How To Parlay On FanDuel Sportsbook

When you fund your FanDuel Sportsbook account and make your first wager on a single, standard bet like a spread or moneyline, you’ve made a straight bet. The moneyline is simply the price the sportsbook offers on the outright winner of the game.

For example, a team’s moneyline could be -200, making them the favorite in that particular matchup. In American odds, that -200 moneyline means you have to wager $200 to turn a $100 profit.

When betting a parlay, you place two or more bets—for example, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers moneyline and the Cincinnati Bengals moneyline—on the same ticket. In this scenario, the Bucs and the Bengals are playing different opponents.

By parlaying these two wagers, you now need both teams to win to cash your ticket. If they do, you’ll receive even more winnings than if you had wagered on each game separately.

Not only can you make parlays at FanDuel Sportsbook, but FanDuel also frequently offers promotions and bonuses to encourage bettors to make this type of wager, such as profit boosts with increased winnings or no-sweat bets where you get your stake back if your wager loses.

Why offer this incentive? Because sportsbooks have a higher hold percentage on parlays.

The hold is the amount the sportsbook retains from the amount wagered. For example, if a sportsbook takes $100 in bets and $90 is paid out to bettors once the event is over, the book “holds” $10, or 10%.

Sportsbooks win more on parlays because they’re difficult to hit. Instead of winning one wager, bettors have to win multiple “legs” to cash a parlay.

The hold is one of the most important sports betting terms to know.

So while parlays increase the overall payout potential on your wagers, there is added risk because every contest on the ticket must win.

Using the Buccaneers and Bengals example again, if Tampa Bay won but Cincinnati lost, your parlay bet would be a loser.

Still, the payout for a successful parlay cannot be matched by single straight bets on those same contests. Let’s look at the math:

If you bet $100 on this parlay and both teams won, you’d receive $194 in winnings. 

Now, if you split that $100 and made a $50 bet on each team, here’s what you’d win:

To further illustrate the power of a parlay bet, look at the winnings if you doubled your bets to $100 for each team. It’s still less than the parlay.

FanDuel even has a whole section dedicated to parlays, called the “Parlay Hub.” This can be found among the icons at the top of the screen.

Other sportsbooks have a similar feature, but FanDuel’s has two sections. There’s a “Popular” section that bettors are wagering on as well as a “Next to start” section with parlays for games that are about to begin.

This can be helpful if you’re looking for a parlay but don’t have much time to build your own before the event starts.

Until recently, players at online and retail sportsbooks could not create parlays within the same game. However, FanDuel Sportsbook was among the first to offer the same-game parlay bet type. 

Same-game parlays are created the same way as traditional parlays. The difference is that you can keep your parlay contained to one specific game/event and include multiple legs tied to game and/or player outcomes.

When you find the game you want to wager on at FanDuel, there will be a specific tab for same-game parlay bets. This menu will show an assortment of wagers you can choose from to create your parlays.

Here’s an example from an MLB game between the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners:

Same-Game Parlay Plus (SGP+)

The same-game parlay “plus” bet is one of FanDuel’s newer features. With this, you can create multiple separate same-game parlay bets and combine them into one mega-parlay.

This is lottery-style sports betting, where a small amount wagered can result in life-changing money for some bettors. The downside is the same as betting the lottery: The odds of winning are astronomically low.

To do this, you must create one same-game parlay, then go to a second game and create another. From there, your betslip will allow you to combine both wagers. 

FanDuel Parlay Builder

Online sportsbooks are always looking for ways to streamline the process of parlay betting. FanDuel Sportsbook is no exception based on its “Parlay Builder” tool.

This function can be found by clicking on, for example, as a header under the MLB section. FanDuel lists various options here, breaking them down by bet type and showing each available game.

The Parlay Builder makes it much easier/faster to construct a parlay than going to a single game, adding it to the ticket, returning to the homepage and doing it again with another game. 

The Parlay Builder tool works for live in-game betting as well. 

Why Same Game Parlays Don’t Work

When you arrive at the same-game parlay menu at FanDuel Sportsbook, you will see various bets to choose from. Still, there are limitations on what can be included in the same betslip.

A basic restriction with MLB betting includes combining the moneyline and runline. In baseball betting, the runline is equivalent to the point spread in other sports. It is either team’s expected margin of victory or defeat (usually 1.5 runs).

Because moneyline and runline wagers are based on the game’s outcome, they can’t be combined into a parlay. Oddsmakers see that as an unfair advantage for the bettor because those two bets are strongly correlated. 

Here’s an example: If you attempt to parlay the Pittsburgh Pirates on the moneyline (win the game by any margin) and on the runline (win by more than one run), your chances of cashing are greater than a traditional two-team parlay.

In this scenario, you collect if the Pirates win by two or more runs. Think of it as “double-dipping” the same game result—an advantage sportsbooks aren’t interested in giving customers.

There are other examples of prohibited parlay combinations. Here’s one we ran into:

However, when we removed the Suwinski wager, Vogelbach’s 2+ Home Runs could be added to the parlay.

When you cannot add a wager to a same-game parlay, FanDuel provides a pop-up that reads, “Selections cannot be combined” and “Some of your selections can’t be combined into a single parlay.” If you see that prompt, you must adjust your bet by removing certain legs until it’s accepted.

There’s no tool to click on that explains why FanDuel disallows certain legs of a parlay, but we know that sportsbooks are always trying to balance their liability (potential losses). The book’s rejection of a parlay leg likely results from minimizing risk across its ecosystem.

After we did some manual testing, there appears to be a limit on how many players from each team you can have in one same-game parlay betslip. Nonetheless, that limitation might only apply to a particular game or sport (MLB).

Bottom line: If your same-game parlay is lengthy, be prepared to alter it. However, if you only bet smaller parlays (2-4 legs), the wager will likely be accepted without issue.

1. Download the FanDuel Sportsbook app from the Apple App Store (iOS device) or Google Play Store (Android). 
2. Create a new account if needed.
3. Deposit funds into your account (PayPal is a recommended method).
4. Go to the homepage and browse the sports, teams and games you want to bet.
5. To construct a standard parlay, review the list of games and make your selections. The most popular wager options are moneylines, point spreads, and totals. 
6. The betslip will populate with your choices.
7. After creating a parlay, enter the amount of money you wish to wager (your stake).
8. Above where you enter your wager, you’ll see the parlay’s odds and payout.
9. Confirm the wager and wait for the bet to settle.

Early Cash Out on FanDuel Parlays

FanDuel Sportsbook sometimes allows customers to cash out a parlay wager before the result is decided. This feature allows you to either take the winnings you have at the moment without risking the entire ticket or cut your losses and get back part of the original wager.

Once a bet is cashed out it can’t be reversed.

If your bet is eligible for the cash-out option, you will be offered a “Cash Out Value.” This value will be displayed on your betslip within the Active Bets tab.

The sportsbook has the better end of the deal with this feature, but it still can be a smart move for bettors looking to minimize their risk, especially when, say, two legs of a three-team parlay have hit while the third is undecided.

FanDuel Parlay Payouts

A winning parlay can cost a sportsbook a lot of money. With that in mind, FanDuel limits the maximum wagers for parlays and scales these limits based on the number of legs.

Winnings depend on the parlay’s odds, but there will be a maximum wager amount. Below is an example of what we’ve seen reported by the betting public:

Note: The example above was for MLB wagers. The maximum wagers differed slightly based on the odds of the individual bets.

For parlay payouts, we’ve often seen them capped at around $1 million.

Why Can’t My Bets be a Parlay?

We discussed why some same-game parlays get rejected, but this can also happen with traditional parlays. However, it’s rare because traditional parlays involve betting on the outcomes of two or more games, possibly from multiple sports.

Because traditional parlays are more difficult to hit—giving bookmakers the advantage—they are less likely to be denied.

Usually, sportsbooks permit bettors to create multi-sport parlays. This is a parlay in which you could combine a baseball moneyline, a golfer to win a PGA tournament and a UFC moneyline.

Like all parlays, the entire wager is graded as a loss if any of the legs lose.

That said, there are some multi-sport parlay limitations. For instance, in one test, we found NASCAR to be a sport that was not parlay-friendly.

There’s no clear indication of what is and isn’t allowed in a multi-sport parlay, so you’ll have to explore. Restrictions can vary based on sportsbook.

Moneyline Parlay

A moneyline parlay involves including multiple moneyline bets from two or more contests on the same ticket. In essence, you’re picking the outright winner in multiple contests.

Point Spread Parlay

Similar to the moneyline parlay. With a point spread parlay, you’re picking multiple teams you believe will cover the spread in their respective matches.

Over/Under Parlay

Perhaps you don’t have an opinion on the moneyline or spread for a game—this is where totals come in. Here, you bet on the total amount of points, runs or goals in each contest.

An example of a baseball Over/Under parlay: The Pirates and Nationals will go Over 9 total runs and the Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Dodgers will stay Under 7.5 runs.

Player Prop Parlay

These are easy to find within the confines of a same-game parlay, but it’s also possible to bet player prop parlays across multiple games.

One example could include the following:

• Patrick Mahomes Over 295.5 passing yards vs. the New Orleans Saints
• Jalen Hurts Over 2.5 passing touchdowns vs. the New York Giants

If Mahomes passes for 296 yards or more against the Saints and Hurts throws at least three touchdown passes against the Giants, this player prop parlay would cash.

Futures Parlays

Futures wagers allow you to bet on just that: the future. This includes betting on championship winners and postseason player awards like the Super Bowl winner and NFL MVP.

These wagers usually can be combined into a parlay, with one caveat: They must fall within the same category.

Below is an example:

Here is an example of a futures parlay you cannot make: