Yankee Calculator
A Yankee places 11 bets on 4 selections: 6 doubles, 4 trebles and a four-fold, with no singles. Enter your odds, mark each selection as won or lost, and see the return on every part of the bet — plus the combined price two winners need before the bet returns your money.
The stake covers each of the 11 bets, so a £1.00 Yankee costs £11.00 in total.
Bet-by-Bet Breakdown
| Bet Type | Bets | Won | Return |
|---|---|---|---|
| Doubles | 6 | 6 | £71.00 |
| Trebles | 4 | 4 | £154.00 |
| Four-Fold | 1 | 1 | £120.00 |
What Each Outcome Would Pay
The same four prices, settled at every realistic number of winners. A Yankee has no singles, so one winner returns nothing at all — the row does not exist.
| Outcome | Selections | Return | Profit / Loss |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 winners — shortest pair | #1, #2 | £6.00 | −£5.00 |
| 2 winners — longest pair | #3, #4 | £20.00 | £9.00 |
| 3 winners — shortest three | #1, #2, #3 | £50.00 | £39.00 |
| 3 winners — longest three | #2, #3, #4 | £107.00 | £96.00 |
| All 4 winners | #1, #2, #3, #4 | £345.00 | £334.00 |
Your Results
Two-Winner Break-Even
11.00
With exactly two winners a Yankee pays one double, so the two prices must multiply to 11.00 or more to return the outlay. Your two shortest prices multiply to 6.00 — that pair alone would still leave you down.
Same Outlay as a Lucky 15
£11.00 spread over 15 lines instead of 11 (£0.73 per bet) returns £263.27 on these results.
The Yankee is £81.73 better on this outcome: fewer lines, more money on each one.
Win-only calculation. Each-way Yankees double the bet count to 22 and apply place terms to the second half — see the Each-Way Calculator.
How a Yankee Is Calculated
Each of the 11 bets is settled on its own. A double multiplies two winning selections together, a treble multiplies three, and the four-fold multiplies all four. Any bet containing a losing selection returns nothing, but every other bet still stands — which is why a Yankee can pay out with two legs beaten.
Take a £1 Yankee (total outlay £11.00) on four selections at decimal odds of 2.00, 3.00, 4.00 and 5.00, with all four winning:
| Bet Type | Maths (£1 per bet) | Return |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Doubles | 6 + 8 + 10 + 12 + 15 + 20 | £71.00 |
| 4 Trebles | 24 + 30 + 40 + 60 | £154.00 |
| 1 Four-Fold | 2 × 3 × 4 × 5 = 120 | £120.00 |
| Total | 71 + 154 + 120 | £345.00 |
That is £345.00 back from £11.00 staked. The picture changes fast with losers. With only the 2.00 and 3.00 selections winning you collect a single double worth £6.00 — a £5.00 loss on the £11.00 outlay, even though you picked two winners out of four. With one winner you collect nothing at all.
The Number Most Yankee Calculators Leave Out
Two winners in a Yankee produce exactly one double, and that double has to cover all 11 lines. So the break-even test for a two-winner Yankee is a single multiplication: the two prices have to reach 11.00 in combined decimal odds. Two 3.00 shots come to 9.00 and lose money; 3.00 and 4.00 come to 12.00 and clear it. Punters routinely back four selections around 2.50 and assume two winners is a respectable result — at those prices two winners return £6.25 on an £11.00 outlay.
The same logic applies further up. Three winners produce three doubles and a treble, so their combined value has to reach 11.00 as well; at odds of 2.00, 3.00 and 4.00 that comes to £50.00 on an £11.00 outlay, comfortably clear. The awkward zone in a Yankee is not three winners, it is two.
Yankee or Lucky 15 for the Same Money
A Lucky 15 is a Yankee plus four singles: 15 lines instead of 11 on the same four selections. Compared at the same total outlay — the comparison the results panel above runs on your own numbers — the trade is straightforward. Spreading £11.00 over 15 lines puts £0.73 on each bet instead of £1.00, so at odds of 2.00, 3.00, 4.00 and 5.00 all four winning returns £263.27 as a Lucky 15 against £345.00 as a Yankee. With a single winner, though, the Yankee returns nothing while the Lucky 15 still pays its single.
The Yankee is the better structure when you expect your selections to hold up together, and the worse one when you expect one or two to carry the slip. The singles are not a bonus in a Lucky 15: they are paid for by taking money off every other line. For a straight four-fold on the same selections, use the Accumulator Calculator; for the full-coverage version with singles, the Lucky 15 Calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Yankee bet?
A Yankee covers 4 selections with 11 separate bets: 6 doubles, 4 trebles and 1 four-fold. There are no singles, so the stake applies to each of the 11 lines and a £1 Yankee costs £11.00 in total.
How many winners does a Yankee need to pay out?
Two. One winner returns nothing at all, because every line in a Yankee contains at least two selections. Two winners pay exactly one double, and that double must reach 11.00 in combined decimal odds to return the outlay — two selections at 2.50 and 3.00 come to 7.50 and still lose money.
What is the difference between a Yankee and a Lucky 15?
A Lucky 15 is the same four selections with the four singles added, making 15 lines. For the same total outlay the Yankee puts more money on every multiple, so it pays more when three or four selections win; the Lucky 15 pays more when only one or two do. The results panel on this page runs that comparison on your own odds.
What happens to a Yankee if one selection is a non-runner?
A void leg does not lose the bet: it is treated as odds of 1.00, so the Yankee collapses onto the remaining three selections — the doubles containing it become singles, the trebles become doubles and the four-fold becomes a treble. In UK horse racing the remaining runners may also be subject to a Rule 4 deduction.
Can I place a Yankee each-way?
Yes. An each-way Yankee doubles the bet count to 22 — 11 win lines plus 11 place lines — and doubles the total cost. The place half is settled at a fraction of the odds, so a placed-only run through all four selections pays far less than the win half suggests. This page calculates the win-only version.
A Yankee stakes eleven times your unit before a single race is run — set a budget for the full outlay before you start and never chase losses. 18+. If gambling stops being fun, see our responsible gambling resources.