There are countless 'handicapping services' in the business of providing people who have parlays. They will tout win rates much like one of the most impressive straight wager cappers. Of course, you will see that they refer to money line parlays as 'safe' bets. On many of these sites you may even have the privilege of dealing with some form of royalty in neuro-scientific parlay wagering. Regrettably, thousands will undoubtedly be fooled by this fiction again this football season.
The fact is that exotic wagers keep sports books in business. Next time you're in Vegas take a look at the discarded tickets you see spread all over the place. It's safe to assume that you will find the majority of these losers are made of such bets positioned on both sports and racing. Of all sucker bets available 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 house edge on a standard straight wager at -110 is 4.5%. Compared with many table games this is really a fairly raised percentage. Lots 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 some dice at the trunk wall.
Chance plays a role in everything the house has to offer. Additionally, there are steps that can be taken to reduce the edge in just about every game. Nowhere in the casino are elements such as for example skill and preparation more useful than 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't ever 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 you can possibly bet comes with a whopping 10% house edge or better. Such casino advantages are more in line with keno, plus they are equally impossible to overcome in the long run. There is absolutely no mystery surrounding the world of parlays. Bettors are drawn to risking a small amount of money for large payouts. The games which are most often 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.' 78win sale is clearly pleased to oblige as an incredible number of bettors go back home with nothing within their pockets every year.
It is fair to assume that the largest number of losing bets that a book accepts are exotic wagers of add up to or double the home minimum. This is due to most bettors do not have a meaningful bankroll reserve for sports betting. Since they don't believe they are able to make any real money by placing $25-50 on several games weekly they continue taking parlays for $20 or less. By doing this they essentially ensure a substantial loss by the finish of the 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 significant risk. This analysis is flawed because it ignores several factors. Most of all, it is my experience that most bettors do not place just one single parlay weekly. In football this means at the least 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 put with such a high house edge. For example, if you are placing only 5 team parlays your expectation should be to lose about $35 for every $100 you wager. Because the amount of bets you place increases it is inevitable that you will hit that $100 mark many times over.
Using parlays as a side bet will most likely result in upping your losses or erasing any profits you managed to make on straight wagers. In '09 2009, I had a client who broke even with increasing his bankroll by 45% using my picks. He were able to do that by placing 'small' side bets including parlays, reverses, and teasers. That is an expensive lesson to understand especially when you consider I issued an identical warning to him.
If you are going to follow his lead and continue using parlays I've a few pointers that will assist you in the long run. First of all, the best value of all parlays is actually the three team parlay. The difference between your house edge on a 2 & 3 teamer is insignificant, but the payout is a lot more than twice as much. If you take a look at the graph you should understand why I'd never bet a parlay of 4 teams or more. However, if you are going to make such an investment listed below are two useful tips:
If you are going to bet a four or five 5 team parlay, always make it 6 as well as 10. The difference between the 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, 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 about 10 points less than all three of those bets also 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 must be kept in check to become successful. In this regard, every bettor has two options. You can chase high returns while assuming plenty of unnecessary risk. Or it is possible to minimize your exposure to a few units while maintaining an acceptable expectation to increase your bankroll by 50%...The decision is yours.