The Sweet 16 Football Bet Explained

There are a multitude of bets out there available for punters to use, but one of the best of them is also one of the least known. This is the Sweet 16 bet, perfect for football and one that has faded away from significance, after being incredibly popular back in the 80s and 90s with punters.
What is a Sweet 16 Bet?
A Sweet 16 bet is a multiple bet, and as the name suggests there are a total of 16 bets inside the wager.
You have five selections in the bet, and it works best when you are wanting to do something a little different.
If you want to add an additional selection to a Yankee, the Sweet 16 is a good way to do that, if you want to cut down on the cost of your Canadian, the Sweet 16 can also help with that.
From the five selections, you need three or more winners to get any kind of return, which is what makes this bet perfect for football. If you are fed up of placing accas and falling short by one or two, you need to look at alternative bets, and this is one of them you can use.
What Bets Make Up a Sweet 16?
The 16 bets in a Sweet 16 are as follows:
10 x trebles (covering every combination of three teams)
5 x fourfold accas (covering every combination of four teams)
1 x fivefold acca (covering all teams)
If you get one or two right from your five selections, you will receive no return.
- Three right will give you one winning treble and 15 losing bets
- Four right will give you four winning trebles and one winning fourfold acca
- All five right will mean that all 16 bets win
If a Sweet 16 is not listed as a bet type by your bookmaker, you can place level stakes trebles, fourfolds and a fivefold on your five selections to replicate the bet.
The Best Way to Use a Sweet 16?
If you are betting on football teams that are odds against and you don’t want to risk an accumulator, this is where the Sweet 16 bet will really shine.
For example:
If you place a bet on five teams who are all priced up at 6/4 and three win, you will get enough back to return your stake. This means you can bet on five, get three out of five and not lose anything other than a few pennies.
However, it is with four and five winners when this really mounts up.
Using the 6/4 price example, here is what you can expect:
- Three winners from five at 6/4 = £15.62 back for £16 stake
- Four winners from five at 6/4 = £101.56 back for £16 stake
- Five winners from five at 6/4 = £449.22 for £16 stake
As you can see, this bet gives you the insurance that some people like of getting your money back if you only have three winners, but the potential for big returns if you are lucky enough to get all five correct.
It is a nice alternative to placing an accumulator, and hopefully, the bet gets the recognition it deserves once more.
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