A parlay bet is a single sports bet that includes multiple individual wagers that all must win for the bet to be graded as a winner. Even though it appears to be one the most lucrative sports bet you can make, unless you use some kind of parlay strategy, it can be one of the toughest bets to earn a profit.
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You can learn how parlay bets work, true parlay odds, and how you can take advantage of them when placing sports bets. 2 team parlay betting examples Here is a basic example of a parlay. We have two NFL teams and their point-spread bets.
Let’s compare betting on them individually vs betting on them in a parlay. If we bet these games individually with a bankroll of $100 we would get our $100 original stake back and receive 100 dollars in profit.
A $100 wager on this game as a parlay would pay out $360. Bettors would get their $100 original stake returned and receive $260 in profits. The parlay bet in this example is giving us more than double in profits, as if we were making these bets individually.
Parlay bets have the potential to be more profitable than individual wagers. However, to win a parlay bet, you have to win each of the individual bets that are in the parlay.
If you lose one individual bet, then you lose the entire parlay wager. You get a bigger payout for the higher risk you take! 3-team parlay strategy When betting on 3-team parlays, there are a few strategies you can use.
Going beyond three teams – or selections – in parlays is one of the biggest mistakes bettors make. The sportsbook’s edge is far too high once bettors move past three teams. Many sportsbooks still have a +595 price when most sites have a +600.
If you’re going to be betting a lot of 3-team parlays, make sure to line shop and be sure to place your bets at +600. A parlay push In the case of a push, parlays revert to the smaller number of teams.
For example, if we bet a 3-team parlay and one of the best pushes, the wager becomes a 2-team parlay with an adjusted payout. If one leg of a 2-team parlay pushes and the other bet wins, sportsbooks differ on how they handle the wager.
Some may revert the parlay into a straight wager and grade the bet a winner while others will return all stakes and grade the bet as a push. Sportsbooks that grade pushes in parlays as losses (there are very few that do this) should be avoided.
Forcing true odds pays the same as if you bet each team individually and rolled the profit forward each time Parlay bets are often charged with a higher commission by the sportsbooks, they don’t usually offer true odds.
They use the following odds to calculate parlays when all legs or wagers of the bet have -110 vigorish or juice. You should be able to identify these based on the fact that sportsbooks always have an edge when it comes to parlays.
However, if we look closely, their margin is much smaller on 2 and 3-team parlays than say a 7-team parlay. There is a little trick you can use to force sportsbooks to use true odds instead of their manipulated odds.
At most online sportsbooks in the US market, bettors can add a single selection to the parlay that isn’t the standard -110 to force a fair calculation. Forcing a true odds calculation is one of the best ways to improve your winning percentage when it comes to betting parlays.
You should not be betting more than 2-3 team parlays, but getting a wager in there that has odds different than -110, such as -105 or -115, will undoubtedly improve your bottom line profits. Due to the gargantuan payouts that bigger parlays have, the books increase their edge on these wagers by lowering the payouts.
We can quickly draw from the true odds that parlays above four teams are rarely worth considering. The higher the number of teams, the bigger the end is held by the oddsmakers. Recreational bettors love wagering large parlays, and the bookies are happy to take their action.
They make so much money off of gamblers every year on parlays, that they will often publicize when someone hits a big parlay payout in hopes that others will follow their lead. A well-known strategy to incentivize more bettors to get in on the action.
Calculating true odds parlays. Bettors should rarely bet more than 2-3 team parlays, but we do recommend forcing a calculation if you’re going to bet on a higher number of teams to get a fairer price.
If we are calculating for a 5-team parlay strategy assuming that we’re betting $100, the first thing you need to do is convert the moneyline odds on each bet to decimal odds: This calculation can be done using some formulas, however, you can always use our handy betting odds calculator to make it easier.
You can find the link in the description of this video. Then, you need to multiply all decimal odds together: We subtract 1.0 from our 27.28 decimal odds to account for our stake which includes the amount risked to 26.
28. These decimal odds are easily converted into US Odds, which comes out to +2528. If we compare these odds to the usual +2435 payout for a 5-team parlay, although we don’t hit the true odds, we have a substantial advantage over the fixed payout.
Substituting one bet that doesn’t have -110 odds will force a calculation from the sportsbook. For larger parlays, with 7-8 teams, a -115 or -120 attached odds for one wager will still offer a better calculation than all -110 bets.
Bets that are -115 or higher are simply more likely to win compared to -110 wagers. Advanced Parlay Strategy When Betting If you’re going to be betting a lot of parlays, the first thing we recommend is that you get the best possible odds available.
You may see small variations in parlay odds between sites, so remember even a 10-20 cent difference adds up in a big way over the long run. This is an area where some bettors, even those who are excellent line shoppers on their straight wagers, forget to line shop for the best price.
Clearing Sportsbooks Bonuses We touch on this a lot more in-depth in our safestbettingsites.com article on sportsbook deposit bonuses, but it’s worth touching on briefly here. 3-team parlays are always the best way to clear freeplay bonuses because bettors will get the chance to apply free stakes to three different wagers instead of a -110 straight bet.
We mention this specifically for football because at the start of football season, sportsbooks offer a large list of bonuses, including reload bonuses for players that already have accounts. Circumventing Betting Limits One of the best ways to get more money down on a bet you like is to parlay it with another wager.
For instance, say you’ve bet the maximum amount allowed on a point spread permitted by the sportsbook. Parlaying that wager with another bet would let you to bet more on that selection. Bettors might parlay it with a heavy favorite moneyline or another bet or two that they feel strongly about.
Remember, since 2-team parlays pay +260 or better, they only need to win one of these wagers to turn a profit on their bet, provided their main max market wager is a winner. That’s the only tricky part, but doable nonetheless.
Disguising Your Account Betting a few parlays here and there may also help your account from being limited or “cut off.” Every account is profiled and those that lose at sports betting often bet a lot of parlays, especially those with 4 teams or more.
If you throw in a few 2-3 team parlays, this may give risk management a second thought on limiting your account if you’re a successful or winning player. If you happen to start winning at sports betting – losing accounts to being limited is something that will undoubtedly happen.
Parlay Bets Variations Most parlays are straightforward when it comes to choosing your bets and when it comes to grading by the sportsbooks. There are a few variations that are available at most online betting sites.
Some of these have more value than others and are worth considering as an option if they’re available at your sportsbook. 1. Progressive parlays are unique in the sense that you don’t need to win all your bets for the parlay to be profitable.
For example, you may get a portion of your winnings back or make some profit if you pick three or four out of five bets correctly on a progressive parlay. This option is rare at online betting sites, but it is still available at some.
2. Multi-Chance parlays Multi-chance parlays are similar to progressive parlays with a critical difference. Instead of progressive payouts depending on how many legs or bets you get correct, multi-chance parlays have the same payout, whether you get every bet correct or hit the minimum number of wagers needed for a payout.
So, while you do not need to win all your selections for a multi-chance parlay – the payout does not change based on how many bets you get right. 3. Open parlays offer the most value out of all the parlay variations.
Open parlays allow bettors to pick several games in a parlay and then add more games to the parlay at a later time. For instance, if you want to bet on two games in the evening, but want to add another bet to the parlay, then you can create an open parlay.
If you win both of your bets that evening, you can then add more bets to your parlay. Most betting sites will allow you to add more legs to the parlay individually or fill all the slots at once. Open parlays can be valuable if you want to pair two bets with what you perceive to be another strong wager at a later date.