What is Dutching? A simple guide to Dutch betting

Publish date: 2024-07-10

With its origins in the American underworld of the 1920s, Dutching, or Dutch betting as it’s also known, has become a legitimate and widely used betting technique to try and reap profits.

Notorious American mobster Arthur Flegenheimer, aka Dutch Schultz, was Al Capone’s accountant and coined the term Dutching as he looked for a way to edge the bookmakers at the races.

Fast-forward 100 years and the technique has morphed into one mainly used on horse racing and football to try to increase the chances of winning on a single event. Here we explain everything you need to know, from explanations and examples of how Dutching works to whether you should try it.

What is Dutching?

Dutching, also known as Dutch betting, is the name for the betting technique of backing more than one outcome in the same event as opposed to just one. The aim of backing multiple outcomes in one event, mainly in football and horse racing, is to profit from one of your chosen outcomes winning. 

The punter’s stake is split and placed accordingly so that whichever bet wins, there is an equal profit made. Dutching does help to reduce the risk of losing money, but you must know the correct stake to place so the same amount of money is returned regardless of which selection wins. There’s obviously a lot of risk involved in Dutch betting, as if both outcomes lose, you will lose your stake on both bets.

Examples of Dutch betting

There are three main options available to bettors who want to place Dutch bets, and we explain all of them below.

1. Simple Dutch betting

Simple Dutch betting is where, depending on the odds, the stake on each selection stays the same or is reduced to ensure a profit is made. Here are examples of equal stake and reduced stake Dutching.

Equal stake Dutch bet

Reduced stake Dutch bet

2. Set-profit Dutch bettings

As the name suggests, this is where a bettor targets a certain profit from a race or event, regardless of how many selections are made. The examples we’re about to look at have a set profit of £30 and explain how it works with two or three selections.

Two-selection set-profit Dutch bet

Three-selection set-profit Dutch bet

Your set profit amount is still £30, but because you have added another selection placing £10 on a 4/1 winner will only give you a profit of £20, so you need to raise each individual stake to £15.

Of course, it’s unlikely that three horses will start a race at 4/1, but this is the easiest way to explain the Dutch betting system, which becomes increasingly complex the more selections you add. The best way to work out your Dutch bet is to use a Dutching bet calculator.  

3. Set-amount Dutch betting

Also known as stake-limited Dutch betting, this involves limiting your total stake rather than targeting a set profit. 

Two-selection set-amount Dutch bet

Three-selection set-amount Dutch bet

Again, because there are more selections this means the total stake stays the same but the individual stakes and the potential profit are both lower, especially if one of your selections is a short price.

Is Dutch betting profitable?

Despite its underworld origins, Dutch betting is a legitimate technique used today that can yield a profit – but the risk is often higher than the reward.

You have to be an expert on the numbers to correctly balance the stake and the returns, which can easily lead to mistakes for those who are not 100 per cent knowledgeable about the system. 

You also need to wait for the right circumstances in events to increase your chances of a Dutch bet earning a profit, which means there is a lot of luck involved rather than skill. You must also be patient as the profits are usually smaller due to placing multiple bets on the same event. 

Dutching can reduce the chances of losing, but when you do lose the losses can be calamitous as you have placed multiple bets. 

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