Parlay Betting: Dos, Don'ts, and How to Play

Parlay Betting: Dos, Don

Sports betting is quite a strong industry at the moment, generating billions of dollars every year worldwide. Every punter has a different approach to betting, with some people doing it for the thrill of the win while others love to have some fun now and then.

That said, even if you're not an avid sports betting fan, you've probably heard about parlay betting. After all, it is quite common in today's world, especially due to the high payouts they can pay if you happen to play them right.

Today, we’ll go through the essentials of Parlay Betting and what you should and shouldn’t do every time you decide to play them!

What is Parlay Betting?

Parlay bets are a type of accumulative bet where you place wagers on multiple events at the same time instead of making individual bets on each one. Hence, you group several single-event bets into one wager, and you wait for the best to happen.

What's so special about parlay bets is that they offer bigger odds than regular bets, and the implied risk is higher. All the matches you've chosen in your parlay must "win" for you to be able to request your payout. If only one bet loses, then you'll lose the whole parlay.

How much can a Parlay pay?

As mentioned above, Parlays tend to have significant payouts, although it depends on the matches and the odds posted in the sportsbook.

Sportsbooks tend to pay 2.6/1 for two-teamer matches and 6/1 for 3-teamer events using the typical -110 lines. Let's see an example: You're betting on a two-teamer bet, and both of them have +100 as odds. If you place $100.00 on each one and happen to win, you will end up with $300.00.

Again, every sportsbook is different and may offer different odds. However, you can now use calculators on the web that let you know how much you can expect from a Parlay using different odds. This way, it’ll be easier for you to visualize the potential your bet has.

How to play Parlays correctly

There isn’t a particular formula when it comes to playing Parlays. In fact, most experts will discourage you from taking them seriously, mainly because the implied risk is extremely high. It becomes even riskier the more teams or events are involved in the parlay, as one single bad result can make you lose all your money.

That said, there isn’t a specific formula to follow when it comes to playing Parlays. Most people will tell you that you should only play them whenever you’d like to have fun and test your luck.

However, that doesn't mean that you can't win a Parlay. If you truly want to win, you may want to do what's recommended for most bets: make your research on every event you would like to bet on, place your best and expect the best.

Parlay betting can be fun and extremely rewarding, but it shouldn’t be taken too seriously.

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