What Is A Parlay Bet?

Parlays work by connecting separate bets into one single bet, increasing the payout potential. This works because all the legs involved in the parlay must win for the wager to pay out. The more legs you add to a parlay, the greater the odds.

But, adding games to a parlay also adds to the difficulty of hitting each leg on a single ticket.

As an example, we can create a three-team NFL parlay with the Buffalo Bills (-2.5), New England Patriots (+2.5) and Los Angeles Rams (-6.5). This would be a parlay involving the spread.

For this parlay to hit, the Bills must win by at least three, the Patriots must win outright or lose by less than three, and the Rams must win by seven or more. If one of these teams fails to cover, the whole parlay loses.

Teasers

Teasers are a type of parlay bet that allows adjusting spreads or totals for a higher chance of a winning wager. Because this variety of bet allows moving the spread or total, teasers are easier to win than traditional parlays. Before you get too excited, there is a downside. The odds for teasers hold less value due to the enhanced chances to win.

For example, the New York Giants are +10 point underdogs, and the Dallas Cowboys are -3 favorites. A teaser could allow you to move the spread to +16 in the Giants game and the Cowboys’ spread to +3. The odds will drop, but your chances to win increase in return.

It’s worth noting that teasers are not available for all sports. Moving the spread in hockey, baseball or soccer has a much higher impact than in football or basketball.

Round Robins

Round robin parlays allow players to place multiple parlay bets across several games. Players can create many bets, including parlays of differing amounts involving a set group of games. Each parlay, in this case, requires a separate wager.

An excellent example would be an NFL Sunday featuring four games the player wants to parlay together. A four-team round-robin parlay of these games consists of any number of two-team, three-team and four-team wagers.

Any combination of winning wagers that match the parlays made will pay out. Each wager, in this case, must be placed individually. A four-team round-robin has 11 different possible combinations to bet.

Same-Game Parlay

A same-game or single-game parlay is a bet that utilizes correlated wagers for the same event to earn higher payouts. The idea of correlated wagers is that the outcome of one bet can increase or decrease the likelihood of another leg cashing.

One example is the correlation between spreads and totals of a football game. Say Michigan is 28 point favorite over Appalachian State with a game total of 51. If the Wolverines cover that high spread, there is a good chance that the game total will exceed 51 points.

This strategy can also be used when betting player props. If you are making a bet on the over in a Buccaneers vs. Chiefs game, there is a good chance that the starting QBs will go over their passing totals.

NFL

A simple example of an NFL parlay would be a two-team moneyline wager. Say that you think the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-130) and the Green Bay Packers (-120) will both win on Sunday.

You could bet $10 on each and win a few bucks or parlay them together for a bigger payout. If you bet $20 on this parlay, the payout would be $44.87 compared to $16.02 for betting $10 on each separately.

NBA

Parlaying totals is a popular way to bet on busy days in the NBA. Say the Pistons and Wizards’ over/under is 217.5 (-110/-110), and the Nets and Raptors’ total is 218.5 (-105/-115).

You are confident in both games going under the total and want to parlay them together. Betting these games separately would payout $18.61 on a $10 bet. Betting $20 on a parlay of the two would yield a payout of $54.55.

MLB

Runline parlays are a common way to maximize the payout potential of MLB wagers on a day-to-day basis. A simple example would be to consider a day where the New York Yankees (-1.5, +110) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (-1.5. -110) are on your radar.

A single $10 bet on both games would net $20.09, while a $20 parlay would pay out $60.18. If you plan to bet on both anyway, there is a lot to gain from putting them into a parlay instead.

Betting a parlay is not much different from putting together a bet slip for a single game. After you select a game and wager amount for the game, instead of submitting the card, simply add another event.

This will automatically parlay the games together and tell you the updated payout and odds. It’s worth noting that parlay legs do not need to be from the same day or even the same sport.

Serious bettors should familiarize themselves with how to calculate odds and payouts manually. There are a few steps that require a bit of basic math to get through.

First, if you are using American odds, they must be converted to decimal odds. If the odds are positive, the formula is : (Odds/100) +1. If they are negative, the formula is 1-(100/Odds).

Once you have all the odds in decimal form, multiply them together. Take that number and multiply it by your bet amount. Finally, subtract your initial stake to get the odds for your parlay.

This is one of the most frequently asked questions regarding parlaying bets in sports. Luckily the answer is simple and does not punish the player for a game that is called off.

Let’s say that you made a five-game NFL parlay and the first four games were all winners. It’s now down to the fifth and final game, but it gets called due to inclement weather before the kickoff. What happens to your parlay?

Rest assured that the bet is not graded as a loss and qualifies as a push. This means you will not lose your parlay on a canceled game. This also goes for games that end in a tie. In these cases, the leg is removed from the parlay altogether. Payouts are adjusted accordingly.

Pros

• Higher payouts: Because parlay bets are more difficult to win, the odds of doing so are usually very valuable. Every time you add a team to a parlay, the odds shoot up significantly. While hard to do, hitting each leg and winning a parlay is worth it if only for the huge payday that often follows.
• Excitement: This is a more intangible reason to like parlay bets, but it’s true all the same. There is no denying that parlay bets are more fun than straight bets. There is nothing quite like the feeling of a parlay coming down to the final leg at the end of a long day.

Cons

• Difficult to win: The biggest drawback of parlay betting comes down to how difficult it is. Wins in parlay betting are few and far between, with most victories coming on two or three-leg parlays. Those looking to hit the 10-team dream wins might be disappointed in how unlikely this will happen.
• Statistically bad bets: A ton of statistics are available that do a great job of breaking down why parlays are bad bets overall. In Las Vegas during 2021, for example, a straight NFL bet was over 10x more likely to win than a multi-team parlay.

While parlay bets can be a fun way to make sports betting more exciting, we don’t recommend them as a viable long-term strategy.

That doesn’t mean that adding a parlay or two to your weekly bets is a terrible idea. But, it is not advised to make parlays a large part of your daily wagers.

The main reason to avoid relying on parlay betting is they require all legs to hit to have a positive expected value (+EV). This is not an easy task and is why parlay bets offer such tempting odds. What this means is that, generally speaking, parlays have an especially low win rate. This is why sportsbooks love regular parlay bettors.

Don’t be fooled by posts on social media of players cashing parlays of 10 legs or more. While these are real wins, the chances of hitting these wagers are akin to winning the lottery. There is a reason why these posts are made mainly by sportsbooks themselves and not often by individual players.

To break this down further, let’s look at some parlay vs. straight bet statistics. According to a report from the Center for Gaming Research at UNLV, the chances of hitting a parlay are far worse than a straight bet.

In 2021 across Nevada, parlay bets hit at a rate of 4.67% across all sports. On the other hand, straight bets hit 58.49% of the time in football and 56.25% of the time in basketball. The paper shows that the average casino win percentage on parlays since 1992 is 30.97%. The overall win percentage for sportsbooks on all football bets during that time was 5.17%.

We recommend keeping parlay betting to a minimum and tempering expectations.