What Is A Patent Bet? – Betting Guide

What Is A Patent Bet?

A patent bet is a combination of seven bets in one. Seven might sound like a lot, but in actuality, you only have to select three outcomes. The seven bets come from a combination of your three selections.

Covering all bases, a patent bet takes your three initial selections and turns that into a total of seven bets made up of:

• Three single bets
• Three double bets
• One triple bet

The great thing with a patent bet is that you don’t have to rely on all of your selections winning in order to receive a return. If one of your selections wins, you will receive a return from one of your single bets. If two win, you’ll receive a return from two singles and a double. And if all three of your selections ring true, all seven of your bets will win.

How a Patent Bet Works

Consisting of singles, doubles and a triple bet, the patent bet is what’s known as a type of ‘full coverage multiple bet’. This is how the seven bets are made up to cover all outcome possibilities:

Single bets	Double bets	Triple bet
Selection A to win	Selections A and B to win	Selections A, B and C to win
Selection B to win	Selections B and C to win
Selection C to win	Selections A and C to win

If you have three possible outcomes you want to bet on, a patent bet can be placed to increase your potential profit. The best way to see how this works in action is through an example.

Let’s say you’re wanting to bet on the winner of three horse races throughout an event. For example:

• Horse A to win race number 1
• Horse B to win race number 3
• Horse C to win race number 4

Your full patent bet will then look like this:

• Bet 1: Horse A to win (single)
• Bet 2: Horse B to win (single)
• Bet 3: Horse C to win (single)
• Bet 4: Horse A and Horse B to win (double)
• Bet 5: Horse B and Horse C to win (double)
• Bet 6: Horse A and Horse C to win (double)
• Bet 7: Horse A, Horse B and Horse C to win (triple)

While each bet makes up the full patent bet, they are treated individually when it comes to settling. Therefore, you will have to place a stake on each individual bet. For example, if you placed a €1 stake on each, your total wager would be €7.

Some betting sites in Ireland allow you to enter a total wager amount which will then be split across the seven bets, while on others you enter the individual amount which will then be multiplied by seven. Be sure to check this before submitting your bet.

Calculating Odds And Profits

Now you know how the patent bet is split out into the seven individual bets, the next thing to understand is how the odds, and therefore your potential profit, are calculated. Continuing the above example, the betting site might quote the odds for your three selections as something like this:

• Horse A to win at 4/1
• Horse B to win at 2/1
• Horse C to win at 5/1

When combining selections into the same bet such as with the double or triple portion of the patent bet, the odds are multiplied. So, the odds for each individual bet would be as follows:

• Bet 1: Horse A to win at 4/1
• Bet 2: Horse B to win at 2/1
• Bet 3: Horse C to win at 5/1
• Bet 4: Horse A and Horse B to win at 8/1
• Bet 5: Horse B and Horse C to win at 10/1
• Bet 6: Horse A and Horse C to win at 20/1
• Bet 7: Horse A, Horse B and Horse C to win at 40/1

This means that the odds of the overall patent bet as a whole are 90/1. Assuming you placed a €1 wager on each individual bet and all three horses won their races, you’d receive a return of €90. Minus the €7 wager and you’ve made a profit of €83. To put this into perspective, if you had only placed the three single bets, you’d only receive a profit of €8.

If only horses A and B won their races, for example, your return would be €14, and a win for only horse C would be €5. So it’s easy to see how your return can quickly shoot up the more your selections ring true.

Pros And Cons Of A Patent Bet

From the example above, we can easily see how a patent bet can create a much higher return when compared to three single bets. Aside from this, there are other positives to a patent bet and, as will all betting types, there are also some downsides to consider too.

Pros	Cons
Safety – When compared to other accumulative betting methods, the patent bet is a safer option as it’s not simply win or lose. Instead, you can still make a profit even if not all your selections win their respective races.	Increased cost – As we’ve mentioned, you place a wager on each individual bet. And with certain odds, you might have to put a slightly higher wager to be able to make a profit should only one or two of your selections win. When this is multiplied across all seven bets, this can add up to a higher cost.
Combination bets – The inclusion of different combinations throughout the patent bet means that your winnings quickly stack up, rather than having a single return from a single bet.	Complicated to manage – With a single bet, you only have one thing to manage. With a patent bet, you have more than just one or two outcomes, meaning that for some, this method can become a bit more confusing to navigate.

Best Sports For Patent Bets

As you’ve seen in this guide, patent bets can be great for horse racing. However, betting sites do offer this type of bet across a number of sports. The nature of a patent bet lends itself best to the following sports:

• Soccer: Soccer isn’t a common one for patent bets, but it can be a great opportunity to use this betting type. Particularly in tournaments or championships, you can use a similar structure as the example shown in this guide on the winners of matches and maximise your potential returns.
• Darts: Due to the nature of the sport and its having individual winners of games, patent betting can be a great option when betting on darts.
• Tennis: Another good sport for this betting type is tennis. By backing favourites in the beginning rounds of a tournament, you can get a much better value for your money.

With all sports, the most beneficial part of a patent bet is the safety net. If one of your selections lets you down, you still have another two to fall back on, leaving you with two single bets and one double bet that could still pay out.