What is ‘Dutching’ in Betting?

What is Dutching in Betting?

Despite the unpredictability surrounding sports events, Dutching is one betting strategy that helps improve the chances of receiving a payout. It allows you to spread your stake across multiple outcomes, guaranteeing a profit if any one of them wins. It is popular across various sports, such as horse racing and football, especially in betting markets with three or more possible outcomes. 

Dutching is similar to placing a traditional single bet. However, instead of putting your stake on one outcome, you’ll spread it on two or more outcomes. For instance, you can spread your stake on three horses to win the Aintree Bowl at the Grand National Festival instead of betting on only one.

How Does Dutching Work? (Step-by-Step Guide)

While Dutching may seem complex at first, it becomes easier once you get the hang of it. Here is how it works using the Aintree Bowl as an example.

• Odds comparison: The first step is to search across two or more bookies and compare their odds. We recommend signing up with a betting site that offers higher odds values.

• Calculating stakes: The next step is to determine how much you want to stake and calculate according to the number of outcomes you want to back. Let’s say you want to wager £100 on Grey Drawing (5/2), Gaelic Warrior (6/1), and Ahoy Senor (7/1). You must use the odds from each outcome to divide your stake amount for each wager. From our calculations, you will wager £51.6 on Grey Drawing, £25.8 on Gaelic Warrior, and £22.6 on Ahoy Senor.

• Even returns: Irrespective of the horse that wins from the three options, you'll get a total payout of approximately £180.65. Your profit on the stake will be around £80.65. However, if neither of the three horses wins, you'll lose the entire £100 stake.

• Use a Dutching calculator/software: To avoid mistakes, we encourage using a Dutching calculator. Input your odds and total stake amount to see your stake per outcome and potential returns.

Types of Dutching Strategies

With over a century of use, Dutching has evolved over the years, with punters adopting different approaches depending on the type of market, goal, and bankroll. Here are some of the common strategies.

• Level-stakes Dutching: Instead of estimating stakes for each outcome for the same profit, you can wager an equal amount on each. For instance, betting £10 on three horses at the Cheltenham Festival. The returns will be different, with the lowest odds, which is the favourite, paying out the least amount. 

• Proportional Dutching: Also known as equal-profit Dutching, it allows you to payout the same amount regardless of which of your outcomes wins. It's the original or classic type of Dutching, where you share the stake according to the odds. You can use this to back anytime goalscorer in the Tottenham vs Newcastle match in the Premier League. You may bet on three or more players by spreading your stake according to the odds of each player.

• Covering favourites vs outsiders: If you want steady returns, back 2 or 3 favourites to win the outcome. For instance, you may bet on Erling Haaland, Viktor Gyokeres, or Bukayo Saka to score first in a Manchester City vs Arsenal match. Their odds of scoring are usually low because they score more often, but the profits are low compared to backing outsiders. If you back 2 or 3 outsiders like Ben White, Ruben Dias, or Nico González, you risk losing your entire stake. However, if one of them wins, you’ll have a bigger return than backing a favourite. Therefore, we recommend mixed Dutching, where you select both favourites and outsiders for more balanced selections, offering security and value. You may back Erling Haaland, Viktor Gyokeres, and Ruben Dias (two favourites and one outsider) to score.

Advantages of Dutching

Dutching has remained a relevant betting strategy for over a century because punters find it beneficial. Below are some of the advantages of using Dutching.

Disadvantages & Risks of Dutching

Despite many benefits, Dutching comes with certain risks. Find some of the disadvantages of Dutching below!

Dutching in Popular UK Sports

While Dutching is more popular in football and horse racing, it is also available for other sports. Here are some of the popular UK sports you can use with Dutching.

• Football: You can use Dutching for football matches in the Premier League, Championship, and the UEFA Champions League. While it works perfectly for markets such as correct score, first goalscorer, and half-time/full-time, it is risky for match results with only three possible outcomes because of bookmakers’ margins. We suggest only covering two outcomes for match results.

• Horse racing: Dutching is ideal for horse racing because races feature a large field of 8 to 20 runners. You may use it to bet on races at the Grand National Festival or Royal Ascot. It’s perfect for win and place markets.

• Greyhound racing: Greyhound racing events, such as the Greyhound St Leger and the English Greyhound Derby, are ideal for dutching. You can use it to win, place, forecast, and tricast markets. 

• Darts: If you follow darts closely, consider using Dutching for correct score and tournament winner markets in the PDC World Darts Championship and the Grand Slam of Darts. However, you must beware of bookmakers' margins. 

• Cricket: Use Dutching to bet on the outright winner, top batsman, and correct scores markets in cricket. Events in the Ashes Series and the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup are ideal choices.

Dutching Tools & Calculators

Since Dutching requires estimating your stake per outcome, it’s easy to make mistakes. That’s why using Dutching tools or software is recommended. They help you distribute your stakes and eliminate human errors. You will enter your odds, total stake amount and targeted profit and leave the rest to the calculator. 

Examples of Dutching calculators to use include the following.

• AceOdds: You can input up to 12 picks and desired results to estimate your stake per outcome and potential payouts.

• OddsPortal Dutching calculator: Covers sports such as golf, football, and horse racing.

• Bet Angel: Professional traders using trading platforms like Betfair can use Bet Angel to set a target profit or liability.

More Guides from our UK Betting Experts...

• How to Bet on the Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort

• How to Build a Premier League Acca That Actually Has a Chance

• Guide to Asian Handicap Betting

Responsible Gambling

One of the downsides of Dutching is the potential increase in your stake amount. This could lead you to wager more than you can afford to lose. Therefore, we recommend setting up deposit limits to stay in control. You may also activate time limits to take regular breaks daily or weekly. If you’re getting addicted, kindly set up GamStop self-exclusion to stay off any UKGC-regulated bookmaker.

Note that you must be 18 years or above to wager in the UK. You need to upload your identification documents to verify your age and identity.