• What's A Parlay In Betting
• What's A Parlay In Sports Betting
• How Much Does Two Team Parlay Pay
• What's A Parlay Bet

The reason sports bettors love to play parlays is apparent. With a straight bet on one game, if a player hits his or her $100 bet – assuming standard vig – he or she will win less than $100 in profits.

With a parlay, by just adding one more game to the original bet, that $100 parlay will net a player $260 in profits. Seems like a no-brainer, right?

Parlays are the Frankenstein’s monster of sports betting. They are wagers that consist of other bets glued together with one another. They are also a high-risk, high-reward opportunity for the daredevil sports bettor. If you are a Colorado resident who feels like kicking things up a notch, make sure you read this guide to parlay betting first. Parlay synonyms, parlay pronunciation, parlay translation, English dictionary definition of parlay. Parlayed, parlaying, parlays 1. To bet on a subsequent event.

If bettors are going to wager on multiple games, they might as well combine the bets to make more money. Plus, with parlays, they can combine different types of bets. If they love a team to beat the spread and think the total points scored will go over the posted line, they can combine both types of bets into a single parlay that will result in a bigger payout than if they were to hit on both bets individually.

Again, it’s a no-brainer.

Well, not so fast. There is a “but,” and it is a big “but” that you should consider before placing any parlay. PA Sportsbooks would not offer these types of bets if they were easy to hit. In fact, if you ask the book, they love parlays. The reason for that is also simple – for you to make a profit, you must be 100 percent correct on all of the bets.

Example: A player places $100 on the Redskins (+3) and another $100 on the Rams (-7). The Redskins lose on a last-second field goal, but only by two points, so they cover the spread. The Rams, on the other hand, win but fail to cover their seven-point spread. The player wins one and loses one, so all he’s out is the vig on his winning bet. That amounts to less than $10 in profits to the sportsbook.

Now, consider what the book would make if the player had decided to combine those two games into a single $100 parlay. Because the Rams failed to cover, what happened with the Redskins is meaningless. The entire bet is lost. The $100 wagered goes to the sportsbook, as opposed to the less than $10 they made in the first scenario.

According to a study at UNLV, sportsbooks in Nevada make a 37 percent average profit on parlays, in contrast with just 7 percent on other bets. While players may love parlays, the sportsbooks love them even more.

Because of the potential bigger payoffs to gamblers, parlays remain popular. Let’s make sure you have all of the necessary information before placing one.

Parlay odds and profits at PA sportsbooks

The following odds and profit amounts on a $100 bet are the industry standard. (However, some sportsbooks may post different odds. Always double check the odds before placing any bets.)

• Two-team 2.6 to 1 $260
• Three-team 6.5 to 1 $650
• Four-team 13 to 1 $1,300
• Five-team 25 to 1 $2,500
• Six-team 50 to 1 $5,000

Note that as point spreads change, the payout on your parlay does not. Payouts are fixed in place at the time you place the bet.

How to make a parlay bet

Most sportsbooks come equipped with parlay cards. These are long and narrow cards that look similar to lottery tickets. All a player needs to do is fill in the circle that corresponds with the bets they want to include in the parlay, then visit the counter to place the wager.

Many types of parlay cards are available — especially during football season — and may also include proposition bets.

Players can skip the card altogether and go directly to the counter, tell the attendant which games or totals they want to wager on, then pay the amount they wish to bet.

Placing a parlay bet online or through an app works the same way. Because of the popularity of parlay cards, many online books are set up to mimic the ease and readability of such cards. If they don’t offer a card to fill out, they feature an easy-to-find “parlay” button that allows the player to add the series of wagered outcomes to the parlay.

Different types of parlays

The most common parlay type is the standard parlay we’ve covered. You take a series of two or more regular bets, then tie them together into a single wager. There are, however, two other ways to do parlays that increase the odds of success for the player.

The first is a round robin, which is a simpler way to set up multiple parlays. A player could bet each parlay separately, but with a round robin bet, they save the time and hassle. They can also cover themselves if they aren’t sure which games to tie together.

Example: A player loves the Lakers (-4.5), Warriors (-8.5) and Nuggets (+2.5) as potential plays. Instead of having to create each of the three possible parlays or choose the parlay they like the most, the player can bet these as a round robin.

The sportsbook then takes these three teams and automatically creates the following parlays:

• Lakers and Warriors
• Lakers and Nuggets
• Warriors and Nuggets

The player must pay three times as much to place the bet because each of these combinations comes with a cost. However, the bet’s potential payout is also higher.

Some sportsbooks put a cap on the total number of teams or size of the combinations that a player can put into a round robin, while others allow gamblers to be limited only by their imagination and the amount they’re willing to wager.

The other parlay type is a teaser.

This is a parlay that allows the bettor to move the point spread on multiple games. Most popular for NFL bets, teasers offer shifts in the spread by 6, 6.5 or 7 points. The same point total must tease all games in the parlay, but they may go in different directions. A bettor can take the Falcons at -8 and move them to -2 while moving the Bengals from +2 up to +8.

Like all parlays, the more games added to a teaser, the higher the potential payout. However, the more points you shift the line, the lower the overall odds.

Again, keep in mind that the rules of placing teasers can vary between sportsbooks, as can the number of points a spread can shift.

What happens when parlay legs push

One final note on parlays — if a player wagers on a four-team parlay but one of those games pushes (ends in a tie against the spread), the bet automatically reverts to a three-team parlay. The same holds true for baseball parlays for games that get rained out as well as any sport where a game involved in a parlay is canceled.

If a parlay ends up reverting to a lower number of bets, the odds on which it pays will also revert to the lower number.

Both sports bettors and sportsbooks seem to love parlays. The former because parlay paydays are so attractive and the latter because parlays are so hard to win.

According to data compiled by the UNLV Center For Gaming Research from 1984 to 2019, the win percentage Nevada sportsbooks enjoyed on parlays was over 30%, compared to around 5% for all sports bets combined.

Unless Michigan sports bettors prove infinitely sharper or choose to avoid parlay betting altogether, similar numbers should come out of this market.

Parlays are the most profitable bets for Michigan sportsbooks. That doesn’t mean you can’t win a parlay and enjoy the big payday it provides though.

Here’s a detailed explanation of parlay betting, to how you can place a parlay bet, and some of the odds on today’s most popular parlays.

Parlay betting explained

A parlay bet essentially combines two or more bets into one wager. The payouts increase exponentially on parlays because you have to win every bet, or leg, that is part of the parlay for it to pay anything at all.

In other words, if one bet loses, the entire parlay loses.

Of course, it’s hard enough to pick one winner, let alone two, three, four, or more, which is why sportsbooks are willing to offer such big odds on parlay bets.

Are parlay bets legal in Michigan?

Michigan sportsbooks will allow you to bet on parlays involving all kinds of sports, including NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, NCAA basketball, and NCAA football games. They’ll also let you bet multi-sport parlays combining games from different sports.

However, it’s worth noting that most professional sports bettors avoid parlay betting despite the attractive nature of the big payouts involved. Michigan sportsbooks pay out less on winning parlays than the true odds of stringing together multiple betting winners.

But putting together winning parlays is not impossible, and parlay betting remains one of the most popular ways to bet on sports.

Parlay odds

Calculating parlay odds can be difficult because different sportsbooks employ different formulas, and the types of bets can vary so greatly.

What we do know is that Michigan sportsbooks consider both the currently posted odds on the individual bets and the probability of picking winners in the number of games that are part of the parlay to determine a potential payout.

You will be able to find various parlay calculators online that can give you close estimates on parlay payouts, but you’ll have to check with a Michigan sportsbook for precise potential payout information.

Parlay payouts are fixed at the time you place the bet. Even if the line changes for one or more of the games in your parlay ahead of the start, your parlay payout won’t. If the lines change in your favor you can always put together a new parlay with the same bets and an improved potential payout, but your original parlay, and its potential payout, still stands.

One Michigan sportsbook may offer a different payout for the same parlay as another, so it’s a good idea to shop around when betting parlays. Of course, this process will be made much easier when Michigan online and mobile sportsbooks go live in late 2020 or early 2021.

How to make parlay bets

Betting parlays is easy with online and sports betting apps and self-service betting kiosks at Michigan retail sportsbooks.

For the most part, you tap the screen on the sport you’re interested in betting on, browse through the betting markets, and tap on the bets you want to make a part of your parlay.

Once you’ve found them all, look for the parlay section on the instantly-created bet slip and fill in the amount you wish to wager. A potential payout will be displayed. Verify that all the information on the bet slip is correct and submit the bet.

Betting parlays at a ticket window in a retail sportsbook is all about conveying that same information to the cashier verbally and confirming. You can also fill out a parlay card with all your parlay information and hand it to a cashier at the window at most Michigan retail sportsbooks.

Parlay betting is infinitely easier and more convenient with online and mobile sportsbooks and self-service betting kiosks. Both allow you to see the potential payouts for a variety of different parlays and modify the bet as you see fit.

Most popular parlays

You can combine all kinds of standard bets into a parlay at Michigan sportsbooks. You can put together single-sport or multi-sport parlays with legs that include everything from moneyline, spread, and even futures bets. The one restriction is on bets involving the same event, which means you can’t combine moneyline and spread bets from the same NFL game, for example.

Here’s a look at some of the most popular parlays:

NFL parlays

NFL parlays are the most popular in US sports betting. The weekly NFL schedule allows you to make up to 13-game parlays almost every single Sunday. Taking a look at the NFL 2020-21 Season Week 1 odds atFanDuel Sportsbook App you can easily see what makes NFL parlay betting so popular.

Making four Week 1 $25 spread bets on a series of underdogs might look like this:

• Houston Texans at Kansas City Chiefs: Texans +10 (-115) – $25 to win $21.74
• Arizona Cardinals at San Francisco 49ers: Cardinals +8.5 (-120) – $25 to win $20.83
• Chicago Bears at Detroit Lions: Bears +2.5 (-120) – $25 to win $20.83
• Cleveland Browns at Baltimore Ravens: Browns +8.5 (-110) – $25 to win $22.73

If all four bets win, you’ll make almost $90 in profits.

However, if you took that same $100 and put it on a four-team parlay involving the same bets you would stand to win more than ten times that. That’s right, the potential payout for a $100 four-team parlay involving these four Week 1 spread bets is a whopping $1,099.64.

NBA parlays

With so many games held throughout the season, including up to 12 a night at some points, NBA parlays are almost as popular as NFL parlays. Looking at some regular-season NBA game odds shows you how much more parlays pay than individual bets, even if you’re betting the favorites in just two games.

For example, the Milwaukee Bucks might be a -310 moneyline favorite over the Atlanta Hawks. Put $25 on the Bucks at that price and you stand to win just $8.06 plus your bet back.

On the same night, the Detroit Pistons might be -124 favorites over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Put $25 on the Pistons at that price and you stand to win $20.16 plus your bet back.

Winning both bets will get you about $28 in profit, but combining both bets into a $50 two-team NBA parlay will get you more than double that, paying $69.46 plus your $50 bet back.

MLB parlays

Like the NBA, with multiple games on most days and nights throughout the season, MLB parlays are quite popular as well. Picking MLB moneyline winners and betting $25 on each in the following games might lead to close to $75 in profits:

• Tigers vs. Indians: Tigers -122 – $25 to win $20.49
• Phillies vs. Mets: Phillies +112 – $25 to win $28
• Yankees vs. Red Sox: Red Sox +100 – $25 to win $25

However, putting these three moneyline bets together as a part of a three-team $75 MLB parlay could earn you a whopping $503.66, even though you’d be risking the same amount of money.

With payouts like that it’s easy to see why MLB parlays are so popular.

Successful parlay betting tips

People see the potential payouts for parlays and can’t help but fire away. It’s only later they realize how hard it is to pick just one winner, let alone the winner of two or more games.

The world keeps turning and the sportsbooks stay profitable. Still, someone is bound to hit a massive 13-game NFL parlay for big bucks every year, and there’s no reason it can’t be you.

That said, it’s those who do a ton of research beforehand and make well thought out and carefully calculated plays that win parlays regularly.

These five parlay betting tips may help set you on that path:

Combine favorites

You normally have to put some pretty big bets down to make big favorites worth your time. However, you can make a profit with a smaller stake if you put two favorites together as a part of a parlay. This is a great way to bet the (no such thing as a) sure thing and get a decent return while risking a little less than you might normally have to.

Size down

Big odds might make you want to bet big, but increasing your normal bet size for a parlay isn’t always the wise move. Sizing down may be the prudent play. Bet big-paying parlays smaller and it won’t hurt too much when they lose, which happens more often than not. The payday on the right parlay will still offer a bit of that “wow” factor even with small bet size.

What's A Parlay In Betting

Find the hedge

Play a parlay correctly and there’s a good chance you’ll be able to hedge against the last leg. This means locking up some guaranteed winnings or at least your original stake by playing a little defense, betting against yourself, and taking out somewhat of an insurance policy. If you’re doing it right, you’ll be putting together parlays that naturally provide you the opportunity to lock in some profit midway through.

Multi-sport parlays

Betting parlays is still about finding the best value bets on the board. The big difference is you have to combine several bets. Multi-sport parlays are very often your best bet because it’s easier to find multiple bets with real value when you broaden your sporting horizons.

Limit the legs

There are 13 games on any given Sunday in the NFL, but that doesn’t mean you have to bet them all in the same parlay. Look for bets that offer value and combine them. If that’s only two or three games, limit your parlay to two or three legs. Smaller parlays don’t offer the massive paydays the larger one does, but they win more often.

What's A Parlay In Sports Betting

Bet Types

Parlay betting: key takeaways

Parlays will continue to be among the most profitable bets for sportsbooks and sports bettors will remain attracted to the big payouts they often offer. In other words, parlay betting isn’t going anywhere.

How Much Does Two Team Parlay Pay

It will be among the most popular types of sports betting in Michigan even as the market grows and matures Michigan sportsbooks will make money off parlay betting and the odd story about a massive parlay win will only add to sports betting allure here in the state. People will pay more attention to the big payday than the big picture.

However, there will be profitable parlay betting as well. Expert handicappers will combine favorites, size down bets, look for hedging opportunities, and bet multi-sport parlays with a limited number of legs, eking out small gains.

What's A Parlay Bet

As long as there is sports betting in Michigan there will be parlay betting in Michigan and everyone will love it.