Profitable Parlays - Fact Or Fiction?

· 5 min read
Profitable Parlays - Fact Or Fiction?

There are countless 'handicapping services' in the business of providing people with parlays. They will tout win rates similar to probably the most impressive straight wager cappers. Of course, so as to they make reference to money line parlays as 'safe' bets. On  789bet  of these sites you may have the privilege of dealing with some kind of royalty in neuro-scientific parlay wagering. Regrettably, thousands will undoubtedly be fooled by this fiction again this football season.

The truth is that exotic wagers keep sports books in business. Next time you're in Vegas check out the discarded tickets you see spread everywhere. It's safe to assume that might be nearly all these losers are made up of such bets placed on both sports and racing. Of all the sucker bets open to sports bettors, the parlay is king. Bettors are lured in by the promise of a huge payout while disregarding the fact that there is absolutely no reasonable expectation of any return on the investment.

The home edge on a standard straight wager at -110 is 4.5%. Compared with many table games this is really a fairly raised percentage. Many table games and slots provide a better value for the common bettor placing a random wager. However, we all know that betting on sports isn't anything like throwing a pair of dice at the trunk wall.

Chance is important in everything the house provides. There are also steps which can be taken to reduce the edge in just about every game. Nowhere in the casino are elements such as for example skill and preparation more useful compared to the sports book. The edge on a straight wager can be reversed in the bettors favor through the use of statistics and expertise in an activity. However, a double digit house edge can never be overcome in the long term.

# of Teams | Actual Odds | Typical Payout | House Edge

2 | 3/1 | 2.6/1 | 10.00%

3 | 7/1 | 6/1 | 12.50%

4 | 15/1 | 10/1 | 31.25%

5 | 31/1 | 20/1 | 34.38%

6 | 63/1 | 40/1 | 35.94%

7 | 127/1 | 75/1 | 40.63%

8 | 255/1 | 150/1 | 41.02%

9 | 511/1 | 300/1 | 41.21%

10 | 1023/1 | 700/1 | 31.54%

As you can plainly see every parlay it is possible to possibly bet comes with a whopping 10% house edge or better. Such casino advantages tend to be more consistent with keno, plus they are equally impossible to overcome in the long run. There is absolutely no mystery surrounding the planet of parlays. Bettors are attracted to risking a small amount of money for large payouts. The games that are most often played in the casino are slot machines that offer thousands as well as millions in progressive jackpots. The mentality of these bettors is 'Go big, or go back home.' The casino is clearly pleased to oblige as an incredible number of bettors go back home with nothing in their pockets every year.


It is fair to assume that the biggest number of losing bets that a book accepts are exotic wagers of equal to or double the home minimum. The reason being most bettors do not have a meaningful bankroll set aside for sports betting. Since they don't believe they are able to make any real money by placing $25-50 on a few games weekly they continue taking parlays for $20 or less. Using this method they essentially ensure a significant loss by the finish of the growing season. Meanwhile, should they only placed straight wagers at that same level they might limit their potential losses to a few units at most.

Many bettors assume that because they are keeping how big is their bets low they are not taking on a significant risk. This analysis is flawed since it ignores several factors. Most of all, it is my experience that most bettors usually do not place just one single parlay weekly. In football this implies at the least 34 parlays are put during the regular season. In baseball that number can simply exceed 100. With a low unit bet this is still a dangerous number of wagers to put with such a high house edge. For instance, when you are placing only 5 team parlays your expectation ought to be to lose about $35 for every $100 you wager. As the number of bets you place increases it really is inevitable that you will hit that $100 mark several times over.

Using parlays as a side bet will most likely result in upping your losses or erasing any profits you managed to make on straight wagers. In '09 2009, I had litigant who broke even after increasing his bankroll by 45% using my picks. He were able to do this by placing 'small' side bets including parlays, reverses, and teasers. This is an expensive lesson to learn especially when you consider I issued an identical warning to him.

If you are going to follow his lead and continue using parlays I've a few pointers that will assist you over time. First of all, the very best value of most parlays is actually the three team parlay. The difference between the house edge on a 2 & 3 teamer is insignificant, however the payout is more than twice as much. If you take a glance at the graph you need to understand why I would never bet a parlay of 4 teams or even more. However, if you're going to make this investment listed below are two useful tips:

If you are going to bet a four or five 5 team parlay, always make it 6 as well as 10. The difference between the house edge to add one or two 2 more teams is at 5 percentage points and the payout is significantly higher for both options. The house edge on a 10 teamer is virtually exactly like a 4 team parlay, however the actual probability of hitting it are over 1,000 to 1 1.
If you are going to throw your money away chasing huge payouts on 7, 8, and 9 team parlays then just bet the 10 teamer. The House edge is about 10 points less than all three of those bets and it typically pays about 700/1.

Setting reasonable goals and being patient while attempting to achieve them may be the sign of a profitable professional bettor. Greed must be kept in check to become successful. In this regard, every bettor has two options. It is possible to chase high returns while assuming plenty of unnecessary risk. Or you can minimize your contact with a few units while maintaining an acceptable expectation to improve your bankroll by 50%...The choice is yours.