What is a Round Robin

A round robin is a very traditional bet that is placed on horse racing and has three selections, covered by ten bets. The bet is similar to a patent bet, although the singles in a round robin are known as single stakes about bets, rather than just normal singles.

A single stakes about bet is a single on a selection and if that selection wins, instead of receiving your stake money back as part of your winnings, it is put on your next selection. A round robin covers all the different elements of this meaning that instead of three bets to cover your three singles, it actually costs 6 x your stake to cover the three singles. This means that in total a round robin consists of 10 bets, which are shown below.

6 single stakes about bets, covering three selections

3 doubles covering each permutation of the three selections

1 treble covering all three selections

This makes the bet the same as a patent, except that the singles are single stakes about singles, instead of regular singles. It is also similar to a Trixie, although a Trixie does not cover single stakes about and only offers a return if you have two winners or more.

This is the advantage that a round robin bet has over a Trixie, if you have one winner then you will have a return. However, if you only have one winner, a round robin will give you less money back than a patent bet, because the patent returns your stake off the single, instead of placing it on your next bet like the round robin does.

To understand how the single stakes about part of a round robin works may be difficult as it is completely different to any other types of bet. Below is how the six different elements of a single stakes about bet works in a round robin.

Bet 1 - £1 on selection A – if this wins £1 stake money goes onto selection B
Bet 2 - £1 on selection A – if this wins £1 stake money goes onto selection C
Bet 3 - £1 on selection B – if this wins £1 stake money goes onto selection A
Bet 4 - £1 on selection B – if this wins £1 stake money goes onto selection C
Bet 5 - £1 on selection C – if this wins £1 stake money goes onto selection A
Bet 6 - £1 on selection C – if this wins £1 stake money goes onto selection B
Instead of working as a normal single, the stake money doubles up onto your next selection, enhancing your returns if you have two or three winners, but lowering them if you just have one.

The round robin is a very traditional bet that has been around for a long time, giving full coverage across three selections.