A Goliath bet is the largest of the standard full cover bets: eight selections combined into 247 separate bets. It can pay well if most of your picks win, but it costs 247 times your unit stake and most of those bets need several winners. This guide explains what is inside a Goliath bet, what it costs, how many winners you need and how it compares with smaller full cover bets.
The Goliath bet in 30 seconds
- It uses 8 selections, each in a different event.
- It contains 247 bets: doubles up to one eightfold, with no singles.
- A 10p unit stake costs £24.70, or £49.40 each-way.
- You need at least two winners for any return, and usually many more to make a profit.
What is a Goliath bet?
A Goliath takes eight selections and places every possible combination of two or more of them. It is called a full cover bet because each pair, each trio and so on gets its own bet. You will see it offered by UK bookmakers on horse racing, football or a mix of the two.
What’s inside a Goliath bet
| Bet type | Number of bets |
|---|---|
| Doubles | 28 |
| Trebles | 56 |
| Fourfolds | 70 |
| Fivefolds | 56 |
| Sixfolds | 28 |
| Sevenfolds | 8 |
| Eightfold | 1 |
| Total | 247 |
The eightfold is the one that pays the eye-catching return, but it is only one of 247 bets, and it only wins if all eight do.
How much a Goliath bet costs
Multiply your unit stake by 247. At 10p a line that is £24.70, at 50p it is £123.50 and at £1 it is £247. An each-way version doubles the number of bets to 494, because every line has a win part and a place part. It is easy to choose a stake that looks small and end up with a far bigger total, so check the total on your bet slip before you confirm.
Worked Goliath bet example
This example uses a 10p unit stake (£24.70 total) and eight Premier League home wins on the same weekend (Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Tottenham, Brighton and Brentford), all at evens, so the sums are easy to follow. Real prices will differ.
| Winners | Return | Profit or loss |
|---|---|---|
| 0 or 1 | £0 | -£24.70 |
| 2 | £0.40 | -£24.30 |
| 3 | £2.00 | -£22.70 |
| 4 | £7.20 | -£17.50 |
| 5 | £23.20 | -£1.50 |
| 6 | £71.60 | £46.90 |
| 7 | £217.20 | £192.50 |
| 8 | £654.40 | £629.70 |
At these prices, five winners from eight still loses a little. Bigger prices change the picture, because a few long-odds winners go a long way in a full cover bet. Even so, the table shows the point of the bet: the money is in the top few rows.
Goliath bet vs smaller full cover bets
If eight picks feel like too many, a smaller bet may suit you better.
| Bet | Selections | Bets | Includes singles? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patent | 3 | 7 | Yes |
| Yankee | 4 | 11 | No |
| Lucky 15 | 4 | 15 | Yes |
| Canadian (Super Yankee) | 5 | 26 | No |
| Heinz | 6 | 57 | No |
| Super Heinz | 7 | 120 | No |
| Goliath | 8 | 247 | No |
What happens to a non-runner or void leg?
A non-runner or void selection is normally treated as void within each line it appears in, so a double becomes a single, a treble becomes a double and so on. The bet carries on, but your potential return falls. Exact settlement depends on the bookmaker’s rules, and it is worth knowing how non-runner no bet offers work if you bet on racing in advance.
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Goliath bet FAQs
No. Selections normally have to come from separate events, because the results need to be independent of each other. Two winners give you a return from one double, but you will usually need many more to cover the total stake. Some bookmakers add bonuses to certain multiple bets, but this isn’t standard. Check the bookmaker’s offer page before you bet.Can I use the same event twice in a Goliath?
How many winners do I need for a Goliath to pay?
Does a Goliath have a consolation bonus?
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