A Lucky 31 is a type of multiples bet offered by most major betting sites. It can be used on a range of sports and events but is most commonly placed when wagering on football or horse racing. It consists of five separate selections and from these, there are 31 different bets, hence the name.
In this article, we will explain what the bet is in more detail and how it works, as well as a few things you should look out for. Because we have already covered a lot of similar bets, chiefly a Lucky 15 and a Canadian (also known as a Super Yankee), we will refer back to previous articles where you will be able to find even more in-depth information about some of the points covered.
Lucky 31: Frequently Asked Questions
Given that we have previously detailed so many related bets we’re spicing up the format for the Lucky 31 and going for an FAQ approach. We’re not sure how frequently any questions are asked about this type of bet but, nonetheless, it will hopefully cover everything you could possibly want to know about it and perhaps even a bit more as well!
Q: How Many Legs Are There in a Lucky 31?
Well, as detailed, there are five legs, or selections, that make up this wager. That means you make five separate predictions, add them to your betting slip (more on this shortly) and away you go.
Q: How Many Bets & What Are They?
There are, unsurprisingly, 31 individual bets in a Lucky 31. The 31 are made up of every possible double, treble, fourfold and one fivefold that can be made with the five selections. That means you will be placing five singles, one fivefold, 10 doubles and 10 trebles, and five fourfolds.
Q: How Many Winners to Get a Return & How Many for Net Win?
One winner will deliver a return because this bet includes singles. You will need all five to be correct to win all 31 bets. Get two legs right and you will win three bets (two singles and one double). If you call three out of five correctly you will win three singles, one treble and three doubles (so seven out of 31 bets), whilst with an impressive four out of five, you will win 15 of your bets.
As for net win, that very much depends on the odds of your winning selections. If you get one winner but the price is 40/1, then overall you’ll be up. However, if you get four all at very short odds and you could still make a loss, with four 1/3 victors costing you £23.58 from a £10 Lucky 31!
Q: How Much Might I Win?
Your online betting slip will show you the potential return if all legs win but not the net win you will make if one, two, three or four legs do. There are too many different possibilities, with your outcome depending on which legs win (and their odds) and how many legs win. As an example, however, if you get all five winners at 2/1, your returns would be £10,230 from a £10 Lucky 15. Get three winners at 6/1, 10/1 and 8/1 and you’ll get £9,590 back from the same bet, whilst four winners all at evens would return £800.
Q: How Much Does This Bet Cost?
This bet is essentially 31 separate wagers in one and each of those requires a stake of the same value. So, when we say a £10 Lucky 31, we mean £10 per line and so a total cost of £310, a substantial amount. Due to this, most recreational punters place very small Lucky 31s, often using relatively large odds.
Q: What Type of Bet Is This?
This is a multiples bet called a full cover with singles. This is because it provides full cover of every possible accumulator (starting from a double), as well as the component singles.
Q: What Is the Difference between a Lucky 31 & a Super Yankee (Canadian)?
Ah, a nice easy one. These bets are identical other than the singles. The latter is a full cover bet (without singles) and so includes 25 separate bets rather than 31.
Q: What Can I Include?
When you “build” your Lucky 31 you can basically add any fixed odds bet. You can combine a range of sports and markets and even include specials such as the song that will be declared Christmas number one, the Eurovision winner, politics (for example, the next Prime Minister), reality TV (such as the Strictly winner) or anything else. You can have selections at odds of 1/20, evens, 5/1, 10/1 and 100/1 or you can back five home wins in the football all at odds of evens. The choice really is yours.
Q: What Can’t I Include?
The only thing that you cannot include are selections that are related in terms of their outcomes. In bookmaking parlance, these are called related contingencies and this is something we look at in our feature on doubles (as well as many others).
This means, for example, you could not have Everton to beat Liverpool, Everton to beat Liverpool to nil, Everton to win 4-0, over 2.5 goals and Everton to win both halves as a Lucky 31. These selections are related, either directly (in that if one happens, one or more of the others must happen, with the Everton 4-0 also covering three of the other legs) or indirectly, where if one happens the other is more likely (such as if Everton win, they are more likely to have won both halves).
Q: Can I Place This Bet Each Way?
This is a bet that can be made each way. In common with all of the multiples bets we have considered, and indeed all bets, this doubles the stake. That means that a £10 each way Lucky 31 will cost £620. We explain more about each way betting in relation to multiples bets in our doubles article and also our feature about Yankees.
Q: Where Can I Place a Lucky 31?
All major UK betting sites offer the Lucky 31 bet these days and you can also place them in betting shops if you so choose. The Lucky 31 derives from the Lucky 15, which is said to have been invented by Betfred, however almost all sites now offer these bets. If they do not offer them directly you can usually still make the equivalent bet manually by simply backing the component singles, doubles, trebles, fourfolds and acca separately.
Indeed, doing things this way is arguably even better as you have more flexibility with your stake and do not have to bet the same amount on each bet-type (you might, for example, put a larger stake on the singles and smaller on the fivefold acca).
Q: How Do I Place a Lucky 31?
If you want to make this bet in a shop it might be best to ask for help from the staff. Online, things are very simple. We go into more detail in our article about a Heinz bet but, in short, the first step is simply to add your five picks to the betting slip. You should then see the option to place a Lucky 31, so just add your stake, noting that it will be 31 times what you enter, check your picks, the odds and the total stake value, then click confirm!
Q: Are There Any Offers or Bonuses for Lucky 31s?
Yes, yes there are! These will vary from site to site but it is not uncommon to see sites offering an enhanced payout if you get all five picks right and others offering some form of consolation boost if you only manage one winner. These add huge extra value to these bets and we talk more about them in our Lucky 15 piece (as they tend to be offered on Lucky 15s, 31s and 63s). However, in general, when it comes to a Lucky 31 you can expect to get four times the normal odds if you get just one selection right, and a 20% bonus if you manage to call all of them correctly. Nice!
Q: Any Big or Famous Lucky 31 Winners to Inspire Me?
Over the years there have been countless huge wins on Lucky 31s, many of which will not have made the press. One big one which did, however, concerned a Welsh punter who scooped £163,000 at Glorious Goodwood in 2017. His Lucky 31 was for just 50p per bet, costing £15.50 in total and was massively helped on its way by the 50/1 success of Breton Rock in the Lennox Stakes. Coral was the bookie to take the hit and they noted that they were actually lucky because on a day of long-odds winners at Goodwood, the man from Neath did not include the biggest of the lot in their Lucky 31, as there was a massive 100/1 winner on the day’s card.
More recently, another punter landed almost £60k from a 50p each way Lucky 31. The cunning bettor started 2021 with a real bang by nailing all five selections at Musselburgh on New Year’s Day. They had winners at 8/1, 22/1, 10/3, 13/2 and 10/1 in five races between 1.20pm and 3.35pm. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon!