Acca Gold is a new to market sports betting tipster service which is operated by one Michael Hirst. As the name suggests, it is based around betting on accumulators, more specifically, football.
Introduction to Acca Gold
I always find the idea of betting on accumulators an interesting one. It is also a topic that I know divides the betting community. Because there are some very strong pros and cons here. On the one hand, you can bundle up low odds bets into something that is worthwhile. On the other hand, all it takes is one unexpected result and you’ve lost. Even if the rest have come in.
So, when Acca Gold landed on my desk, I can tell you now that I was quite interested in what Michael Hirst was offering. Obviously I’ll talk about this in more detail below, but here you have a tipster service with a focus on big accumulators. And more importantly, a guarantee that you won’t have to pay out until you have one come in (I’ll pick this up later as well, because it isn’t technically this straightforward).
Combine this with the fact that Michael Hirst claims that Acca Gold has made a significant amount of money so far in this football season, and you have something that just looks like a guaranteed winner. However, I have also been in this line of work long enough to know that when something looks to good to be true, it usually is. Does this apply here? Let’s find out.
What Does Acca Gold Offer?
Before I get on to the topic of the bets (which is a massive bulk of what I want to talk about), I want to start by discussing the management element of the service. Because Michael Hirst is seemingly an entirely independent tipster, the experience that you can get can vary wildly. However, here everything seems to be about what you would expect.
This starts with the obvious thing which is how you receive selections. As is very much the norm these days, they are sent out directly to Acca Gold subscribers via email. The content of these is however very pared back containing just the basic information required to get a bet placed. Michael Hirst is not necessarily setting out to do anything different here.
Now, Acca Gold is of course a football tipster service. Specifically, one that appears to be focused on English and European football. This means that you won’t be receiving bets every day, something that is simply down to the sport. Typically speaking though, you will receive bets on the weekends, and sometimes midweek as well.
One thing that is done right here is that bets are issued on the Friday in the case of weekend games (which means that you have plenty of time to get your bets placed). When it comes to the midweek bets, these are usually sent out on the day. This is something that unfortunately, does count against Acca Gold a little.
Now, those bets. As I have stated, and of course as you would expect from a tipster service named Acca Gold, you are dealing with accumulators. And I have also mentioned the fact that Michael Hirst offers that guarantee on a 7 fold acca coming in. But that isn’t all that there is to it. You are also betting on a number of smaller accumulators which are supposed to keep the betting bank topped up.
And of course, when it comes to football betting, accas just don’t tend to be quite that straight forward. Something which is mostly down to the fact that there are so many different betting markets to cover. And Michael Hirst looks at a lot of them.
Naturally, the majority of what you will be dealing with will simply be backing team x to beat team y. But there are also bets advised that are based around various different goal markets including BTTS and Over/Under bets.
In terms of the volume of bets. Well, Acca Gold is surprisingly high. Usually when it comes to services based around accas, there are just one or two advised. However, Michael Hirst usually advises 3 or 4 on each weekend, with the potential for more midweek. We are told that this averages out at 5 bets per week.
All of this sounds reasonable enough I suppose, however, when you combine it with the staking plan/betting bank and the strike rate. Things start to take a little bit of a concerning turn in my mind.
Now, it isn’t so much the staking plan that is the problem. Acca Gold uses level stakes of 1 point per bet. And frankly, this is pretty much standard fare when it comes to betting on accumulators. You aren’t going to win often, and when you do, the wins tend to be big. So, it makes sense that you don’t have to back to big stakes.
But what do you do if you only have a betting bank of 20 points? Which is exactly what Michael Hirst recommends that you use for Acca Gold. That just doesn’t allow for a lot of wiggle room should you hit a losing streak. At least, in my opinion. And the nature of betting on accumulators means that this will inevitably happen.
Even on the best case scenario for last season, Michael Hirst says that the strike rate for Acca Gold was 24%. A number that includes those smaller accas (think the doubles and trebles) which can have much smaller returns because of the selections. Sometimes of only a point or so. As such, I don’t see much reassurance that if you hit that losing streak, your bank will recover.
How Does Acca Gold Work?
All of this brings me to another concern when it comes to Acca Gold, and that is a lack of information surrounding the service. Sure, Michael Hirst is keen to talk up accumulators and how they are a great way of making money through betting (depending on who you ask, of course). And that is his opinion, and that is fair enough.
What isn’t ever discussed though is what the selection process entails, and that is a bit of a problem for me. Don’t get me wrong I will concede the fact that Michael Hirst isn’t providing selections that are controversial. In fact, if anything, I would be inclined to refer to them as being a bit basic. But none the less, it is difficult to make an informed decision about a service without that insight.
And that is really an important factor to me. I have long said that if you are going to buy into a tipster service, you should at least be in a position to make an informed decision. You wouldn’t buy a TV without knowing anything about it, so why should a tipster service be any different?
On top of this, there isn’t even any real proofing that Michael Hirst provides. Sure, there are little bits of “evidence” provided in the form of a few wining bet slips, but this is far from comprehensive. This means that it is very difficult to look at Acca Gold and get any kind of idea what you can expect from the service in the longer term.
What is the Initial Investment?
There is only one option if you want to “subscribe” to Acca Gold. This is a one time payment of £37 (plus VAT) which buys you access to Michael Hirst’s tips for 5 weeks. One of the interesting things about this is that Acca Gold isn’t sold on a subscription basis. This means that if you want to purchase additional selections.
This is backed up by a rather unique guarantee in which Michael Hirst says that if you don’t find yourself on the winning end of a 7 bet accumulator in this 5 week period, you can continue to get access to his tips until you do hit a winner.
What is the Rate of Return?
The headlining number for Acca Gold is that members have already made “£27,032+ This Season”. Now it is worth noting that this is an entirely unsubstantiated number with no real evidence to back this up. Furthermore, there is no real talk about how much members would have had to invest in order to get this kind of return.
Now, I am quite sure that Michael Hirst would say that his screenshots of winning accumulators count as evidence. These range from £702 going all the way to £3,536, all based off £50 stakes. This means hypothetical points profit of 70.72 points off just one bet. Personally though, I don’t believe that this really tells you anything and frankly, I am incredibly sceptical of these numbers.
Conclusion for Acca Gold
Let’s not mince words here. If Michael Hirst is actually capable of delivering on his claims, this makes Acca Gold an absolute bargain. Those wins are potentially massive, and if you are effectively guaranteed a win in that 5 week period, then why wouldn’t you sign up for it. Right? Honestly though, I think there are a lot of reasons why.
And I want to start by talking about the lack of information that exists when it comes to Acca Gold. The whole sales pitch seems to be that accumulators are a great way to make money. But when it comes the kind of bets that Michael Hirst advises, I’m not entirely convinced that they are. Sure, I’ve seen services that have been successful, but these are usually few and far between.
Winning consistently on accumulators though is something that I just don’t really see happening at the levels that are claimed for Acca Gold. As such, I find it rather difficult to believe that Michael Hirst has actually cracked the code here and is able to deliver this consistently. Especially given the lack of proofing.
And here’s the thing. I’m not even necessarily averse to the concept of Acca Gold. If there had been results that were actually believable, and Michael Hirst had talks about his selection process and what to expect a bit more. This could have been something. But instead, you are told that basically, anything can be considered.
I’m not even looking for long winded explanations and formulas. Simply a little bit about what the selection process entails, why you are backing these big accas rather than backing bets individually. Just enough that when you sign up for Acca Gold, you know what you are getting yourself into, would have been great. But as it stands, you don’t get any of that.
Honestly, it’s not even like I’m really sold on that “saving grace” of the guarantee that is offered. Sure, you don’t have to pay for a second period until you get one of those big wins. But how long do you have to wait for a 7 fold to come in? And on top of this, let’s not forget that you have still payed Michael Hirst.
So even if one of those wins takes months to come in, you’re still out of pocket on it until it does. And that’s only talking about the subscription fees. The fact is that on top of this, you may well also be hemorrhaging your betting bank in the time that you are waiting for one of those wins to come in.
With all of this in mind, I’m just not really sold on Acca Gold. I would have loved to believe that this is genuine and above board. But as it stands, I don’t really believe that this is the case. And with that in mind, I wold be inclined to give this one a pretty big miss.
