So, if you follow baseball and do your research of the teams, then parlays could be something to consider. Sometimes it makes sense to bet on baseball parlays when you want to make a small bet and simply do not have enough money for multiple bets. In sports betting a parlay is a wager which effectively combines two or more wagers into one. You make multiple selections, and all of those selections have to be correct to win. If a single selection is incorrect, you lose the wager. This makes it hard to win parlays, particularly ones that include a lot of selections. Parlay betting is a concept most sports bettors have encountered at least once, but not something most have mastered. To learn more about this excellent wagering technique and how it can make a real difference keep reading. Parlay betting is generally a poor idea, but there are times when it makes sense and can be profitable.Learning about how to make use of bonus offers, bonus cash,.

1. How Do Round Robin Parlays Work
2. How Do Parlay Odds Work
3. How Do Parlays Work Gambling

The sports betting world features plenty of different wagers. Moneylines, point spreads, and totals are among the most-popular bets.
Parlays are yet another highly popular type of bet. They provide an opportunity to win a large payout for a small wager.

If you’re somebody who likes chasing big payouts, then you’ll appreciate this aspect. However, you should also keep in mind that many consider parlays to be sucker bets.

This term implies that these wagers are terrible deals. But does a parlay always have to be a sucker bet?

The following guide answers this question by discussing the basics of parlays, why so many people like them, and if/when they’re worthwhile.

How Do Parlay Bets Work?

Most sports wagers see you gamble on a single outcome. With a point spread, for instance, you’re betting on whether a team will cover its given spread.

Parlay bets differ, though, by seeing you wager on two or more propositions. You might bet on a team covering its point spread and another team winning on the moneyline.

The fact that you pick multiple outcomes within a single wager is entertaining. However, every pick must be successful or else you’ll lose the bet.

Here’s an example to further illustrate how parlays work:

• Pick #1: New York Jets +3.5
• Pick #2: Baltimore Orioles -135
• You bet $100 on this two-team parlay.
• Both outcomes win.
• You collect a $260 profit ($360 overall).

Parlay bets let you choose the number of outcomes and what size of payouts you’d like to chase. More picks makes it harder to win a parlay wager. However, you also stand to win more because you’re accepting extra risk.

What’s the Appeal of Parlay Wagers?

Slot machines and lotteries are known for their big win potential. Both games give you an opportunity to win huge prizes with small bets.

Real money sports betting, meanwhile, doesn’t have the same reputation for big win potential—at least with small bets anyways.

How Do Round Robin Parlays Work

However, parlays are an exception to the norm. They offer an opportunity to turn a rather small wager into a payout worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Here’s a look at what parlay payouts to expect when betting $10:

• 2-team parlay = $26 profit ($36 overall)
• 3-team parlay = $60 profit ($70 overall)
• 4-team parlay = $110 profit ($120 overall)
• 5-team parlay = $220 profit ($230 overall)
• 6-team parlay = $450 profit ($460 overall)
• 7-team parlay = $900 profit ($910 overall)
• 8-team parlay = $1,800 profit ($1,810 overall)
• 9-team parlay = $3,600 profit ($3,610 overall)
• 10-team parlay = $7,200 profit ($7,210 overall)

Why Are Parlays Considered Sucker Bets?

Sportsbooks serve as quasi-middlemen between different parties that want to bet on matches. They set lines, accept money from bettors, and take a cut of the action (juice).

The juice is the bookmaker’s fee for providing their services. They don’t take a large cut of the action in most cases, but they’ll make an exception for parlay bets.

The average parlay’s juice differs based on multiple factors, including the individual sportsbook, bet type, and market.

Betting sites usually only take around 10% juice from the losing side. This figure amounts to roughly 5% from the overall betting action (i.e. winners & losers). If the average sports bet was a casino game, then the “house edge” would be around 5%.

Parlays differ greatly in terms of how much operators take from losers. Betting sites will take up to 41% juice from certain parlays. Seeing as how it’s you against the house in this instance—rather than others betting on the opposite side—you’re essentially facing a 41% house advantage.

Few forms of gambling give operators anywhere near this type of edge. Lottery drawings and land-based keno games are among the few instances where the house is this greedy.

Of course, sportsbooks are able to mask the terrible deals thanks to the huge payouts. Some bettors don’t consider the awful juice when they’re only risking $10, or so, for a chance at $1,000+. But these same gamblers could get more out of their bankroll in the long run with other bet types.

How Do Parlay Bets Compare to Normal Wagers?

Again, most types of wagers don’t come with nearly the amount of juice as parlays. Moneylines, point spreads, totals, prop bets, and live bets are all more reasonable in this category.

Here’s an example on what you’ll commonly see with a point spread:

As indicated by “-110,” the losing side commonly pays roughly 10% juice. The juice can be higher or lower in certain situations, but it doesn’t deviate much from this amount.

If you’re focused on long-term sports betting success, then you’ll gain the most value from non-parlays. As I cover next, though, parlays aren’t so bad in certain situations.

Are Parlay Bets Ever Advantageous?

As covered up to this point, the average parlay bet doesn’t offer as much value as other wagers. However, parlays aren’t completely terrible in some cases.

These bets generally feature lower juice when fewer teams are involved. Here’s a look at the typical juice for parlays at each level:

• 2-team parlay with 2.6-to-1 payout = 10.0% house edge
• 3-team parlay with 6-to-1 payout = 12.5%
• 4-team parlay with 10-to-1 payout = 31.3%
• 5-team parlay with 20-to-1 payout = 34.4%
• 6-team parlay with 40-to-1 payout = 35.9%
• 7-team parlay with 75-to-1 payout = 40.6%
• 8-team parlay with 150-to-1 payout = 41.0%
• 9-team parlay with 300-to-1 payout = 41.2%
• 10-team parlay with 700-to-1 payout = 31.5%

Even with a 2-team parlay, the house advantage (10%) is double that of a normal wager (5%). The 3-team parlay isn’t so bad either (12.5%) when compared to the other options.

Your long-term chances of winning money take a huge hit with 4-team parlays and above. You’ll be facing at least a 31.3% house edge when moving up to the bigger parlay bets.

Should You Still Place Parlay Wagers?

Sports gambling offers lots of freedom thanks to its betting variety. Nobody can tell you what type of wager to make.

Maybe you’re a recreational bettor who doesn’t want to risk much, yet still seeking big payouts. You should consider parlay bets in this case due to the large payouts.

Provided you know the risks going into the matter, then you can make an informed decision. You’ll be facing serious juice when adding lots of teams to a parlay. But these might be the type of thrills that you’re looking for with sports betting.

You can also choose parlays with fewer outcomes to lower the juice. You aren’t going to win as big when successful in these cases, but you’ll still get a decent payout. More importantly, you won’t have to pay as much to the house when losing.

Bankroll Management for Parlay Bets

If you’re going to make parlay wagers, then you should strongly consider only dedicating a portion of your bankroll to these bets. I offer this suggestion for two reasons:

1. You don’t want to face high juice on the majority of wagers.
2. Parlay bets can be extremely volatile.

The first point is self-explanatory because you don’t want to deal with such a high house edge. By distributing your bankroll across various types of wagers, you won’t keep butting heads with the extreme juice involved with most parlays.

Regarding the second point, parlay wagers don’t win quite as often as other bet types. Downswings hurt much more in these cases because you’re not bringing in many winnings to sustain your bankroll.

How Do Parlay Odds Work

You should think about taking a balanced approach towards parlays that only involves dedicating a certain percentage of your funds towards them. Here’s an example on doing so:

• You have a $500 bankroll.
• You’d like to make your betting funds last for a while.
• That said, you only dedicate a 15% of your funds towards parlays.
• 500 x 0.15 = $75 for parlay bets

Conclusion

Parlays will never be the safest choices in sports gambling. They hit hard on two fronts through insane volatility and a high house edge.

Nevertheless, you might still consider these bets on occasion. You won’t face as high of a house advantage with 2- and 3-team parlays. These wagers give you an opportunity to win 2.6-to-1 and 6-to-1 payouts, respectively.

Parlays with 4 teams or more, by comparison, are much worse deals. They feature house advantages ranging from 31.3% to 41.2%.

You might still consider larger parlays when looking to win big with a small bet. However, you should definitely avoid them if you’re focused on value and not giving as much away to sportsbooks.

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A round robin (RR) is simply a nickname for a type of parlay wagering strategy. You take a group of three or more selections and put them in combinations of individual parlays. You could enter these parlays individually yourself, but a lot of sportsbooks allow you to select a round-robin option and do it automatically. This proves to be a much faster proposition.

Round robins get a lot more complex as the number of teams goes up. A two-way round robin means that you are betting as many different two-team parlay combinations as you can with a given number of teams. On a three-team RR two-way parlay, you would have three different two-teamers.

Let’s just give an example to show you how a three-team RR two-way bet would work. You like three teams we’ll call the Cowboys -7, Packers -7 and 49ers +4. Let’s say you wanted $100 on each pair. Here’s how your wagers would look:

• Parlay 1:
  Cowboys -7
  Packers -7
  Betting $100 to win $260
• Parlay 2:
  Cowboys -7
  49ers +4
  Betting $100 to win $260
• Parlay 3:
  Packers -7
  49ers +4
  Betting $100 to win $260

How Do You Win a Round Robin?

How Do Parlays Work Gambling

So, you’ll be risking $300 for a potential profit of $780. Your only options will be to lose all three, win all three, or lose two and win one. If you lose all three, you would obviously be out $300. If you win one and lose two, you would win $60. So, you basically have to go 2-1 or 3-0 to show a profit.

Are They Worth It?

That’s why it might be better to just bet all three separately for $100 each because if you go 2-1, you win $90 instead of $60. If you go 1-2 you lose $120 instead of $300. However, if you go 3-0, you would only win $300 compared to $780! The chances of going 3-0 are 7/1, meaning you will only hit one three-team parlay out of every seven you bet.

Here is a look at the Round Robin table showing you how many picks, how many ways you can bet them, and how many different combinations of bets you will have for each.

Picks	Ways	Number of Bets
3	2	3
4	2	6
4	3	4
5	2	10
5	3	10
5	4	5
6	2	15
6	3	20
6	4	15
6	5	6
7	2	21
7	3	35
7	4	35
7	5	21
7	6	7
8	2	28
8	3	56
8	4	70
8	5	56
8	6	28

As you can see, there are so many different combinations you can bet. The problem is that the more teams you have, the more bets you are going to have to place. Say you have eight teams and want to do as many 4-team parlays as you can do with those eight teams. Well, there’s a whopping 70 different combinations of 4-team parlays with eight teams. So, if you’re betting $100 on each parlay, that means you will be betting $7,000.

It’s simply not worth the risk in my opinion. If you go 3-5, you lose all 70 bets for a grand total of $7,000. You would have to go at least 4-4 to get any money back, and even then you’d only hit one 4-team parlay at 10/1 odds, which would bring back $1,000. So, you’d still lose $5,900 by simply going .500. You’d lose 69 bets at $1000 each and win one for $1,000.

The novice sports bettor sees a chance at a huge payout with these Round Robin parlays. And, if you do bet as many parlays as you can with six teams and go 6-0, then you are going to make a fortune. But how many times have you actually gone 6-0 in a day? The chances of doing so are slim to none, and if you bet too many of these Round Robin parlays, then you’re going to be broke before you ever get the chance to go 6-0.