Parlays are many bets on one ticket. Instead of making a single bet on the NFL or NBA, you can combine different bets onto one slip. The only downside to making a parlay bet is that all wagers must hit, otherwise the entire bet is a bust. Parlays are the ultimate big-win chaser’s dream. The combined bets provide massive potential payouts on nominal wagers, and nearly every online sportsbook offers them. Though the odds are low for a given parlay to hit, the possible winnings are huge, and a handful of lucky bettors have cashed in some gargantuan parlay jackpots at legal sportsbooks worldw. A 10 team parlay will pay out 643 times your wager amount assuming each leg of the parlay has -110 odds. For example, if you place a $10 bet on a 10 team parlay, your pay out would be $6,430. What does a $20 two team parlay pay? A $20 two team parlay pays $72.89 assuming both legs of the parlay were bet at -110 odds.
Parlays are the ultimate big-win chaser’s dream. The combined bets provide massive potential payouts on nominal wagers, and nearly every online sportsbook offers them. Though the odds are low for a given parlay to hit, the possible winnings are huge, and a handful of lucky bettors have cashed in some gargantuan parlay jackpots at legal sportsbooks worldwide.
But before jumping into some of the craziest parlay wins on record, it helps to better understand the betting method, its upsides, and the inherent risk.
How Parlays Work
In simple terms, parlays are “all or nothing” bets. Parlays combine two or more individual bets into a single wager. This ramps up the odds so that a parlay pays much higher than any of the individual bets.
For example, I combined four bets with odds of -110, -110, +150, and +115 today on PointsBet, and the parlay payout came in at +1859. A $20 bet would pay more than $390.
Of course, there’s a catch. For a parlay to win, each individual bet must win. If you combine four bets into a parlay and one of them loses, you lose your bet even if the other three bets won. For that reason, parlays are risky bets, and most experts encourage you to steer clear.
On the other hand, casual bettors might enjoy making a weekly parlay every NFL Sunday or while any other league is in the thick of its season. There’s nothing wrong with making the occasional parlay bet as long as you acknowledge that your odds to win are low, similar to playing a slot machine.
Five Crazy Parlay Wins
Some bettors have beat the odds and been lucky enough to nab astronomical parlay wins in the past. Here’s a round-up of five amazing parlay wins.
The Three Sport Combo
Last year brought a huge windfall to one FanDuel sportsbook bettor who won on a $200 parlay combining 15 NBA, NFL, and NHL bets. The bet hit in November 2019 when all of the bettor’s moneyline wagers won for a payout of $229,276.
The moneyline bets boosted this wager over the edge for a massive win, because moneylines tend to offer longer odds if you pick the underdog. Whether it was sheer luck or educated guessing, this bettor came out on top.
The Charcuterie Parlay
In March 2019, sportsbooks were starting to take off in Mississippi on the heels of an August 2018 launch. March brought one noteworthy parlay win that featured a little bit of everything.
Rather than sticking to one type of bet, this bettor wagered $25 on a 20-leg parlay. The parlay was a veritable smorgasbord of bets and sports, including point spreads, moneylines, and totals. The wager covered a slate of Friday-night games across the NBA and NCAA basketball.
According to ESPN, the customer at BetAmerica sportsbook in Vicksburg, Mississippi’s Riverwalk Casino wagered on 14 favorites, three underdogs, and three “over” totals bets.
After a few close calls, the 20-leg bet won, netting the bettor a $104,412 win.
The Homecoming Special
In September 2020, a BetMGM customer raked in a $152,341 win on a $10 parlay.
The 11-leg bet featured five moneyline bets, five totals, and a single point spread wager (Duke +20.5). The majority of the bets predicted college football match-ups, but a few additional professional games sent the bet over the edge. The Rockets-Lakers under and the Yankees moneyline contributed to the win, resulting in a huge payday for the lucky bettor.
The 15-Leg NFL Slate
Amateur sports bettor Tayla Polia’s parlay success story is featured on countless lists just like this one, and for good reason. In 2015, Polia placed a $5, 15-leg parlay that included 14 point spread bets and one totals wager for the Steelers-Broncos matchup.
To her surprise, Polia’s bet won and paid out 20,000-1 for a cool $105,000. She actually thought the bet had failed initially because the Giants lost their match-up. But Polia had bet on the team to cover, which they did, completing her parlay and netting her a huge win.
Root, Root, Root For The Home Team
In 2015, MLB fans worldwide witnessed history. For the first time since the league’s inception, all 15 home teams won their games on a single day.
One lucky bettor cemented his place in the story by predicting the event with a 15-leg parlay bet. The Ireland bettor had plenty of reason to celebrate proverbial Irish luck when his ~$78 bet, placed at William Hill’s sportsbook, won him $100,810.
Should I Place Parlay Bets?
You may see these wins and instantly open your sportsbook app to start placing a few parlays for yourself. Before you do, it’s important to note that these wins are the exception, not the rule. The sage advice from sports betting experts is to stay away from parlays.
However, it’s okay to place a parlay bet once in a while, especially if you feel confident about a select few match-ups. Parlays can be a fun way to get in on the action and invest yourself in the match-ups of the day. Just play responsibly and keep in mind that your chances of winning any parlay are slim.
Parlay Tips
If you’re planning to place parlay bets, there are a few tips to keep in mind.
Less Is More
Sure, a 15-leg parlay is enticing, especially if the payout has four, five, or even six digits. But the more bets you include, the less likely you are to win. IF you’re interested in placing parlays, keep them simple at first. Combine two or three bets and see how they perform. If you’re lucky, you might win a few hundred dollars.
Favoritism Can Be A Benefit
Underdogs offer better payouts, but that’s only because they are viewed as less likely to win their match-up. If you’re building a parlay of moneyline bets, pay close attention to the odds. If one team is heavily favored to win, that might be the wiser pick.
Carefully Consider Home Team Bets
Unless it’s the mid-90s and you’re placing Chicago Bulls bets every week, try to steer clear of home-team bets when you’re building a parlay. I’ve fallen victim to the trap many times–I place a 5-leg parlay bet that includes my Chicago Bears to win only to find a disappointing 4-1 parlay that loses me my initial bet thanks to a crushing Chicago loss.
If you want to bet on your home team, keep that wager out of your parlays or risk disappointment.
Point Spreads Even Out The Odds
Betting on point spreads gives you smaller individual payouts, but combining them into parlays can produce big potential wins. Point spreads even out the odds of a given match-up, giving the predicted underdog a chance to cover the spread even if they lose the match.
What is a Round Robin bet?
A round robin bet is a series of parlay bets that contain every combination of teams in the parlay.
Round robin bets must consist of at least three teams (or bets).
The parlay can be broken up into individual parlays that include every team in your original parlay. Round robin betting is typically used in sports betting and is a way to decrease your risk compared to a traditional parlay.
Visually, here is how a round robin bet breaks down (by parlay size) compared to a traditional parlay using a 5 leg parlay as an example:
Round Robin Strategy: Why You Need It In Your Arsenal
Round robin betting can seem intimidating at first, but once you take some time to understand it, they can be a powerful sports betting tool for you.
Round Robin vs. Parlay: Which one is better?
Round robin betting is a good bet if you have any of the following priorities:
- You want to bet a parlay but with less risk and thus smaller payouts
- You want to maintain interest in the teams in your parlays even if one of them loses (entertainment value)
- You have a bonus at a sportsbook that requires you to bet a certain amount before you can claim it
A straight parlay is advantageous for a few reasons:
- It is simple and easier to understand your potential payout
- There is higher risk and higher reward
- You don’t need to wager as much money to get a big payoff
Round robin betting and parlay bets are similar in that a round robin is simply a group of (smaller) parlays.
Round Robin Pros and Cons
Pros
- Less risk than a traditional parlay
- Keeps your interest even if one of your teams loses
- Good for burning through sportsbook bonus requirements
Cons
- Conceptually confusing
- Hard to understand your potential payout
- Won’t have the same payoff as a traditional parlay
Round Robin Bet Examples You Can Understand
Let’s say you have a four team NFL parlay bet that you want to bet $5 on as a round robin:
- New York Giants -110
- New England Patriots -110
- Dallas Cowboys -110
- Green Bay Packers -110
Using our parlay calculator, we can see that this 4 team parlay would pay out 13.28x your wager amount, or +1228 in American odds. A $5 bet would profit $61.42 if all four teams won.
Where Parlays and Round Robins Differ
In sports betting, a round robins differ from a traditional parlay by taking those four bets and breaking them into smaller parlays.
Taking the four team NFL example above, if we bet these teams in a round robin “by 2’s” (meaning a series of two team parlay bets), it would result in making six two team parlay bets:
Sportsbook Parlay Cash Out
All possible 2 team parlay combinations
Team 1 / Team 2 / Parlay odds
Sportsbook Parlays
- New York Giants -110 / New England Patriots -110 / +264
- New York Giants -110 / Dallas Cowboys -110 / +264
- New York Giants -110 / Green Bay Packers -110 / +264
- New England Patriots -110 / Dallas Cowboys -110 / +264
- New England Patriots -110 / Green Bay Packers -110 / +264
- Dallas Cowboys -110 / Green Bay Packers -110 / +264
A round robin creates smaller parlay combinations and thus better odds of winning compared to a traditional four team parlay where each individual bet has to win.
Round robin bets keep the entertainment value alive if one of your parlay teams loses. Sports betting can be frustrating, so round robin betting can be a good balance of entertainment value and risk/return.
Round Robin Results You Can Understand
Continuing with our NFL round robin example, let’s say we see the following results:
- New York Giants -110 WIN
- New England Patriots -110 WIN
- Dallas Cowboys -110 WIN
- Green Bay Packers -110 LOSS
If this were bet as a traditional four team parlay, the bet would be graded as a loss since the Green Bay Packers lost.
If we were to bet this as a round robin by 2’s, we would see the following results:
- New York Giants -110 / New England Patriots -110 / +264
- New York Giants -110 / Dallas Cowboys -110 / +264
New York Giants -110 / Green Bay Packers -110 / +264- New England Patriots -110 / Dallas Cowboys -110 / +264
New England Patriots -110 / Green Bay Packers -110 / +264Dallas Cowboys -110 / Green Bay Packers -110 / +264
As you can see, of the six two team parlays, the round robin would have seen three parlay bets win, and three parlay bets lose.
If we would have wagered $5 on each of the six parlays, then we would have won $39.66 (three winning parlays profit $13.22 at +264 odds and a $5 wager) and lost $15 on the losing bets ($5 wager X three lost parlays).
This works out to a net profit of $24.66 ($39.66 – $15) on $30 wagered for getting three out of the four teams in your original parlay correct. A traditional four leg parlay would have lost your original bet of $5 for a profit of -$5.
What Happens When You Win All Bets in a Round Robin
Oh, what could have been.
Continuing on with our NFL 4 team round robin example, let’s say the Packers did win and thus each team in your parlay won. If you were to bet it as a round robin by 2’s, your profit would have been $52.88 on $30 wagered in total.
If you would have instead bet it as a 4 team parlay (wagering $30), your profit would have been a whopping $368.50.
Here you can see the trade-offs between risk and reward.
Hedging some of the risk through a round robin makes you more likely to profit, however it prevents you from the massive payouts that parlays can provide. While round robins are more conservative, a parlay can be exciting if you are lucky enough to win one.
Weigh each side and decide which type of bet is right for you.
How to Place a Round Robin Bet: Easier than You Would Think
To place a round robin bet, simply place each individual wager onto your bet slip.
Most sportsbook bet slips (both online and app) have 3 tabs: Standard, Teaser, and Round Robin:
Below, I have placed 5 moneyline bets onto my bet slip at FanDuel Sportsbook and selected the Round Robin tab:
Instead of manually creating multiple parlays, you can simply input the bets as a round robin.
Singles x5 wagers: This means you would bet each bet (5 separate wagers) on your bet slip. This is not a parlay at all, and the odds shown are simply the effective odds if you won all your bets.
By 2’s x10 wagers: This represents every combination of the 5 teams on your bet slip as 2 team parlays. This works out to 10 total wagers.
By 3’s x10 wagers: This is the same as above, except combinations of 3 team parlays instead of 2. 10 total wagers will be placed.
By 4’s x5 wagers: This means you would be placing 5 separate 4 team parlay wagers.
5 Team Parlay: Your traditional parlay where all teams n the parlay must win.
The odds shown in the screenshot represent what your effective odds would be if you won all of your bets. That is why the all of the round robin bets (“by 2’s”, “by 3’s”, “by 4’s”) have higher odds than just a single 5 team parlay.
Round Robin Bet Terminology You Need To Know
Parlay Size
Definition: The number of teams you are breaking your smaller parlays into.
Example: A 5 team parlay by 2’s would create 10 smaller parlay bets
Also Known As: “By X’s” (where X is your number), “Parlay Size”, “X Pick Round Robin”
Full Cover
Definition: A wager that comprises all possible combinations of parlays for the bets selected
Example: If you had 3 bets in your bet slip, a full cover bet would be 4 total bets (3 two team parlays and 1 three team parlay)
Sportsbook Parlay Calculator
Trixie Bet
Definition: A type of full cover bet when you have exactly three bets in your bet slip. A Trixie would be every parlay combination of these three bets (4 separate bets placed).
Fanduel Sportsbook Parlay
Yankee Bet
Definition: A type of full cover bet when you have exactly four bets in your bet slip. A Yankee would be all parlay combinations of these four teams (11 separate bets placed).