- Maths reviewed by Josh Miller
- Tested by Diana Westfield
Four horses boxed in a quinella is six combinations, so £1 a line costs £6. If two of them fill the first two places and the dividend is £18.40, you get £18.40 back. The CasinoCalcs quinella calculator above does that sum for any box size, works out a flexi percentage if you’d rather set the total, and warns you when the dividend can’t cover the box. It’s free and works for horses and greyhounds.
Quinella calculator: how many combinations?
A quinella is a pick-two-in-any-order bet. Because order doesn’t matter, the number of combinations grows more slowly than an exacta:
| Runners boxed | Quinella combos | Exacta combos | Quinella at £1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 2 | £1 |
| 3 | 3 | 6 | £3 |
| 4 | 6 | 12 | £6 |
| 5 | 10 | 20 | £10 |
| 6 | 15 | 30 | £15 |
That’s why a quinella box is the cheaper way into a pair. The catch is the dividend: covering both orders means it’s usually around half what the exacta pays. The exacta box calculator shows the ordered version.
Flexi betting
A flexi bet turns it around: you decide the total, and the stake per combination is whatever that works out to. £3 on six combinations is 50p each, a 50% flexi. Win, and you collect 50% of the dividend, £9.20 here. Open the extra option, type a total outlay and the calculator shows the percentage.
When the box beats the dividend
Only one combination can ever win. So a 6-combination box only makes a profit if the dividend is more than £6 per £1. Two short-priced runners can easily pay less than that, and you’d lose money on a winning bet. For the first three home, the trifecta calculator does the same job, and the tote calculator explains how pool dividends are made.
Boxes add up quickly. Set the total you’re happy to lose first. BeGambleAware.org is free and confidential if it stops being fun.