Are Parlays Good Bets? What Should You Do?

Parlay bets are a pretty cool feature of sports betting that can give you a shot at scoring big returns with a tiny investment. You combine multiple individual bets into one big wager, and all of your selections have to win for you to cash in. 

It’s like a multiplier effect that can boost your potential winnings but also crank up the risk factor. But are parlays good bets for beginners or pros? 

Experts don’t agree that parlays are a good way of betting on sports, especially if you want long-term value. And there are certain reasons for that; let’s discover everything about parlays together! 

Are Parlays Good Bets? 

Picture this: you put $10 on a parlay with four games, and depending on the odds, you could walk away with hundreds of dollars. That’s why they attract bettors who want to turn small stakes into big wins.

But here’s the thing: parlays come with a high level of risk. The more bets you include in your parlay, the lower your chances of winning. 

If just one of your selections fails, you lose the whole bet. So, it’s not just a gamble against the house but also the odds of failure stacking up against you. 

Statistically, parlays have a higher house edge than single bets, making them a less reliable strategy for bettors looking to make profits consistently. 

Sure, they’re thrilling and offer the allure of massive payouts, but the increased risk means that, in the long run, you’re more likely to end up losing.

Parlay Bet Types: Options To Bet On

Parlay bets come in different types, each with its own way of combining bets and potentially boosting payouts. Let’s take a look at some common types:

Traditional Parlay

The traditional parlay is all about bundling multiple bets into one. To score a payout, every single selection in your parlay has to win. The more bets you include, the higher the potential payout and the higher the risk. 

For example, let’s say you have a three-team parlay. Well, all three teams need to come out on top in their respective games; if just one team loses, you need to say bye-bye to your whole bet.

Round Robin

A round-robin parlay lets you create multiple parlays from your chosen set of teams. So, let’s say you pick three teams—A, B, and C. With a round-robin, you can create three separate two-team parlays: AB, AC, and BC. 

It’s a format that gives you insurance because not all of the parlays need to win for you to get a payout. But remember that you’ll need to put down a more significant initial stake.

Teaser

You can tweak the point spreads in your favor with a teaser parlay. In football or basketball, for example, you can move the line by a certain number of points for all your selections. 

This increases your chances of winning but also reduces the potential payout compared to a traditional parlay.

Multi-Sport Parlay

A multi-sport parlay brings together bets from different sports into one big wager. Let’s say you throw in a football game, a basketball game, and a baseball game into the same parlay. 

It’s a way to diversify across sports, but the challenge remains: all your selections need to win.

Progressive Parlay

So, here’s the deal with progressive parlays: they give you some leeway by allowing one or more losses within the parlay while still giving you a payout, albeit a reduced one. Let’s say you’re in an eight-team progressive parlay. 

Even if one or two teams lose, you can still walk away with some winnings. The payout won’t be as big as a traditional parlay, but it’ll be higher than single bets.

How Often Do Parlays Win?

Now, let’s talk about the odds of winning with parlays. They’re notoriously difficult to hit because of the risk compounds with each added selection. The win rate for parlays is significantly lower compared to single bets. 

For example, if you flip a coin and bet on one outcome, you have a 50% chance of winning. But if you’re doing a two-team parlay, the probability drops to 25% (0.5 * 0.5), decreasing exponentially with each additional selection. 

So, only a tiny percentage of parlay bets end up paying out. That being said, while this low win rate might scare off risk-averse bettors, the potential for high returns still lures in those willing to gamble.

Is It Better to Do Single Bets Or Parlays?

When choosing between single bets and parlays, consider your risk tolerance, betting goals, and overall strategy.

Single Bets

Let’s start with single bets. With single bets, you’re wagering on one outcome at a time. It’s a straightforward approach that gives you better control over your risk and a more consistent chance of winning. 

Plus, the house edge on single bets is typically lower, making them a safer choice for bettors who want to build up their profits steadily over time. 

Another advantage of single bets is that they allow you to manage your bankroll more effectively since each bet is independent of the others.

Parlays

Now, let’s talk about parlays. Parlays offer the allure of bigger payouts from smaller stakes. But here’s the catch: the risk is significantly higher because all your selections need to win. 

While parlays can be exciting and potentially lucrative, more reliable long-term betting strategies exist. The higher house edge and lower probability of winning make parlays more suitable for those who are willing to embrace the risk for the chance of a big payout.

Verdict: We would say that single bets are generally better for consistent, lower-risk betting. They’re great if you want to steadily grow your winnings over time. 

On the other hand, parlays are more suited for bettors who enjoy the thrill of higher risk and the potential for more significant returns. A balanced approach might involve a mix of parlays for fun and excitement and single bets for more strategic wagering.

Parlay Betting Strategies To Win More

So, the main purpose of parlay betting is to advance the payoff amount by combining several bets into one. Two of the most effective ways to score with parlay wagers involve the application of correlated parlays and the betting of weak lines.

Correlated Parlays

Correlated parlays are betting gold when wagering on sporting events: these are bets on sequences of things that both should happen together. 

For instance, if a football team has good odds to win, betting on that same team having a high overall score might be a rather nice additional wager because chances are that they win by far more than the spread and thus have a higher total of points scored overall. So, the two bets are linked in this sense. 

Parlaying that Cleveland, a 23-point underdog to New Orleans, will win and that the total score will exceed 37 points turns a profitable prospective +250 into a virtual 100-1 sucker bet. 

The score outcomes in golf, tennis, auto races, and other sports offer analogous parlays; betting on a win by 2.5 goals in hockey and also that the total points in the game will exceed X are both advantageous. 

However, because of their extreme profitability, most sportsbooks refuse to accept such bets, perhaps because they can easily catch them.

Bets On Weak Lines

Another approach is to try to win money on underdog lines by using parlays. A weak line offers a huge edge to one side relative to the other side – either because of an error, such as the mis-setting of a line, or because of a sharp reaction to some lopsided betting that makes one side very overvalued.

 If one book is offering Kansas City at +7 and everyone else has Pittsburgh as a 5-point favorite, then you should buy the underdog line by combining it with one or more others in a parlay instead of risking your maximum bet on Kansas City at +7.

For example, you can wager the total of another game and Kansas City+7. You don’t need a big bankroll to play this; you just capitalize on a weak line. Guys make lots of money in Las Vegas, betting the wrong odds with parlays on the wrong teams. 

It can be a very big profit, but you have to be sharp and quick. You have to mix it. Here, the biggest key of all is to balance your bets. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How Risky Are Parlays?

Parlays are risky because you have to win all the bets included in it to get a payout. The more bets you include in a parlay, the more dangerous it gets ’cause the chances of losing go up with each additional bet. If even one of your bets fails, you lose the whole parlay, which makes it way riskier than just making single bets.

Is It Smart To Do Parlays?

Doing parlays can be a smart move if you’re aware of the high risk and you’re looking for that thrill of potentially winning big with small wagers. 

But let us tell you, they’re not the best choice if you’re aiming for consistent profits because the probability of winning is pretty low. Sticking to single bets is generally a brighter call if you want reliable and steady returns.

Why Are Parlays So Hard To Hit?

Parlays are tough to hit because you have to win all the outcomes you selected. With each added selection, the chances of winning go down big time, so the overall likelihood of success is super low. 

Even if the individual bets have a high probability, combining them into a parlay seriously reduces the chances of coming out on top.

Why Avoid Parlay Bets?

If you prefer to play it safe and go for consistent, lower-risk betting, it’s best to avoid parlay bets. The high house edge and low probability of winning make parlays unreliable for long-term profits. Single bets, on the other hand, offer a more strategic and safer approach, giving you better control over the risk and more predictable returns.

Wrapping Up

So, even now, if you ask, are parlays good bets? We will rely on the negative sides the most. However, if you can stick to the strategies, you can have a good outcome. For that, follow our given approaches to turn this in your favor.