How a Yankee bet works
With no singles on the slip, the cheapest way to get a return is two winners, which lands one double. Three winners land three doubles and a treble, and four winners land all 11 bets. A £1 Yankee costs £11, or £22 each way.
The structure suits punters who expect at least two of their four to win but don’t want everything to rest on one accumulator. Compared with a four-fold, you pay 11 stakes instead of one, but losing a single selection no longer sinks the whole bet.
Each-way Yankees are common in racing. The place part settles at the each-way fraction for every selection that wins or places, so a slip of four placed horses can still return a fair amount even with no winners.
What is in a Yankee?
| Bet | Number |
|---|---|
| Doubles | 6 |
| Trebles | 4 |
| Four-folds | 1 |
| Total bets | 11 |
At £1 a bet, a Yankee costs £11.00 win only, or £22.00 each way. At 10p a bet it costs £1.10.
Yankee returns by number of winners
A £1 Yankee (£11.00 in total) on selections at 2/1, 3/1, 5/2, 6/4, with the winners taken in that order.
| Winners | Stake | Return | Profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | £11.00 | £0.00 | -£11.00 |
| 1 | £11.00 | £0.00 | -£11.00 |
| 2 | £11.00 | £12.00 | £1.00 |
| 3 | £11.00 | £78.50 | £67.50 |
| 4 | £11.00 | £301.00 | £290.00 |
At these prices the bet first shows a profit with 2 winners. Longer prices lower that number, and shorter prices raise it.
Worth knowing
If you want a return from a single winner, look at the Lucky 15, which is a Yankee with four singles added. If you only have three selections, the three-pick version of a Yankee is a Trixie.
Yankee questions
Why is it called a Yankee?
The usual story is that an American punter won a fortune with this combination at a British racecourse. Nobody has confirmed it, but the name stuck and it has been a standard bookmaker bet for decades.
What happens if one Yankee selection is a non-runner?
The non-runner is treated as a winner at odds of 1.00 (evens is 2.00). Doubles with it become singles on the other selection, trebles become doubles, and the four-fold becomes a treble. Your stake on those bets is not refunded; it carries on as smaller bets.
How many bets are in a Yankee?
11, on 4 selections. A £1 Yankee costs £11, or £22 each way.
How many winners does a Yankee need to pay out?
2. There are no singles, so the smallest winning bet needs 2 selections to win.