6 Game Parlay Payout
- The Caesars Super Parlay Special pays 1,400 for catching 12, 60 for 11, and 6 for 10. The MGM pick-12 Premium Payout parlay card pays 3,000 for catching 12, and a 'bad beat' pay of 50 for catching 11. More on those below.
- Odds of -135 and +115 equal total parlay odds of +274 A $100 wager at odds of +274 equals potential return of $374.25 – the original wager plus a profit of $274.25. That’s an excellent return if you’re correct in both cases, but the bet will be a loser if you’re only right on one of them.
The payout is lower, but bettors don't need to sweat the games still in play. Hedges and cashouts are personal decisions worth considering. Cashing winning parlay tickets is a huge rush and can.
The risk/reward ratio of parlays has long made them an enticing proposition for bettors. Naturally, adding more “legs” to a parlay wager boosts both the difficulty and potential payout. Needless to say, the more outcomes in play, the less tolerable these bets are for the faint of heart.
The flip side — the part that makes parlays the darling of many bettors — is how sweet it is when these long-shot wagers do hit.
A New Jersey bettor at FanDuel Sportsbook at New Meadowlands Racetrack experienced that side of the equation Friday night. His MLB/NBA six-team parlay came through, turning his $4,999 wager into a $525,867.50 payout:
Team | Wager | Outcome |
New York Mets | RL -1.5 (+130) | Beat Marlins 11-2 |
New York Yankees | ML +148 | Beat Rays 4-3 |
Golden State Warriors | ML +240 | Beat Rockets 118-113 |
Pittsburgh Pirates | ML +138 | Beat Cardinals 2-1 |
Los Angeles Angels | ML -180 | Beat Orioles 8-3 |
Boston Red Sox | ML -215 | Beat Mariners 14-1 |
No shortage of sweat during six-game gauntlet
One way to at least slightly bump up the odds of parlay success — theoretically — involves going heavy on moneyline (ML) bets. Statistically, there’s typically a higher degree of success in predicting an outright winner than a margin of victory.
However, baseball can certainly be a difficult sport to prognosticate night to night, especially in the early going this season, it seems. So, a six-teamer that relies on correctly pegging four MLB winners still carries a hefty amount of uncertainty.
Predictably, Friday’s winner had to survive a handful of close calls, which all came about an hour apart. The final one of the night involved the sole NBA leg of the wager, one where the better took advantage of a somewhat surprising moneyline:
Yankees-Rays (End time: 10:15 pm Eastern)
One of two MLB underdog calls that went right. Rays starter Tyler Glasnow — the primary reason for the Rays’ status as favorites — had given up two runs to the Yankees through five innings. However, Tampa had just overcome that deficit with a three-run surge just before the right-hander took the hill to start the sixth. Glasnow began to succumb to forearm tightness at that point. He was subsequently pulled after allowing two of the first three hitters of the inning to reach.
Reliever Emilio Pagan would go on to allow New York to regain the lead by yielding two runs after entering the game. Then, the bettor would have to sweat out four more chances for the Rays before the Yanks’ 4-3 lead held up for a win. That included a no-out, bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the seventh that reliever Adam Ottavino wiggled his way out of by retiring the dangerous duo of Tommy Pham (strikeout) and Ji-Man Choi (inning-ending double play).
Pirates-Cardinals (End time: 11:09 pm Eastern)
Meanwhile, over in St. Louis, the Pirates and Cardinals were locked in a somewhat unlikely pitcher’s duel. The better had taken an underdog Pittsburgh squad to win outright with the Cards sending the inconsistent and aging Adam Wainwright to the mound. The wily veteran was seemingly operating in a time warp, however, as he’d held the Pirates scoreless through seven innings after allowing a leadoff homer to Adam Frazier.
Meanwhile, although Pittsburgh’s Trevor Williams was just as sharp, St. Louis had finally broken through in the home half of the seventh with a Paul DeJong infield single that knotted the game at 1-1. The sweat wouldn’t last too long, however. Starling Marte put the Pirates right back on top in the visitors’ half of the eighth with an RBI single. Reliever Kyle Krick made it interesting in the home half of the frame by putting two on before whiffing Dexter Fowler and inducing an inning-ending double play from Kolten Wong.
Warriors-Rockets (Approx. end time: 11:55 pm Eastern)
This one may arguably have been the most gut-wrenching of the three while it unfolded. Despite checking in as sizable moneyline favorites, the desperate Rockets hadn’t been able to separate from a short-handed Warriors squad dealing with the absence of Kevin Durant. Then, after snapping a 95-95 tie with 6:43 remaining on a James Harden 10-footer, the Rockets failed to score during the following 3:56. The Warriors built a five-point lead during that span.
Eventually, Chris Paul’s driving layup got Houston to within 104-102 with 1:45 remaining. That’s when the Splash Bros. came through for the lucky New Jersey bettor. Stephen Curry (11 points) and Klay Thompson (three points) would go on to score Golden State’s final 14 points to vault the Dubs into the conference finals and the bettor into a six-figure payday.
ALSO READ: FanDuel Sportsbook Bettor Turns $20 Into $178K With 15-Leg Parlay
Lead image courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook Meadowlands
A parlay bet is a popular form of sports wagering most gamblers are familiar with. In case you’re not, this bet is rather easy to understand. A parlay is simply a combo bet where, rather than betting several teams individually, you group them into a single wager. Using this option, the payout is greater and the risk is less, but you need all teams selected to win.
To give an example, say you’re interested this week in betting Jets -4, Patriots +3, Dolphins +2.5 and Colts -7. If your bankroll is limited to just $100, using straight wagers you’d make four separate bets of $25 to win $22.73. If you we’re feeling both lucky and in the mood to gamble, you might instead bet them all together as a four team parlay. Under the parlay option, the stakes would be $100 to win at least $1,000. To win, you’ll need to go 4-0; if one or more games push while all others win, the payout is reduced, and with any other outcome, the bet is a loss.
What happens if there’s a push in a parlay? That bet will be taken out of the parlay and the payout will be reduced as if there were one fewer team in the parlay. So if you had a 4 team parlay and you got three picks cocrrect and the other was a push, you would be paid out the odds of a 3 team parlay.
Parlay bets can be very tempting as they can offer some big payouts. See a recent parlay Kevin made at 5Dimes.eu and cashed in on!
Are Parlays Sucker Bets?
What Does A 6 Game Parlay Pay
There is a general misconception in sports betting that all parlays are sucker bets. This is simply because most sports bettors are not familiar with how they work, or how to bet them properly. In this article, I’ll address parlay betting strategies, but first let’s look at parlay odds and how they are calculated.
The parlay odds at most Las Vegas sportsbooks are:
2 teams 2.6 to 1
3 teams 6-1
4 teams 10-1
5 teams 20-1
6 teams 40-1
7 teams 80-1
8 teams 150-1
Online the odds are similar, though some sites such as BetNow and MyBookie offer better odds starting with three teams and up. What’s important to note is that these are fixed odds based on a 50/50 wagering proposition. If a spread is listed at Home Team -7 / Road Team +7 this is 50/50 proposition. If, instead, the spread was Home Team -7 -105 / Road Team +7 -115, this is no longer a 50/50 proposition, and the payout will be calculated using a method bookmakers refer to as “true odds”. I’ll cover that later in this article, but first let’s take a moment to understand where fixed parlay odds are derived from.
Let’s say you decide for the next eight weeks you’re going to bet the Monday night football game, starting with a $1.00 bankroll and betting your entire bankroll each week until you go 8-0 or bust. The potential win is as follows:
Week 1: $1.00 to win $0.91: If win total profit = $0.91 (Bankroll =$1.91)
Week 2: $1.91 to win $1.74: If win total profit = $2.65 (Bankroll =$3.65)
Week 3: $3.65 to win $3.32: If win total profit = $5.97 (Bankroll =$6.97)
Week 4: $6.97 to win $6.34: If win total profit = $12.31 (Bankroll =$13.31)
Week 5: $13.31 to win $12.10: If win total profit = $24.41 (Bankroll =$25.41)
Week 6: $25.41 to win $23.10: If win total profit = $46.51 (Bankroll =$47.51)
Week 7: $47.51 to win $43.19: If win total profit = $89.70 (Bankroll =$90.70)
Week 8: $90.70 to win $82.45: If win total profit = $172.15 (Bankroll =$173.15)
The reason parlays are often sucker bets shows up in this middle column. Had you bet these in an 8 team parlay, you’d only get paid 150 to one. Essentially, a parlay is no different than betting all in each time, only parlays generally pay much worse. However, you’ll notice the odds are not poor until you get to four teams, where the sportsbook has a whopping 31.25% advantage. Two teams pay a smidgen worse than the manual parlay (all in each time) option, where three team parlays pay a smidgen better. Rarely ever is a 2 or 3 team parlay a true suckers bet.
What Does a Parlay Pay?
As I mentioned earlier, fixed parlay odds vary greatly between online sportsbooks. Here is some info on which sites offer the best fixed parlay odds:
In general two team parlays pay +260, or $260 for every $100 bet. BetNow offers +264.5, and 5Dimes.eu offers +264, which is better than the +260 most betting sites offer.
3 team parlays pay 6/1 or $600 for every $100 bet. BetOnline.ag is the leader in the industry in 3 team parlay payouts.
This is the area where betting sites generally hurt the sports bettor, paying only 10 to 1, which gives them a 31.25% advantage. This can be avoided when betting at BetNow where the payout is +1228.3, or at 5Dimes where it is +1228.
Generally speaking, parlaying 5 teams or more teams is not a good idea; however, for sports gamblers looking for a lotto ticket, 5dimes.eu and Bookmaker.eu each offer up to 15 team parlays and have by far the best odds in the business on these.
How much does a 15 team parlay pay? A 15 team parlay will pay out over +16,000. I just tested this out and a $1 15 team NFL parlay at -110 odds will payout $16,306. Good luck hitting on that!
True Odds Parlays
6 Game Parlay Payout
1 Earlier, I mentioned fixed odds are only given when all selections are 50/50 propositions. If one side of a line requires a greater stake than the other to yield the same payout, this is not a 50/50 proposition, and the bookmaker will now use “true odds”. What’s important to note is that true odds doesn’t actually mean the “true odds” of winning. Rather, true odds pays the same as if you bet each team individually and rolled the profit forward each time, which is what I showed in the example of 8 all in bets starting with a $1.00 stake.
To calculate true odd parlays, each bet first needs to be converted into a multiplier. To do this, take what a winning ticket would return and divide it by the amount risked. For example, at -110 a $110 stake returns $210 ($110 stake + $100 win). Calculating the multiplier as return/risk here, we plug in 210/110, which means the multiplier is 1.91. If we did the same on -115, the multiplier is 215/115=1.87.
Let’s say you’re in the mood to gamble on an 8 team parlay, but the only out available to you is a bookmaker paying 150-1 fixed odds. A trick of the trade here is to include one bet that is priced differently than -110 in order to force the bookmaker to use true odds. So, let’s say you make 7 selections priced at the standard -110 pricing and one at -115. A true parlay calculates by multiplying each modifier together. The math is 1.91 * 1.91 * 1.91 * 1.91 * 1.91 * 1.91 * 1.91 * 1.87, which equals 173.41. This bet returns 173.41 times the stake, which includes the risk amount, so the bet is 1 to win 172.41. Notice this is significantly better than the fixed odds payout of 1 to win 150 on an 8 team parlay. In short, the trick of the trade when dealing with poor fixed odds is to simply add one team to the parlay that is priced differently than the standard -110.
As you can now see, if you know how to bet parlays properly, they are not always sucker bets. There are, however, a few reasons that parlays are generally not a good move. I’ll cover these, and then cover the times it does make sense.
Top Reasons to Avoid Parlays
1) Progressive betting systems are generally regarded as poor strategy for both bankroll management and bankroll growth. Professional bettors make wagers based on their quantified edge per game. While the math can work out, doing the math for proper bet sizing on a parlay is a lot of added work with little to no upside for most sports bettors.
2) Parlay bets have higher variance than straight bets. Here you’re getting the same odds, but your chance of hitting a dry spell is greatly increased. When the odds are the same it is most often better to go with the lower variance option, which in this case is straight wagers.
3) Line Shopping – Sports bettors maximize their profit by always shopping for the best price. For example, finding -4 when other sites are -4.5, and finding reduced vig options such as -104 instead of -110. When betting parlays, you’ll need to find the most favorable odds for each team at a single betting site. This scenario is rare, so generally you’ll end up with better odds by making straight wagers at multiple betting sites.
Parlays That Make the Most Sense:
Reduced Juice – BetOnline.ag offers 6.5 to one on three team parlays. This comes out better than betting sides at the -105 price standard reduced juice sports books offer. In sports such as NFL football where 50/50 wagering propositions are common, a sports bettor gets far superior odds by betting 3 team parlays at BetOnline.
Correlated Parlays – If a bookmaker was offering betting lines on both “will it be cloudy today?” and “will it rain today?”, if allowed, you’d be much better off betting either both as no, or both as yes, in a parlay bet as opposed to straight wagers. While this is a simplified example, there are plenty of times when outcomes are correlated in sports betting. For example, a handicapper might determine that if one team covers the spread, the game is more likely to go over or under the posted total. Also, during the final week of the NFL season, a certain team winning or losing the day game might result in a previously important night game now having no meaning in the playoff race.
Free Play Bonuses – Several online betting sites, for example BetNow, offer players free bets based on the size of their initial deposit. Free play bonuses are not the same as cash. The difference is that a bet made with cash returns both stake and win, where a bet made with a free play returns only win. Parlays allow you the chance to use the same free play more than once, because a parlay really is only a wager that continues to place stake+win on the next selection. Remember, fixed odd three team parlays pay a little better than true odds. So when using free plays to bet 3 team parlays, you’re getting slightly better odds, and also a chance to apply that free play stake to three different bets. This is common knowledge that 3 team parlays are a great use of free play bonuses.
Circumventing Betting Limits – I’ll warn you upfront that betting sites do not take kindly to this, and it might get you banned. The basic idea here is, say you find a parlay with monster value in a small market with low betting limits. Let’s say a woman’s field hockey line opens at +150 when it should be +100. Here making ten unique two-team parlays, using the +150 bet with a random -110 each time might be advantageous, as on average you’ll get down 5 times the max bet. At -110 juice the expected ROI is less, but to get the maximum amount down on line of significant value, it might make sense. While personally I rarely use this strategy online, I do attempt to get away with it in Las Vegas from time to time. This takes a little bit of acting, such as starting to walk away from the cage and then saying wait, also give me… Know this: It is a trick of the trade advantage players use that is not for novice bettors.
This concludes our article on parlay betting. As a final tip: if you enjoy using parlays as a lottery ticket, www.Bovada.lv runs a $10,000 weekly parlay jackpot during football season, which is an added bonus on top of what a $5 stake pays on a 10 team parlay win. To learn more, see the promo section at www.Bovada.lv. If nothing else, this article gives you some great conversation material next time someone in the sports bar says, parlays are for suckers. Hopefully, it ends up being much more than that, adding extra winnings to your bankroll. Either way, we wish you the best of luck.
Other Advanced Sports Betting Strategy Articles:
» Teaser Betting Strategy
» Prop Betting Strategy
» How To Get Max Value When Betting