What Is Dutching and How to Use It When Betting?

Dutching is an advanced betting strategy that is quick to learn and easy to use. Even though punters who enjoy betting on horses use it most often, the principle can be applied when betting on any sport.

In our guide for beginners, we will answer “What is dutching?” and tell you how it works. We will also show you several different dutching strategies you can use to bet on sports like football and a way to combine dutching with matched betting.

Six Quick Facts About Dutching Betting Systems

  • Dutching is often used when betting on horses, but you can apply the same principle with every other sport.
  • Dutching involves splitting the risk by placing multiple bets on the same event and covering multiple selections.
  • The easiest way to calculate how much you need to bet on each selection is with a dutching calculator.
  • You can combine dutching with different markets, like the correct score, the outright bet, and many others.
  • You can combine dutching with other strategies, such as matched betting.
  • If the combined implied probability of all the selections you wish to bet on is below 100%, you can make a profit with dutching.

What Is Dutching in Betting?

Betting is becoming more popular by the day, and some of the best new betting sites in the UK are continuously looking for ways to attract new players. With that said, it doesn’t surprise that more and more punters wish to learn what dutching in betting is and increase their chances of making a profit.

As far as dutching is concerned, this strategy is extremely straightforward. The goal of dutching is to share the risk of your bets. Rather than betting your entire bankroll on a single outcome, you would split your money and place several different bets for the same race or the same match. 

To make the most out of any dutching betting system, you will need to calculate how much you need to bet on each selection so that you can make an equal profit if any of your bets win. The amount you will have to wager depends on the odds of each selection, and the simplest way to figure out just how much you need to bet is to use an online dutching calculator.

Online bet calculators are an excellent tool for anyone who wants to use any dutching betting method or simply calculate profits and find value bets. The best thing about them is that they are entirely free and can do all the heavy lifting for you. To use one, simply enter the total amount you plan to bet and the odds of each selection you plan to cover. The calculator will then show you the exact amounts you need to bet per selection.

How to Use a Dutching Betting Method

An important thing to have in mind is that dutching is not always applicable. Namely, if the difference in odds is not significant enough, you won’t make a profit with dutching. To figure out whether you can use dutching, you need to know how to calculate implied probability based on the odds given by a bookmaker.

Although you can easily learn what dutching betting is, the strategy requires that you know many other tips and tricks seasoned punters regularly use to find value and make informed bets.

Bookies use three different types of odds, but the easiest way to calculate the implied probability is with decimal odds, so you will have to convert fractional odds to decimal ones. The easiest way to do that is to divide the numbers and add 1 to the result.

For example, the process of converting fractional odds of 7/4 to decimal odds would look something like this:

7 / 4 → 1.75 + 1 → 2.75

If you wish to master what dutching in betting is and how it works, you will have to learn how to calculate the implied probability of an outcome. However, once you have decimal odds, the rest is just a matter of following a simple equation:

( 1 / Decimal Odds ) x 100%

In our case, that would look like this:

( 1 / 2.75 ) x 100 → 0.36 x 100 = 36%

Now that you know what dutching betting is and how to calculate implied probability, you will have to do that for all the selections you plan to bet on. Once you are done, simply add the implied probability of each selection together. If the total number is below 100%, you will be able to use dutching and make a profit along the way.

Dutching System for Horse Racing

As we mentioned earlier, dutching is most often used when betting on horses. Let’s say that you wish to bet on three runners in a single race. Horse A is priced at 3.40, Horse B at 5.50, and Horse C at 7.20.

To show you what dutching in horse racing is and how it works, let’s also say that you plan to bet a total of £100. By using a dutching calculator, you can determine that you will need to bet £47.84 on Horse A, £29.57 on Horse B, and £22.59 on Horse C.

As you can see, the lower the odds, the more you will have to bet on the selection. In our case, if either of our selections wins, we will win £162.65 in total and make a profit of £62.65.

Now that you know what dutching in horse racing is, an important thing to remember is that, unlike other strategies like matched betting or arbitrage betting, dutching is not a risk-free strategy.

It simply means that you are spreading the risk across several different bets. However, if all three of your selections lose, you will lose your entire bankroll, so make sure to bet carefully.

Dutching as a Football Strategy

There’s a big difference between using dutching for football bets and betting on horses. Namely, in horse racing, you generally have eight horses to bet on. Because of this, the difference in odds usually allows you to bet on three or even more selections in a single horse race and still make a profit.

As far as football goes, there are only three outcomes with the match-winner bet, and you can bet on the home or away team to win or draw. While you can use the dutching football strategy to cover two selections, you will never be able to cover all three outcomes and still end up making a profit.

However, if you want to use dutching in football, you can simply combine it with different betting markets, such as correct score or BTTS.

Dutching Correct Score Strategy

Even though predicting the correct score is one of the hardest bets in football, it becomes significantly easier if you can make multiple predictions. However, you should still come prepared and be familiar with the clubs you are betting on.

An ideal scenario to use a dutching correct score strategy would be if both teams are evenly matched and are known for their defence rather than attack. In this case, you would simply bet on 0:0, 1:0, 0:1, and 1:1.

Another time you can use the dutching correct score strategy is if one team is significantly stronger than the other. In most cases, betting on a huge favourite would result in minor profit and generally is not worth the risk. However, things change significantly if you use the correct score market when betting on favourites.

When it comes to this dutching football strategy, we will bet on the favourite to win 1:0, 2:0, or 3:0. Additionally, we will place a BTTS (both teams to score) bet to increase our chances of winning if the underdog manages to score.

You can use many other strategies, such as dutching the outright bet or combining dutching with the each-way bet, for example. An important thing to know is that, as long as you understand the basics of dutching, you can always combine it with one or more different betting markets to make the most out of this strategy.

Dutching and Matched Betting

Apart from combining dutching with other betting markets, you can also combine it with different betting strategies. A strategy that works well with dutching is matched betting. Are you curious to learn what dutching in matched betting is? Here’s how it works.

Naturally, before you can use matched betting, you must first learn how matched betting works. We already covered matched betting in detail in another guide, so make sure to check it out before you proceed.

After you learn the basics of matched betting, you are ready to combine dutching and matched betting. The first step is to use matched betting as you normally would. Namely, find the bookmaker that offers the free bet promotion, place the qualifying bet, and claim the free bet.

Once you have a free bet, rather than using matched betting as you usually would, you will dutch a football match.

Earlier in our guide, when we answered “What is dutching in betting and how to use it in football?”, we mentioned that it would be nearly impossible to find a match where you could cover all three selections and still ended up making a profit. However, all of that changes if you have a £50 free bet to work with.

The Bottom Line

As you can see, dutching is a very flexible strategy. Now that we have answered “What is dutching?” and shown you how it works, you should be able to combine it with different betting markets and strategies to make the most out of it.

As long as you have the basics down, you will be able to use dutching to bet on virtually any sport you like. Of course, dutching itself is not always applicable, so make sure to do your calculations first and see whether you can make a profit with dutching before placing a bet.

Table of Contents
Six Quick Facts About Dutching Betting Systems What Is Dutching in Betting? How to Use a Dutching Betting Method Dutching System for Horse Racing Dutching as a Football Strategy Dutching Correct Score Strategy Dutching and Matched Betting The Bottom Line
Table of Contents