As an example of how the Yankee works, consider the following selections taken from a day’s racing. These are all fairly short-priced favourites, so the win-only Yankee is the best option:

Horse A: 6/4
Horse B: 4/6
Horse C: 15/8
Horse D: 8/11

In this case, our £1 Yankee would produce a return of £89.21 if all four selections won. If, for example, the last leg didn’t win, you would still benefit from three winning doubles and one winning treble, producing a return of £28.20. This is where the Yankee can pay dividends: enabling the bettor to double their initial stake despite only picking three winners from four.

Let’s take a different example. In this case, some of the odds are bigger than in the first example, so an Each Way Yankee might be the way to go here:

Horse A: 15/2
Horse B: 5/2
Horse C: 3/1
Horse D: 7/1

Our £1 Each Way Yankee will cost £22, but in this case, if all four selections win, the return would be an impressive £1975.12. Even if none of the four horses win, providing they all finish in the top three, the profit would amount to a solid £72.90.

The Yankee is a fairly simple multiple bet that can offer big returns from relatively minor stakes. The profit from a Yankee bet can increase dramatically, and if you manage to find four winners, particularly if one or two of them are at a big price, you can really cash in. Even if you don’t hit all four, the coverage that this bet offers can still return a profit.

Bookmakers offer Yankees on most sports, not just horse racing. They are an excellent way to turn small stakes into significant returns and represent a solid alternative to the traditional win bet.

Yankee Bet Tips

If you are looking to place your very first yankee, or you have placed them before without much success then take a look at these yankee bet tips that will help you get closer to that big win you are after.

Include at least one banker

When you place a yankee bet you need at least two winners for you to get a return. With that in mind, you should always try and include a banker bet selection so you can be confident of at least one winner. Should your banker win then you have three other selections that you can cheer on in the hope that at least one of them will land and you can get a return. One of the only frustrating parts of a yankee is if you get one winner because you won’t get a return on your bet with just one. It is even more frustrating if that winner is a big price because you will feel like you have missed out on some profit. With that in mind, look to include a banker that you are very confident of, and hope that can win alongside some or all of your other selections.

Think about your stake

When you place a multiple bet like the yankee you have a number of bets that you have to pay for. With a yankee this is 11, so whatever your unit stake is, you need to multiply it by 11 to get your total stake. This may mean you need to lower your unit stake compared to what you would normally place so take this into account when thinking about the bet. For example, if you place a £10 accumulator each week and want to stick to that kind of total cost, your unit stake on a yankee would need to be £1, that would mean a total bet cost of £11.

Each way Yankees

Don’t forget that you can place each way Yankees if you are betting on a sport that accepts each way bets. If you are looking at selections that are big prices then you can place the bet each way and in this instance, you need just two placed selections to get a return. The more placed selections the more you will win, and obviously, if you manage to find some winners too then you will win even more money. With an accumulator on all four of your selections, even if you get no winners and four placed selections, you can still expect a nice return if you have picked out some at a big price. This is another way you can use this bet and one that can be used in the right situation to bring profit to your betting.

When placing an each way yankee, remember to double the number of bets, so that means your unit stake may need to come down as you are placing a total of 22 bets, not the standard 11 that are in a win yankee.

Best Betting Sites for Yankee Betting

There is no real winner in terms of betting sites to place your Yankee bets with. It comes down to which bookmaker is willing to offer the best odds for each selection. In order to suss out where you can find the best odds, you can try to locate promotions such as Best Odds Guaranteed, which can be found at places such as William Hill, Paddy Power and Ladbrokes. There are other online bookmakers which will offer this promotion too. This promotion tends to be offered on horse racing betting and also greyhound betting.

As Yankee Bets consist of you putting on a range of bets, it can be hard to determine whether or not you will receive a high pay out, as it depends on which of the selections in the bet are selection, so having the best odds will allow you to wager low amounts and still receive a higher pay out than what other online betting sites are allowing.

Take a look at some of the other betting guides that we offer. Get an introduction into betting types such as pool betting, strategies for betting exchanges, patent bets and more!

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About Josh Stewart

Josh Stewart lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, and works as a website editor. He has previously worked for several prominent online sites and, as a former professional golfer, specialises in sports and iGaming. Josh has almost a decade of experience as a freelancer and has received excellent reviews from current and previous clients.