These 26 bets are 10 doubles, 10 trebles, five four-folds and a single five-fold. The way a Canadian works means that just two winning selections from five would secure a return, but there's little guarantee that would ensure you profit from betting unless odds were 4/1 and 5/1 or better.
Three winning selection equates to four winning bets out of 26, so four wins is usually the bench mark for a successful Canadian.
Pros and Cons of the Canadian / Super Yankee bet
- Pro - It only takes two winning selections from five to secure you a return of some kind, although it depends on the odds as to whether this type of betting strategy will make profit from betting.
- Pro - The composition of this system bet makes it a good addition for those placing horse racing bets, with each-way yankees in particular offering good cover.
- Con - Does the risk justify the small but potential reward? Just one less win is required than when placing a five-fold accumulator, but at much, much bigger stakes.
- Con - The bookmakers already have a built-in margin to favour them. Each bet that you add to a multiple just further serves to benefit them through that margin.
Placing a Canadian bet is as simple as making five selections that automatically go into your bet slip. There is no need to place each of the 26 bets within this system bet manually, as the betslip gives you an option which will automatically do that. Some bookmakers refer to it as a Super Yankee which is exactly the same system bet under a different alias.
As you can see from the above betslip, whatever stake you enter in the stake box is multiplied by 26. This is because you bet the quoted amount on each of the 26 legs of the bet, so be sure not to enter too large an amount thinking you will only bet that amount once, as you may take out your bankroll in one accidental click.
The bets that make up a Canadian
Below is a breakdown of the 26 selections that go into making a canadian.
- Doubles: 1 and 2, 1 and 3, 1 and 4, 1 and 5, 2 and 3, 2 and 4, 2 and 5, 3 and 4, 3 and 5 and finally 4 and 5.
- Trebles: 1, 2 and 3 / 1, 2 and 4 / 1, 2 and 5 / 1, 3 and 4 / 1, 3 and 5 / 1, 4 and 5 / 2, 3 and 4 / 2, 3 and 5 / 2, 4 and 5 / 3, 4 and 5
- Four-fold: 1, 2, 3 and 4 / 1, 2, 3 and 5 / 1, 2, 4 and 5 / 1, 3, 4 and 5 / 2, 3 4 and 5
- Five-fold: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
Requirements
- Two winning teams = one winning bet
- Three winning teams = four winning bets
- Four winning teams = eleven winning bets
- Five winning teams = 26 winning bets
Example of a Canadian bet
The five picks in this example are as follows: Horse 1 at 5/2 (3.50), Horse 2 at 5/2 (3.50), Horse 3 at 2/1 (3.00), Horse 4 at 5/2 (3.50) and Horse 5 at 15/8 (2.88). These are not small odds by any means, but they're still pretty slim compared to the potential prices of winning horses. Despite the modest betting odds, just a £1 stake per bet (£26 total stake) would return just shy of £1,400 on this Canadian bet which in a nutshell shows why it may be tempting to use.
If this system bet is to be assessed from a professional bettors point of view then the naturally lower betting odds of some sports are a disadvantage, whilst it is not easy identifying five winning horses at good odds in the space or one day or one meet, or even over the course of several days. Below shows how your canadian bet could pan out.
- Horse 1 wins at 5/2 (3.50) but the four remaining selections lose. Your total return is £0 and you have lost £26 for a -100% loss.
- Horse 1 and Horse 2 win at 5/2 (3.50) but the remaining three selections lose. Your total return from one winning bet is £12.25 and you have lost £13.75.
- Horse 1 at 5/2 (3.50), Horse 2 at 5/2 (3.50) and Horse 3 win at 2/1 (3.00) win, giving a total of four winning sports bets (three doubles, one treble) that will return a total of £70, making a profit of £44.
- Horses 1 to 4 win, with Horse 4 priced at 5/2 (3.50), making for 11 winning bets and a total return of £350, making a profit from betting of £324.
- If all five selections win then 26 winning bets will return a total of £1395 from the £26 stake for a profit of £1,369, which is a gain of well over 5000%.
With the overall betting odds of the five-fold leg of the bet is 53/1 which when translated to implied probability is a slim 1.9%.
The more sports bets you add to a system bet, the less worthwhile it becomes when you are dealing with sports that lend themselves to lower odds (if betting with realistic chances of winning) such as Tennis bets, Football bets, Cricket bets, etc. The dynamics with Horse Racing bets are entirely different because whilst you may be backing prices at big as 10/1 very commonly at the racecourse, that 10/1 might only need to be better than the 7/1 favourite. 10/1 is not entirely reflective of it's chances, and so a Canadian is much more suited to horse racing bets where big winners are more likely.
Even for a casual bettor there could be better ways to make money. It's probably something that also lends itself more to the casual bettor, but there are advantages in that it does give equal weight to all selections on a day when you have a strong hand of selections and it does promise the possibility of a better return.
Statistically, implied probability would suggest you're already at a disadvantage when placing sports bets on odds as small as 2/1, with a 33.33r% chance of success on paper, and a margin that favours the bookmaker. That instantly suggests this could be a bad betting strategy. Each bet you group together adds more to the bookmaker's margin and it also means the betting odds are higher, so more variables need to fall into place and your chances are reduced.
Whilst it's clear where a Canadian may be best applied, and that it does have its advantages, there are counter-arguments to be made. If you're a casual bettor, do you want to be staking such an extra amount when you could just place a five-fold accumulator, or maybe even a few doubles and a five-fold?
If you're a professional bettor and you have a betting bank to utilize, making money from sports betting on strong selections is perhaps better achieved by staking an extra unit per bet.
If you're feeling comfortable with terminology, it might be the right time to learn about the different bet types and how to use them to your advantage.