Profitable Parlays - Fact Or Fiction?

· 4 min read
Profitable Parlays - Fact Or Fiction?

There are countless 'handicapping services' available of providing people with parlays. They will tout win rates similar to probably the most impressive straight wager cappers. Needless to say, so as to they refer to money line parlays as 'safe' bets. On many of these sites you may even have the privilege of working with some sort of royalty in the field of parlay wagering. Regrettably, thousands will undoubtedly be fooled by this fiction again this football season.

The truth is that exotic wagers keep sports books in business. Next time you are in Vegas take a look at the discarded tickets you see spread everywhere. It's safe to assume that might be the majority of these losers are made of such bets placed 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 investment.

The house edge on a typical straight wager at -110 is 4.5%. Compared with  j88bet  is really a fairly raised percentage. Plenty of table games and slots provide a better value for the common bettor placing a random wager. However, everybody knows that betting on sports isn't anything like throwing a pair of dice at the trunk wall.

Chance plays a role in everything the house provides. There are also steps that 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 a sport. However, a double digit house edge can never be overcome in the end.

# 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 it is possible to possibly bet includes a whopping 10% house edge or better. Such casino advantages tend to be more consistent with keno, and they are equally impossible to overcome over time. There is absolutely no mystery surrounding the world of parlays. Bettors are attracted to risking handful of money for large payouts. The games which are most often played in the casino are slots that offer thousands as well as millions in progressive jackpots. The mentality of these bettors is 'Go big, or go back home.' The casino is actually pleased to oblige as millions of bettors go home with nothing within their pockets every year.

It is fair to assume that the biggest amount of losing bets a book accepts are exotic wagers of equal to or double the home minimum. For the reason that most bettors do not have a meaningful bankroll set aside for sports betting. Since they don't believe they are able to make any real money by placing $25-50 on several games per week they continue taking parlays for $20 or less. By doing this they essentially ensure a significant loss by the finish of the season. Meanwhile, should 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 how big is their bets low they're 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 weekly. In football this means a minimum of 34 parlays are placed during the regular season. In baseball that number can simply exceed 100. With a low unit bet this is still a dangerous number of wagers to place with this type of high house edge. For instance, should you be placing only 5 team parlays your expectation should be to lose about $35 for each $100 you wager. Because the number of bets you place increases it really is inevitable that you'll hit that $100 mark many times over.

Using parlays as a side bet will most likely result in increasing your losses or erasing any profits you managed to make on straight wagers. In '09 2009, I had a client who broke even after increasing his bankroll by 45% using my picks. He managed to do this by placing 'small' side bets including parlays, reverses, and teasers. That is an expensive lesson to learn especially when you take into account I issued an identical warning to him.

If you are likely to follow his lead and continue using parlays I've a few pointers that will help you over time. 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 glance at the graph you should understand why I'd 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 likely to bet a 4 or 5 5 team parlay, always ensure it is 6 as well as 10. The difference between the house edge to include one or two 2 more teams is at 5 percentage points and the payout is significantly higher for both options. The house edge on a 10 teamer is virtually exactly like a 4 team parlay, but 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 these bets also it typically pays about 700/1.

Setting reasonable goals and being patient while working to achieve them may be the sign of a profitable professional bettor. Greed must be kept in check to become successful. In this regard, every bettor has two options. You can chase high returns while assuming a huge amount of unnecessary risk. Or it is possible to minimize your exposure to a few units while maintaining an acceptable expectation to improve your bankroll by 50%...The decision is yours.