What Are Lucky 31 Bets?

To place a Lucky 31 bet, a punter needs to pick the winning horse in five different races. The principle is the same when betting on other sports; it is necessary to try to pick winners from five different events. The Lucky 31 bet comprises 5 single bets, 10 doubles, 10 trebles, 5 four-folds and 1 five-fold bet. To place a Lucky 31 bet, the basic stake must be multiplied 31 times to cover all of the bets that make up the combination. Broken down, here is how the bets work with an example where the bets are named A, B, C, D and E

Singles (5)

A, B, C, D, E

Doubles (10)

A+B (1), A+C (2), A+D (3), A+E (4), B+C (5), B+D (6), B+E (7), C+D (8), C+E (9), D+E (10)

Trebles (10)

A+B+C (1), A+B+D (2), A+B+E (3), A+C+D (4), A+C+E (5), A+D+E (6), B+C+D (7), B+C+E (8), B+D+E (9), C+D+E (10)

Four-folds (5)

A+B+C+D (1), A+B+C+E (2), A+B+D+E (3), A+C+D+E (4), B+C+D+E (5)

Five-fold (1)

A+B+C+D+E

If the five selections are made on horse races and the bets are all assumed to have odds of 3.25, then the maximum winnings on a bet of $31 will be paid in the following way:

Singles

$1 x 3.25 x 5 = $16.25

Doubles

$1 x 10.563 x 10 = $105.63

Trebles

$1 x 34.328 x 10 = $343.28

Four-fold

$1 x 111.566 x 5 = $557.83

Five-fold

$1 x 362.59 = $362.59

Altogether this would win $1,385.58. If this is compared with a simple parlay of the five bets using the same stake, the winnings would be $6.20 x 3.25 x 5 = $100.75. The difference between the two bets is not only the maximum payout, but also the fact that a Lucky 31 bet can pay out even if some of the bets fail to win, whereas the parlay requires all bets to win to pay.

What Happens If One Or More Selections Lose?

If one of the selections does not win, this means that from the original 31 bets only 15 bets will pay out. Those are the 4 singles, 6 doubles, 4 trebles and 1 four-fold.

Using the same odds as before, this means the bettor can win $13 from singles, $63.38 from doubles, $137.31 from trebles and $111.56 from the four-fold, for a total of $325.25, which still brings a hefty profit.

If two of the selections lose, then only 3 singles, 3 doubles and 1 treble will pay out. This will bring returns of $9.75 from the singles, $31.69 from the doubles and $34.33 from the treble, for a total of $75.77.

If three selections lose, then only 2 single bets and 1 double bet will win. This will bring a return of $17.06.

Finally, if four selections lose then only one single bet would win and that would pay out $3.25.

How to Win the Most from a Lucky 31 Bet

Odds are very important when making Lucky 31 bets. The example above used odds of 3.25, which for horseracing is not uncommon and it is even possible to find slightly longer odds offered on the favourites. However, in other sports such as tennis, football or basketball, these odds are quite high, meaning they are usually found on the underdogs or on teams that are evenly matched.

The maximum payout for a Lucky 31 bet where the odds are around 3.25 on average can be seen in the example. If a punter was to bet on tennis, where they may bet on the favourites with average odds of 1.20, the maximum payout with the same stake will be $50.54, which is only a $19.54 profit.

For the sake of comparison, if a punter were to make 5 selections where each selection came at odds of 4.0, the total winnings would be $3,124, which is a massive increase from the 3.25.

Whilst the sports bets with the lower odds will have a higher chance of winning, they do not bring anywhere near the returns as those offered by the selections with longer odds. Whilst it seems safer to try and use the bets with the shorter odds, it is definitely not. If one of the selections fails with odds as low as 1.20, the bettor would already be at a loss.

The best way to use lucky 31 bets is to try to use very small stakes (remember they will be multiplied by 31) and to try to find bets that come with relatively longer odds, such as 3.0 and upwards. This way, if one or two bets fails there may still be a chance to salvage a sizable profit or at the very least win back the original stake.