Before we go any further, we need to explain what a parlay is fully.

In order to win the entire bet, you have to win each of the individual bets on your parlay. If you lose one individual bet, then you lose the entire parlay bet.

Simply stated, a parlay is a collection of two or more sides or totals that you bet on and all of them must win in order for you to win your bet. If you place a four-team parlay, going 3-1 is no different than going 0-4. All of your bets must win, or at least tie, in order for you to win. Two or more teams or totals can be combined to make one wager. Circled games cannot be parlayed. Proposition plays and future bets cannot be parlayed. You can estimate Parlay Payoffs by following these steps (example provided).

The reason is that the sportsbook will pay you out much more money for correctly picking multiple individual bets together.There is more risk in this type of bet so it should be expected that we are offered a higher reward for making this wager.

Let’s compare betting three games individually versus betting them as a parlay.

Let’s assume that each game is -110 moneyline odds.

Let’s also assume that our bankroll for these three games is $300. We’re going to look at the scenarios if we picked all three games correctly and if we only picked two of the games correctly.

If we bet the games individually, we would bet $100 per game.

Parlay Bet Definition Meaning

Now, what would happen if we picked all three games as a parlay bet? This time, we would place a single bet of $300. We will go over how to calculate parlay payouts in the section below here, but for now, we have done the calculations for you.

The profit on this bet as a parlay would be $1787.40! Even if we only bet $100 total, we would see a profit of $595.80. As you can see, you can bet 1/3 of the amount you bet total in the individual games and still make more than double what you would betting the games individually.

At this point, a lot of people are wondering why you would ever bet anything but parlays. You can bet less and make so much more! Well, as you are probably guessing, there is more to the story.

Let’s look at what happens in our same example, except this time we only pick two out of the three games correctly. We bet the same games again for $100 each individually, and we are correct on two out of the three games.

If we bet all three of the games as a parlay for $300 (or $100), our profit is negative $300 or negative $100. If you get even one game wrong in a parlay, you lose the entire bet. You’ve now seen the downside to parlays.

Key Parlay Bet Definition

Even if you only get one game correct betting them individually, you’re only going to lose $109. If you bet the same $300 on a parlay, though, you lose the entire $300. The risk is higher for parlays, but the associated reward is also higher.

A parlay is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers for a high payout. A 2 team parlay might pay 13/5, a three team parlay might pay 6/1, a four team parlay might pay 10/1, and so forth with the payouts getting higher with more teams or totals selected. For a single bet, 2 to 8 teams or totals can be selected.

In order for the parlay bet to win, every one of the wagers must win or push (tie). If any of the selections lose, your wager loses, regardless of the outcome or cancellation of the other games. If one or more selections is a tie, postponed, incomplete, cancelled or rescheduled for another day, then the wager reverts to the next lowest number. For example, if you place a 5 team parlay and have 4 winners and a tie, your wager pays out as a 4 team parlay. If you place a 2 team parlay and one team wins and one ties, the wager becomes a straight bet.

Parlay Bet Definition Dictionary

The resulting wager will have the same risk amount with the win being calculated to reflect the odds of the remaining team (Example: On a two team $100 parlay with team A +110 and team B -110 if A ties and B wins the resulting wager will be a straight play on B risking $100 to win $91).