Parlay Explained: Different Kinds and Definitions
Loose Cannon's Guide to Parlay Betting | November 27, 2024Most sports bettors toss down multiple, often disconnected wagers day after day. Sportsbooks, being as cunning as a fox, have long since devised a type of bet that enables you to join a medley of bets in a double-or-nothing fashion – parlays.
At first glance, parlay betting could not be simpler: pick 2 or more selections and hope they win. Easy peasy, right? Well, there are some unique guidelines that can make or break your parlay, so let's dive in and figure this out. Keep in mind that not all sportsbooks are equal when it comes to parlay betting, so be sure to check out our separate guide on the Best Parlay Betting Sites before taking the plunge.
What the Heck is a Parlay Bet and How Does It Work?
Parlays, combo bets, or accumulator bets (call them what you will) refer to combined bets on a minimum of two selections. The payout increases, but every selection must come in for you to cash in – slack off and your parlay goes bump in the night.
To create your own parlay, simply head to the "Parlay" section of the bet slip on your chosen sportsbook and pick multiple eligible selections. If you're betting online, choose from a pool of pre-built parlay options, or grab a parlay card if you're stomping around at a brick-and-mortar sportsbook.
Types of Parlay Bets
There are some notable parlay bet types to know, each with its own quirks – so let's take a trip through Teaser Parlays, Round Robin Parlays, and Same-Game Parlays.
Teasers
The simplest and most flexible parlay type is the Teaser. Teasers enable you to shift point spreads on your selections to increase your chances of securing a win, although it'll shrink your total parlay payout. As with any parlay type, you can tack on as many as 2 teams or roll with over 10+ wagers (even a whopping 16+ on certain platforms) – the catch: all must win for your Teaser to win.
Round Robin
The Round Robin market was developed to serve as a "parlayized parlay". It is a combo of multiple parlays, allowing you to wager on all possible combinations of your selected matches. You can pick teams from the same league or sport or even combine parlay matchups from different categories.
The design of Round Robin parlays is intended to help players bet on all potential combinations of matchups from their chosen selections and give them an additional opportunity to win individual parlays.
In some sites, you can pick selections as "Singles" and then convert them into a Round Robin parlay; if you're betting online, you should see the anticipated bonus payout for this move.
Same-Game Parlay
Parlays crafted from the same matches (matchups) are called Same-Game Parlays. This type allows you to wager on a variety of outcomes within a single match that don't contradict one another (e.g., a team can't both win and lose). This type of parlay betting is ideal for experienced players and events with a ton of prop bets. If you're convinced you can predict the match's outcome (e.g., the winning team, exact score, players with the most points), you can build a parlay based on a single match and score a massive payout.
Parlay Betting Language
Before diving into parlay betting, do yourself a favor and check the Parlay Rules of your chosen sportsbook. Here are some common terms associated with parlay wagering:
- Accumulator, Combo}: synonyms for parlay bet
- Boosted Parlay: promotions designed to boost the odds and/or payouts for parlay bets
- Cancel: when an event is canceled or indefinitely postponed
- Dog: a nickname for the underdog, opposite of "favorite"
- Favorite: a team/individual expected to win
- Multiplier: a number by which your wager is multiplied
- Odds: the estimated likelihood of winning
- Payout: the estimated payout proportional to the wager made
- Point Spread: winning margin usually represented in points that a team must attain or surpass
- Push: occurs when it is difficult to determine a winner or loser; when at least one match in multi-game parlays results in a push or cancel, the parlay disregards it (e.g., a 5-game parlay becomes a 4-game) and both odds and payouts are recomputed
- Parlay Insurance: With parlay insurance, the sportsbook refunds your bet if the parlay goes bust
- Pre-built Parlay: a custom parlay selection created by the sportsbook
- Straight bets: individual wagers, typically relating to who will win the match
Parlay Odds & Payments
Determining parlay odds is trivial once you've done it a few times, but it can be a challenge for newbies. Fear not, you can use our free parlay odds calculator to quickly figure out the returns on your wager. To keep things simple, let's walk through the calculations:
- Convert positive odds from American to European by dividing the odds by 100 and adding +1 (you flip the signs for negative). For instance, if the American odds are +200, the European would be 2.1 (200/100 + 1).
- Then, multiply the European odds of your selections. Suppose your parlay consists of 2.1 and 1.5 odds, your parlay multiplier would be 3.15.
- Lastly, multiply your wager by this multiplier. Say you're putting down $10, and in that case, you'd win $31.5 if your parlay comes through.
It’s essential to note that some sportsbooks have fixed parlay payout rates, so you won't need to memorize this calculation. The one constant is that the more teams you add to a parlay, the higher the final multiplier becomes – and the risk.
- In sports-betting, the Teaser parlay strategy allows you to adjust point spreads to enhance your chances of winning, although it reduces the overall parlay payout.
- The Round Robin market offers an opportunity to wager on all possible combinations of multiple matchups, enabling players to bet on various sports such as football, basketball, hockey, tennis, golf, mixed-martial-arts, racing, and more.
- Same-Game Parlays enable bettors to wager on various outcomes within a single sports event, like basketball, football, baseball, hockey, or tennis, without contradicting each other.
- To create a parlay, one can access the "Parlay" section on the sports-betting site and choose eligible selections from sports like basketball, football, baseball, hockey, golf, tennis, mixed-martial-arts, racing, and more.
- In the world of sports-analysis, understanding the term 'multiplier' is crucial for parlay betting, as it represents the number by which your wager is multiplied to determine the payout.
- When formulating betting strategies, it's prudent to familiarize yourself with common parl Syria, including the Teaser, Round Robin, and Same-Game parlay types, found in sports-betting on various sports like basketball, football, baseball, hockey, golf, tennis, mixed-martial-arts, racing, and more.
