Conditional bets are less common and you will generally need to request them as they are not usually offered on the bet slip for conventional sports betting. Some bookies, especially exchanges such as Betfair and BetDaq will offer this service through additional products though.
Like most of the more complex betting systems, these bet types were forged in the world of horse racing, but there is no reason why you can’t place bets like this on pretty much any sports market where there is a defined outcome of a bet.
There are a vast range of possible conditional bets available. We will not cover all types and options here but rather focus on some of the standard conditional bets that have defined names. A conditional wager basically allows a punter to set minimum requirements that must be satisfied for the bet to take place or for the bet to continue. This can be as simple as setting a minimum odds threshold on an exchange. You could say if the odds threshold is satisfied in a given time frame then the bet is sent through, if not then the bet fails to be wagered. These types of conditions are common with exchange betting.
In theory you could set any conditions around a wager and call it a conditional bet. For example we may say we want to bet on Barcelona to win but only if Messi starts. The bet types listed here are the most common conditional bets in sport known as linked singles betting, or linked singles with multiple bets. This section will help you with how to place a conditional bet.
Conditional Bets (Any-to-Come)
Basically a bet requiring an initial wager to produce a sufficient return that then allows a predefined amount to be further wagered on one or more selections.
Often referred to as any to come (ATC) or “if cash” bets.
Bet Name | Bets | Up & Down | Doubles | Trebles | 4 folds | 5 folds |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Up and Down | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Round Robin | 10 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Flag | 23 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
Super Flag |
46 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 1 |
You can see in the table above how each one of these conditional bet types breaks down, and there is more detail in the sections below.
Up and Down (Stakes About, Cross Bet)
A conditional bet with two selections comprising two linked single bets.
How to place an Up and Down bet – If one selection wins then an additional stake is wagered on the second selection. If both selections win then in effect you have a double wager on both selections and twice the winnings.
The negative aspect is if only one selection wins you lose both original stakes. This bet type is also often termed ‘stakes about’ or ‘cross bet’. You can have variants of this such as double wager, which does as you would expect and wagers double the stake if the first selection wins (also sometimes called ‘double stakes about’).
Round Robin
A bet with three selections comprising 10 separate bets.
How to place a Round Robin bet -The wager consists of 1 treble, 3 doubles and 3 up and down bets (each up and down representing two separate bets). If you staked £1/line this bet would cost you £10 and require one selection to win to get a return.
Flag
A bet with four selections comprising 23 separate bets.
How to place a Flag bet – This wager consists of 1 four-fold, 4 trebles, 6 doubles and 6 up and down bets (each up and down representing two separate bets). If you stakes £1/line this bet would cost you £23 and required one selection to win to get a return.
This is the maximum variation of doubles, trebles and 4-folds using 4 selections and up and down bets.
Super Flag
A bet with five selections comprising 46 separate bets.
How to place a Super Flag bet – This bet type is made up of 1 five-fold, 5 four-folds, 10 trebles, 10 doubles and 10 up and down bets (each up and down representing two separate bets). If you stakes £1/line this bet would cost you £46 and required one selection to win to get a return.
As with the flag, this time we have the maximum possible number of up and down bets as doubles, trebles, 4-folds and 5-folds.
Rounder
A bet with three selections comprising 3 normal single bets and 3 any to come (ATC) doubles.
How to place a Rounder bet – e.g. £1 single on selection 1 with a £1 double on selections 2/3 if selection 1 wins, A £1 single on selection 2 with a £1 double on selections 1/3 if selection 2 wins, £1 single on selection 3 with a £1 double on selections 1/2 if selection 3 wins.
Roundabout
Exactly the same as a Rounder with double the stakes on the any to come (ATC) bet.
How to place a Roundabout bet – e.g. £1 single on selection 1 with a £2 double on selections 2/3, A £1 single on selection 2 with a £2 double on selections 1/3, £1 single on selection 3 with a £2 double on selections 1/2.