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The Lucky 15 is one of the most popular bets in horse racing and for good reason. It gives you four selections in four different races, covers every possible combination, and rewards you even if only one of them wins. Once you understand how it works, it becomes a regular part of any Saturday afternoon at the races.
A Lucky 15 is 15 separate bets on four selections. That might sound complicated, but the structure is straightforward once you break it down. Your four picks are combined into every possible single, double, treble and four-fold accumulator.
So if your four selections are Horse A, Horse B, Horse C and Horse D, the 15 bets cover A alone, B alone, C alone, D alone, then AB, AC, AD, BC, BD, CD as doubles, then ABC, ABD, ACD, BCD as trebles, and finally ABCD as the accumulator.
Your unit stake is multiplied by 15. So a £1 Lucky 15 costs £15 in total. A £2 Lucky 15 costs £30.
Four singles would cost you £4 at £1 a time. A Lucky 15 at the same unit stake costs £15. So why pay nearly four times as much?
The answer is the multiples. If two or more of your selections win, the doubles, trebles and accumulator start paying out and the returns can be significantly larger than four separate singles. If all four win, the four-fold accumulator alone can produce a very healthy payout on top of everything else.
The singles are your safety net. Even if only one horse wins, you still get a return from its single. That is better than an accumulator where one loser wipes out the whole bet.
Most bookmakers offer bonuses on Lucky 15 bets which make them even more attractive. The standard bonuses are a consolation payout if only one of your four selections wins (typically double the odds on that single) and a percentage bonus if all four win (typically 10% on top of the total return).
These bonuses vary between bookmakers, so it is worth checking before you place the bet. Some are more generous than others, and over time those differences add up.
A Lucky 15 works best when you have four strong fancies across different races. It suits a Saturday afternoon card where you have studied the form and identified one horse per race that you genuinely believe has a good chance.
It is less suited to situations where you are picking horses at random or spreading yourself too thin just to fill four slots. The strength of the Lucky 15 comes from having four well-chosen selections. If you only fancy two or three, a simpler bet type is probably the better option.
The key consideration is your total stake. At £1 per line, a Lucky 15 costs £15. At £2 per line, it costs £30. Make sure the total outlay is within your budget before you place it, because all 15 bets are placed at once and none of them can be cancelled individually.
You can also place a Lucky 15 each way, which doubles the number of bets to 30 (15 win bets plus 15 place bets) and doubles the total cost. This gives you returns even when your selections finish second, third or fourth depending on the number of runners in each race.
Each way Lucky 15s are popular with punters who back selections at longer prices where a place return provides useful insurance. At shorter prices, the extra cost is harder to justify because the place returns tend to be small.
If one of your four selections is a non-runner, a Lucky 15 reduces to a Lucky 7 (the same structure but with three selections instead of four: 3 singles, 3 doubles, 1 treble). Your stake on the bets involving the non-runner is returned.
Rule 4 deductions apply when a horse is withdrawn from a race after betting has opened, reducing the payout on all bets in that race. The deduction depends on the price of the withdrawn horse. A Lucky 15 calculator handles these deductions automatically so you can see your exact returns.
Our free Lucky 15 calculator handles all the combinations, bonuses, each way returns and Rule 4 deductions. Enter your four selections and see exactly what you stand to win.
Open Lucky 15 Calculator →A Lucky 15 gives you 15 bets across four selections: 4 singles, 6 doubles, 4 trebles and a four-fold. You only need one winner to get a return, but the real payouts come when two or more land. Bookmaker bonuses sweeten the deal on one-winner and four-winner outcomes. It costs 15 times your unit stake, so make sure that fits your budget before you place it. And use a calculator to check your potential returns before you commit.