NFL Accumulators Explained
| Updated: November 10, 2025
Accumulators are a type of NFL bet you can make. They are essentially a combination of two or more bets and they are sometimes referred to as parlay bets or multiplier bets. The bets need to be connected in one way or another so that they can be treated as the same wager. This makes all those separate wagers cheaper. They also offer several advantages, but there are disadvantages as well.
NFL bettors and accumulators go hand in hand, so we have made sure to cover them thoroughly in our extensive NFL betting guide. Below, you will find all you need to know about accumulators and more. We will show you how to make the best possible accumulator bet with the best possible odds and an extraordinary payout.
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What Are Accumulator Bets
Accumulator bets can be any combination of two or more bets. They offer better payouts than the individual bets would yield altogether. Additionally, you can place an accumulator bet, and it will cost you less than placing the same bets separately.
So, you will make more money from accumulators than individual bets. You may wonder what the catch is at this point, and you would not be wrong to wonder: if you get one of the bets wrong, you lose the entire accumulator. It is definitely not a risk-free bet. However, there are ways around that and ways to minimize the risk you take.
Variations
In most cases, accumulators differ only in the number of bets they contain, but that is not always the case. There are a few variations that can be found online, and we will go over the most common ones.
Open accumulators are one such variation. If you choose to make this type of bet, you will be able to add more to the accumulator even after you have placed it. This means that if, for instance, you have placed an accumulator bet on two NFL games and both of them win, you can add more bets to the accumulator afterward.
There are also the so-called progressive accumulators. If this is the variation you pick, you will be given a payout even if all of your bets are not successful. There is a minimum number of successful picks you must reach to get paid, but you usually need at least three winning selections. Keep in mind that, in this case, you will not receive the same payout as from a regular accumulator because the risk is significantly reduced. Still, the more bets you get right, the bigger the payout becomes.
Another variation is the multi-chance accumulator. This is similar to the progressive accumulator in that you will still get paid even if not all of your bets are successful. However, the key difference here is that you will not be paid more if you exceed the preset threshold. This limits your winnings, but it also limits your losses; you can barely cover the minimum number of correct bets and still win the full amount from this wager.
Special Cases
Sometimes a bet might push, and you need to make sure you know exactly how a sportsbook handles that situation. In some cases, you might lose your entire accumulator because of a single push. We highly recommend you check with the sportsbook’s support team. The most common practice is simply excluding that bet and paying you as if your accumulator had one less selection.
There’s also a problem most players have with accumulators: the quoted odds are far from the true odds. You can overcome this by picking bets with different odds, some of which are higher than the true odds you have calculated. This increases the overall odds of the accumulator and can bring them closer to the true odds. This is referred to as forcing true odds.
Advantages and Disadvantages
As we already mentioned, the main advantage of accumulators is that they offer better payouts. It is precisely accumulators that have allowed bettors to win unbelievable amounts of money. A successful accumulator bet can truly change your life.
Placing an accumulator bet means that you are risking a small amount of money compared to the potential profit from a win. Like with any other bet, you could lose, but you would not be losing nearly as much as you stand to win.
Despite the outward allure of accumulators, they are actually a high-risk wager. You stand to lose a lot if you make just one wrong pick. Along with the higher potential profit comes a gigantic risk. This is why you need to be careful when placing accumulator bets and include only wagers on events with outcomes you can predict accurately.
Accumulators have another flaw: the more bets you add, the further the true odds drift. You are actually betting at lower odds than you should be. This can be corrected in a manner we will discuss in a bit, but the flaw remains.
When to Use Accumulators
Experienced bettors know to use accumulators carefully and selectively. Unless you can force the true odds or are absolutely certain about the outcome of all games, this is a highly risky bet to make. Of course, you can place an accumulator with a very small stake, but if you are a high roller, you may want to wager a little less when it comes to accumulators.
The right time to use accumulators depends on each individual’s betting style and strategy. Later on, we will go into more detail about this. For beginners, we would recommend starting out with smaller accumulators and working your way up as you advance as a punter.
Calculating Profits
The easiest way to calculate the profit you could make from a winning accumulator is to place it online. Most online sportsbooks will show you what you could win before you have even finished placing your bet. They will never display incorrect payouts, so you can count on their calculations’ accuracy.
If you still want to do it yourself, there are a number of equations that can help. However, you must keep in mind that most of those are done with what are considered to be the true odds, which means that your result will most likely be a little off.
To calculate the payout on your own, first multiply all of the odds together. Then multiply that figure by your stake. This is most easily done with Decimal odds. We already covered how you can convert Moneyline odds into Decimal ones earlier.
Once again, it is much easier and faster to use an online sportsbook. You will immediately know what you could potentially win, both with and without your original stake.
Conclusion
It is quite tempting to place an accumulator bet, and there are plenty of ways to do it right. If you know what you are doing, then placing this type of wager could prove quite profitable. The most important thing when it comes to accumulators is making sure that the odds are in your favor. Of course, as we said, always make sure that you know what happens when a push occurs. As always, make sure you are playing for fun and responsibly.