In our minds, these are the best sportsbooks for betting parlays for a variety of reasons. A lot of times, the best US sportsbooks overall are going to be the best in a lot of areas.
As bettors from across the country wade into the sports betting waters, parlays seem to be an extremely popular wagering method. By definition, a parlay is any Bet Slip (sometimes called a “Ticket”) with at least two bets that are grouped together. Both bets need to win in order for the parlay ticket to be cashed.
Let’s say you like three bets. With “straight” wagering, if you win two and lose one, you get paid for your two winning bets. With parlay wagering, all three bets are together on the same ticket and all three have to win, otherwise you lose the entire ticket.
A lot of people like to bet parlays because you can bet a little to win a lot. Staring down three bets at -110 is a lot different than staring down one bet at +600. The reason why parlays pay better than regular wagers is because they are a lot more difficult to win. Winning one bet might not be that hard. Winning all three bets to cash a parlay ticket is a lot more difficult.
Parlays have been around forever, but they’ve taken on a much different meaning in the era of legalized sports betting in the United States. Most sportsbooks allow you to parlay everything under the sun. You can parlay the spread and total from the same game. You can parlay a bunch of props. Some sportsbooks even let you parlay futures together, so like a “Tampa Bay Title” future with the Buccaneers, Lightning, and Rays all on the same ticket.
The more items you add to a parlay, the more difficult it is to win, however, the bigger the “Odds” become. That is why you will see some crazy parlays with odds of +10000 or +50000. Sportsbooks are willing to offer these outlandish payout amounts because you have a small chance of winning that bet.
For example, at +10000 odds, you need to win one out of every 100 to essentially break even. It sounds easy, right? Think of how many +10000 parlays the sportsbooks see on a daily basis and how many of them lose. That is why you are offered such big odds and why so many people like to bet them. It’s a lot like scratching off a lottery ticket, except you have control of the numbers that you need to match in order to win.
Not all lottery tickets are low-risk, high-return ventures. Things called “Correlated Parlays” are now available to users because sportsbooks are allowing customers to bet “Same Game Parlays”. For example, take a college basketball game with a total of 120 and a spread of +12. That game has a low-scoring expectation, so if you think it will be low-scoring, getting 12 points on the underdog is probably a good bet.
You can parlay under 120 with +12 because you believe that there is a correlation between the two. A low-scoring game and a team getting a lot of points.
Or take the NFL, where you might see a total of 55 and a line of -3. If you think that will be a high-scoring game and think the favorite will do most of the scoring or is the better offensive team, you could invest in a correlation between the favorite and the over.
A lot of sportsbooks used to prevent correlated parlays because the right kind of calculation can give bettors the edge. With these new-school sportsbooks that are just looking to write any kind of action that they can, correlated parlays are back to being an option.
Parlays offer up a lot of opportunities on each side of the counter. Sportsbooks love writing parlay tickets because the vast majority of them are losers. A bettor might have a five-game parlay and go 4-1 and have nothing to show for it. Had those been straight wagers, 4-1 would have meant losing money from a sportsbook standpoint.
Bettors like them, especially those with smaller bankrolls, because you can bet a little to win a lot. Some people really do look at sports betting as a form of gambling in that way, so they can take their chances to bet small and win big. But, bettors can also use them as a weapon if they believe a certain number of events will happen.
Like a lot of bettors like to use money line parlays to put together big favorites in college football or UFC or another sport because it seems like a better use of resources to bet $10 to win $50 on a bunch of big favorites and maybe one underdog than to bet $10 and win $3 on each of the big favorites.
Parlay strategies are up for a lot of debate. Many people will say not to play parlays at all. Parlays are inherently a losing proposition because the odds given to win a parlay (the payout) are not the true odds. The actual likelihood of what you have bet occurring is not the same as the payout. In most cases, far from it. But, like everything else, there can be a time and place and a method to the madness.
We won’t sit here and preach to you about the time, but we will tell you about the place. Well, places, in this case. Some sportsbooks are a better bet for parlays than others. Parlay Insurance is a popular perk or promotion offered by different sportsbooks. Others allow you to parlay more things together, like player props or the Same Game Parlay options. A lot of sportsbooks also offer Cash Out options now where you can decide to just take your winnings to that point instead of risking what you’ve already won.
If you are going to bet these long shots, at least do so at the best parlay sportsbooks so that you can limit the additional risk as much as possible.