Betting Parlays
Parlay betting is one of the most popular forms of sports gambling. This sports betting term consists of a group of straight bets or total bets all rolled into one single wager. In order to win a parlay bet every one of the individual wagers must win. One loss and the entire parlay is lost. If any one of the wagers "push" or tie then the parlay is still live but payout scales down to the next level. For example if you had a 4 team parlay bet and one team out of the 4 tied or pushed you would then receive payout for a 3 team parlay.
Betting parlays offer a huge return on risk as the payouts are much larger than traditional single sports wagers. However that being said they are also very difficult to win because all selections must win or tie in order to win.
An NFL 3 team parlay for example would look as follows:
Houston +3
St. Louis -6
Pittsburgh - 8
In order to win this particular parlay Houston could lose by 2 points for the win and lose by 3 to push. St. Louis would have to win the game by 7 or more points to win and 6 points to push. Pittsburgh would have to win by 9 points or push with a win of 8 points.
3 team parlays traditionally pay 6:1 if all the wagers win. So if you bet $100.00 on a 3 team parlay you would win $600.00. Although parlays are a lot of fun and the payouts much larger than straight bets, professional sports bettors will tell you ultimately stick to your single team straight bets, once in awhile throw in a large parlay for measure, but don't make these types of bets your primary sports wagers.
