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'll tout win rates much like many of the most impressive straight wager cappers. Needless to say, you will see that they refer to money line parlays as 'safe' bets. On several sites you may have the privilege of working with some sort of royalty in the field of parlay wagering. Regrettably, thousands will be fooled by this fiction again this football season.

The fact is that exotic wagers keep sports books in business. Next time you are in Vegas have a look at 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 positioned 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 an enormous 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%. Weighed against many table games this is actually a fairly raised percentage. Lots of table games and slots offer 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 back wall.

Chance is important in everything the house provides. Additionally, there are steps which can be taken to decrease the edge in just about every game. Nowhere in the casino are elements such as 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 see every parlay you can possibly bet comes with a whopping 10% house edge or better. Such casino advantages tend to be more in line with keno, and they are equally impossible to overcome in the long term. There is no mystery surrounding the planet of parlays. Bettors are attracted to risking handful of money for large payouts. The games that are frequently played in the casino are slot machines that offer thousands as well as millions in progressive jackpots. The mentality of the bettors is 'Go big, or go back home.' The casino is clearly happy to oblige as an incredible number of bettors go back home with nothing within their pockets every year.

It really is fair to assume that the largest amount of losing bets a book accepts are exotic wagers of add up to or double the house minimum. The reason being most bettors don't have a meaningful bankroll reserve for sports betting. Given that they don't believe they are able to make any real cash by placing $25-50 on a few games weekly they continue taking parlays for $20 or less. By doing this they essentially ensure a significant loss by the finish 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.

Many bettors assume that because they're keeping the size of their bets low they are not taking on a substantial risk. This analysis is flawed since it ignores several factors. Most importantly, it really is my experience that a lot of bettors usually do not place just one single parlay per week. In football this means at the least 34 parlays are put during the regular season. In  đá gà sv288  that number can simply exceed 100. With a minimal unit bet that is still a dangerous number of wagers to place with this type of high house edge. For instance, for anyone who is placing only 5 team parlays your expectation ought to be to lose about $35 for every $100 you wager. As the amount of bets you place increases it is inevitable that you will hit that $100 mark several times over.

Using parlays as a side bet will usually result in increasing your losses or erasing any profits you managed to make on straight wagers. In '09 2009, I had litigant who broke even with increasing his bankroll by 45% using my picks. He managed to do that 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 likely to follow his lead and continue using parlays I have a few pointers that may help you in the end. 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 a lot more than twice as much. If you take a look at the graph you need to understand why I would never bet a parlay of 4 teams or even 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 and even 10. The difference between your house edge to add 1 or 2 2 more teams is within 5 percentage points and the payout is significantly higher for both options. The home edge on a 10 teamer is virtually the same as a 4 team parlay, however the actual odds 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 House edge is approximately 10 points lower 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 should 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 exposure to a few units while maintaining an acceptable expectation to improve your bankroll by 50%...The choice is yours.