Goliath Bets Explained

Goliath bets consist of 28 double bets, 56 trebles, 70 four-folds, 56 five-folds, 28 six-folds, 8 seven-folds and 1 eight-fold bet. It would be quite lengthy to explain in detail how the bet works, but for a general understanding, an example can be made with 8 bets of equal odds of 3.0, which in horseracing is usually the odds that can be found on the favourite.

If all the 8 favourites win their respective races, the bets would pay out at

$252 for the 28 double bets, which is 28x(3x3), 28 for the number of bets and 3x3 for the odds of both bets multiplied by each other

$1,512 for the 56 trebles, which is 56(3x3x3)

$5,670 for the 70 four-fold bets, which is 70x(3x3x3x3)

$13,608 for the 56 five-fold bets, which is 56x(3x3x3x3x3)

$20,412 for the 28 six-fold bets, which is 28x(3x3x3x3x3x3)

$17,496 for the 8 seven-fold bets, which is 7x(3x3x3x3x3x3x3)

$6,561 for the 1 eight-fold bet

The punter can win a maximum of $65,511 from a bet of $247. Hitting this jackpot would require the punter to win all 8 bets, which is not easy but with all bets on the favourite (that usually comes to around 3.0 in odds), it is not as much of a longshot as some people may think.

What Happens If One Or More Bets Lose?

If one bet loses, this means that the returns will be $16,362, which is a $13,115 profit from the original bet of $247.

If two bets lose, the returns will be cut to $4,077.

If three bets lose, the returns will be $1,008.

If 4 bets lose, or that is if half the bets lose, then the returns would be $243, which is just $4 short of the original stake.

As it can be seen from this simplified model, the goliath bet still pays out quite a large amount if one, two or three bets lose. If half the bets lose, then a portion, if not the full original stake, can be returned (this of course depends on the odds in the bets picked in a real life situation).

How To Use Goliath Bets

These calculations are based on an example where all of the bets in the goliath bet have the same odds. Usually a punter will not be able to find 8 bets that have odds of exactly 3.0, they may pick bets with higher or shorter odds.

For sports such as horseracing, the odds on the favourite will be higher than in other sports. This is because a horse race can have 10 or more contestants, meaning that even though there are some horses that are tipped to win, there are still many different possible outcomes.

For fans of horseracing, the goliath bets offer an extended bet where they can predict 8 winning horses, and if they get at least half of their predictions right then they will win back a good portion, if not the entire original stake. If they predict 6, 7 or all 8 bets correctly they will receive huge returns, as was indicated in the example. Predicting the winners of 8 different horse races is not easy, but if punters look for races where one horse is clearly favoured to win, they may get lucky and win all of the bets.

For fans of sports such as basketball, football, tennis, rugby and so on, the betting odds are slightly different. These sports are played between two players or teams, meaning that the number of possible outcomes is reduced to two, where either team wins, or three, in sports where the game can end in a tie.

Basically what this will mean is that the odds offered in these sports tend to be shorter than those of horse racing. In the example, the odds on the favourite for horseracing was 3.0. If the example was for a non-racing sport, the odds offered on the favourite would vary but they may be around 1.50, which is still relatively high in some cases.

If the odds were 1.50 and a punter put a goliath bet with a stake of $247, they would stand to win $1,512.88. This is quite a cut from the horseracing bet where the odds were higher and the maximum payout was $65,511.

Fans choose to use goliath bets in sport because the favourites usually have a better chance of winning, and therefore the bet is less risky to place and will win more often. Targeting the sports with favourites with short odds will probably win more often than using goliath bets in horseracing, but it is also important to consider that if two or more bets fail from the shorter odds bets, the payout may not be as large as the horseracing bet. Punters should always calculate how many bets they can lose in their goliath bet before they are at a loss.