What Is a Goliath Bet? A Complete Guide on How It Works

For someone who has only started their sports betting journey, the sole idea of multiple bets must seem frightening. Well, if you want to make some money out of betting, you’ll need to get acquainted with those wagers sooner or later. And when it comes to the most complex bets, nothing comes close to the Goliath bet.

As the name implies, Goliath bet involves an enormous number of wagers – 247 on eight selections, to be precise. For an aspiring sports bettor, this number must look scary, to say the least. To be fair, many of the more experienced punters tend to avoid placing this bet. 

However, once you understand how it works, you’ll realise that placing it every now and then creates an excellent opportunity for winning a big prize. To help you with this, we’ve created the following guide. Here’s a Goliath bet in all its mighty glory.

How Does a Goliath Bet Work?

As briefly mentioned, a Goliath bet is a form of multiple bet consisting of 247 bets on eight selections combined into one gargantuan wager. Your bet will be divided into seven sections – doubles, trebles, four-fold accumulators, five-fold accumulators, six-fold accumulators, seven-fold accumulators, and an eight-fold accumulator. 

That being said, your Goliath bet will look as visualised in the table below:

Type of the wager	Number of bets
Doubles	28
Trebles	56
Four-fold accumulator	70
Five-fold accumulator	56
Six-fold accumulator	28
Seven-fold accumulator	8
Eight-fold accumulator	1
Total	247

 

As you probably suspect, a potential stake involved in a Goliath bet is high. Well, you’re not wrong. Even if you were to bet only £1 on each individual bet, its total stake would be £247. Of course, this also means much higher potential winnings. 

And speaking of winnings, to get any return on a bet, at least two of your eight picks must win. However, if you want to see any profit, it takes more than four winning selections. Of course, many depend on the odds coming with your picks. 

For the sake of this guide, though, suppose you place a £247-worth Goliath bet, where each of your selections is priced at ⅔. In that case, your potential outcomes will look as follows:

Winning selections	Return and Loss/Profit
0	£0 return/loss of -£247
1	£0 return/loss of -£247
2	£2.78 return/loss of -£244.22
3	£12.96 return/loss of -£234.07
4	£42.9 return/loss of -£204.1
5	£125.51 return/loss of -£121.49
6	£348.59 return/profit of £101.59
7	£946.25 return/profit of £699.25
8	£2542.78 return/profit of £2295.78

 

In this particular example, the breakeven point is six winning selections. Generally speaking, the better the odds, the sooner this profit comes, and the more you’re likely to win. 

Pros and Cons of Placing a Goliath Bet

As any other multiple bet, a Goliath comes with many advantages, as well as several disadvantages. Let’s take a look at both.

Pros

The most significant advantage a Goliath bet has over a standard Acca bet is that you can practically always expect some kind of return. Sure, it might not be much, but it’s always better to lose £100 instead of £500. 

The second benefit was covered in the previous section. Potential winnings of scoring a Goliath bet are enormous! Of course, to gain a significant profit, you’d have to expect at least six or seven of your selections to score. Once they do, though, you’ll become one rich bettor.

Cons

As for the disadvantages of a Goliath bet, we can single out two – lack of flexibility and a mammoth stake. By lack of flexibility, we mean that all your 247 wagers will have the same stake. This means you can’t place a higher bet on your preferred events.

And regarding the second drawback – you’ve seen yourself that placing a Goliath bet requires deep pockets. Even if you were to bet £1 on each of the 247 wagers, it would still add up to a total of £247. This is a lot for just one bet, especially if you’ve just entered the world of betting.

Each-Way Goliath Bet

An each-way Goliath bet doubles the number of wagers in a standard Goliath bet, meaning it consists of 494 single bets instead of 247. One thing to keep in mind here is that an each-way Goliath wager is applicable practically exclusively to horse racing. Okay, but what is it exactly?

Long story short, when placing a standard Goliath bet, you wager on a winner. When placing an each-way wager, you bet not only for a winner but also for every horse that places. 

Placed odds are usually less attractive, so make sure you study them and decide whether they’ll help your total bet. It wouldn’t make much sense to pay double the stake for a Goliath bet that might generate almost identical profits.

In Summary

A Goliath bet is by far the most complicated multiple wager you can place at a bookie. It involves 247 individual bets on eight different selections, which is a number no other bet can match. This, of course, means a Goliath bet can generate an enormous profit. Also, since it requires only two winning selections to get a return on your wager, it also means it’s much less risky than a standard Acca bet.

On the other hand, such a number of single wagers requires you to dig deeper into your pockets, as you’ll need to pay for each of the 247 bets separately. That’s why we’d recommend placing a Goliath bet only if you have any experience in betting. 

If that’s not the case, it might be better to start with less complex multiple bets, such as a Lucky 15 or Lucky 31. Once you get an idea of how these work, you’ll be able to take advantage of a Goliath bet and get your hands on the prize many bettors can only dream about!

FAQ

How to calculate my Goliath bet winnings?

The fastest way is to use a dedicated Goliath bet calculator. Of course, you can also calculate the odds yourself, but it will take a lot of time and effort. Online calculators are fast and straightforward to use, so it’s definitely worth trying one out when placing a Goliath bet.

What sports can I bet on using a Goliath wager?

In general, Goliath bets are mostly used for horse racing. However, if you want, you can use it on any other sport you like, including football, cricket, or boxing. You can also mix different events and disciplines, just like in any other multiple bet.

Do all sportsbooks allow punters to place Goliath bets?

Yes, or at least they should. If you want to see whether your preferred sportsbook allows Goliath bets, check out our review section. There, you should find all the information you need when choosing the best possible betting site.