Profitable Parlays - Fact Or Fiction?

· 4 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 some of the most impressive straight wager cappers. Needless to say, so as to they refer to money line parlays as 'safe' bets. On several sites you may even have the privilege of working with some type of royalty in the field of parlay wagering. Regrettably, thousands will 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 have a look at the discarded tickets you see spread all over the place. 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 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 typical straight wager at -110 is 4.5%. Weighed against many table games this is actually a fairly high percentage. Many table games and slots offer a better value for the average bettor placing a random wager. However, we all know that betting on sports isn't anything like throwing some dice at the trunk wall.

Chance plays a role in everything the house has to offer. Additionally, there are steps which might be taken to reduce the edge in only about every game. Nowhere in the casino are elements such as skill and preparation more useful than the sports book. The edge on a straight wager can be reversed in the bettors favor by utilizing statistics and expertise in an activity. However, a double digit house edge can never be overcome in the end.

# 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 see every parlay it is possible to possibly bet comes with a whopping 10% house edge or better. Such casino advantages are more consistent with keno, plus they are equally impossible to overcome in the long run. There is no mystery surrounding the planet of parlays. Bettors are attracted to risking a small amount of money for large payouts. The games which are frequently 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 home with nothing in their pockets every year.


It is fair to assume that the largest amount of losing bets a book accepts are exotic wagers of equal to or double the home minimum. It is because most bettors do not have a meaningful bankroll set aside for sports betting. Since they don't believe they can make any real cash by placing $25-50 on several games weekly they continue taking parlays for $20 or less. By doing this they essentially ensure a significant loss by the end of the growing season. Meanwhile, if they only placed straight wagers at that same level they would limit their potential losses to some units at most.

dabet88 info  assume that because they're keeping how big is their bets low they're not taking on a significant risk. This analysis is flawed since it ignores several factors. Most importantly, it is my experience that most bettors do not place just one single parlay weekly. In football this means at the least 34 parlays are placed through the regular season. In baseball that number can simply exceed 100. With a minimal unit bet that is still a dangerous amount of wagers to put with such a high house edge. For example, in case you are placing only 5 team parlays your expectation should be to lose about $35 for every $100 you wager. Because the amount of bets you place increases it is inevitable that you'll hit that $100 mark many times over.

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

If you are going to follow his lead and continue using parlays I have a few pointers that will help you in the long term. First of all, the very best value of most parlays is actually the three team parlay. The difference between your house edge on a 2 & 3 teamer is insignificant, however the payout is more than twice as much. Invest the a look at the graph you should understand why I would never bet a parlay of 4 teams or more. However, if you are going to make such an investment here are two useful tips:

If you are going to bet a four or five 5 team parlay, always ensure it is 6 as well as 10. The difference between your house edge to add one or two 2 more teams is within 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 cash away chasing huge payouts on 7, 8, and 9 team parlays then just bet the 10 teamer. THE HOME edge is approximately 10 points less than all three of these bets and it typically pays about 700/1.

Setting reasonable goals and being patient while attempting to achieve them is the sign of a profitable professional bettor. Greed should be kept in check in order to be successful. In this regard, every bettor has two options. You can chase high returns while assuming plenty of unnecessary risk. Or it is possible to minimize your exposure to several units while maintaining an acceptable expectation to increase your bankroll by 50%...The choice is yours.