What is a Parlay Bet?

A parlay bet is a bet in which multiple sporting events are selected. It combines multiple straight wagers on one ticket and can be made on point spreads, over/unders or moneyline bets. Each pick must win in order for the parlay bet to be successful, however, successful parlay bets earns a higher payout.

Let’s look at an example of how a parlay bet works. Let’s say you roll with a simple three-game parlay and you bet:

Seattle Seahawks +12
San Francisco 49ers -5
New England Patriots +10

To win, you need all three of these bets to be successful. If even one of them fails to deliver, you lose the parlay. The parlay decreases the chances that your bet will be successful. In return, you do earn a higher payout for successful parlays.

Pros & Cons

Pros: You can bet a little to win big. Depending on the number of bets, successful parlays can payout nearly 10x that of sum of the same number of successful individual bets.

Cons: The numbers are against you and parlays are unsuccessful more times than not. Your chances of winning the first bet is 50%, winning two drops to 25%, three to 12.5%, etc. It’s easy to see how difficult it is to win a parlay, but such is life and sports betting.