How a Patent bet works
A £1 Patent costs £7, or £14 each way. One winner pays its single, two winners pay two singles and a double, and three winners land all seven bets.
Patents are popular for racing when you like three horses at bigger prices. With winners at 5/1 or longer, a single winner on its own can cover most of the stake.
Because the singles are counted separately, a Patent behaves quite differently from a Trixie when only one selection wins. Use the returns table below to compare outcomes with one, two and three winners at your own prices.
What is in a Patent?
| Bet | Number |
|---|---|
| Singles | 3 |
| Doubles | 3 |
| Trebles | 1 |
| Total bets | 7 |
At £1 a bet, a Patent costs £7.00 win only, or £14.00 each way. At 10p a bet it costs £0.70.
Patent returns by number of winners
A £1 Patent (£7.00 in total) on selections at 2/1, 3/1, 5/2, with the winners taken in that order.
| Winners | Stake | Return | Profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | £7.00 | £0.00 | -£7.00 |
| 1 | £7.00 | £3.00 | -£4.00 |
| 2 | £7.00 | £19.00 | £12.00 |
| 3 | £7.00 | £89.00 | £82.00 |
At these prices the bet first shows a profit with 2 winners. Longer prices lower that number, and shorter prices raise it.
Worth knowing
As with the Lucky 15, some bookmakers pay a bonus or extra odds on Patent singles when only one selection wins. Those offers vary, so they are not included here. Check your slip’s terms and add any bonus to the return shown.
Patent questions
How much does a 50p each-way Patent cost?
A Patent is seven bets, and each way doubles that to 14, so a 50p each-way Patent costs £7.
Is a Patent a good bet?
It costs seven times the stake of a single bet, so it only makes sense when your selections are at prices where one or two winners recover that outlay. On three odds-on favourites it rarely does.
How many bets are in a Patent?
7, on 3 selections. A £1 Patent costs £7, or £14 each way.
How many winners does a Patent need to pay out?
One. The Patent includes bets that pay from a single winner, though one winner at a short price will not cover the full stake.