Moneyline Parlays One sports betting strategy some bettors go with is parlaying moneyline plays. If you are extremely confident in two or more moneyline outcomes, combine them into your wager and cash your ticket with a higher payout if all outcomes go your way. Keep in mind if just one team loses, you lose the bet. Let’s take a look at an example with a parlay that includes three bets. You plan on making a $50 wager. The first game you want to include in the parlay is Game 1 with a moneyline odd of -135, the second game is Game 2 with a moneyline odd of +155, and the third game is Game 3 with a moneyline odd of.

A parlay bet is a common way for sports bettors to increase their odds and payoffs. Instead of making multiple, single bets, a parlay bet combines 2 or more bets into one bet. Each bet within the parlay must win in order for the parlay to win. If any bet within the parlay loses, the bet loses. The more teams put into a parlay bet, the higher the odds.

Parlay bets should be used by one type of bettor, casual bettors doing it for occasional fun. Serious and professional sports bettors should only place parlay bets on very limited occasions, if ever. Since it only takes one loss within a parlay to lose the entire bet, the risk is very high. On a 6 team parlay, you could go 5-1 and lose your entire bet. Had these been straight bets, you’d be a happy camper.

Recommended Sportsbook for Parlay Bets:

Higher than normal parlay payout odds

Parlay Betting Odds

Two types of parlay bets can be made – those that use a point spread, and those that use a money line. Point spread parlay bets have somewhat standard odds, being very close at most sportsbooks. While there can be some slight variation from one sportsbook to another, in order to be competitive they’re generally pretty similar.

Typical Point Spread Parlay Betting Odds

• 2 Teams: 2.6:1
• 3 Teams: 6:1
• 4 Teams: 10:1
• 5 Teams: 20:1
• 6 Teams: 40:1
• 7 Teams: 80:1
• 8 Teams: 100:1
• 9 Teams: 150:1
• 10 Teams: 300:1
• 11 Teams: 450:1
• 12 Teams: 600:1
• 13 Teams: 750:1
• 14 Teams: 900:1
• 15 Teams: 1500:1

Money Line Parlay Betting Odds

Odds for parlay bets when using a money line are relative to the odds of each pick within the parlay. If you’ve chosen a number of underdogs, your odds will go up. If you’ve chosen big favorites, the odds will be lower. Money line parlays are great for an annual trip to Vegas where the idea is to go big or go home. However, for people who take their sports betting seriously, they’re too high risk to be a reasonable betting strategy.

Benefits of Parlay Betting

Parlay bets allow sports bettors to make small bets with the possibility of large wins. They also allow bettors who have a limited bankroll to bet on multiple games, instead of waiting for games to end and time to collect their winnings. If multiple games are going on at the same time and you don’t have enough money to make straight bets on each game, a parlay bet is a way to get action on each game.

To put a parlay win into perspective, lets use a 5 game parlay as an example. If you made 5 straight bets for $22 each ($110 total wagered) and won all of them, you would win $20 per game for a $100 total profit. However that same $110 wagered on a successful 5 team parlay would pay $2200. But wait, before you go place your bet, keep reading.

Negatives of Parlay Betting

The major problem with parlay betting is that they don’t offer true odds. For example, the true odds of hitting an 8 team parlay is 255:1, while the payoff is only 100:1. This is a big disadvantage to the bettor. Similar to Roulette, when you split your chips across 2 numbers, you get slightly worse odds. When you split them across four numbers, the odds get worse again. The same can be said for parlay bets in sports betting.

Think of it this way. If you want to bet $100 on each of 5 games, but can’t afford to risk the full $500, you probably shouldn’t be betting at all. If you can afford the full $500, you will get a better payout with less risk of losing all your money by making straight bets.

Parlay Betting Tips

There are all sorts of little tips for improving your ROI on parlay bets, but there are a couple of tips that everyone needs to know. To improve your chances and win more on your parlay bets, follow these tips.

Bet on Fewer Teams, Raise Your Bets

Parlays are often used the wrong way. Instead of placing a $20, 5 team parlay, it’s better to make a 3 team parlay for more money. While the odds are lower, the win-rate is much higher, relying on only 3 wins instead of 5. By increasing the bet size, you can make up for the lower odds. This gives you a better chance at a win and a nice payday.

If you have more teams you want to bet on, split your parlays into multiple, smaller parlay bets.

Protect Your Bets

If you have a 5 team parlay that is 4-0 going into the fifth game, you stand to win $1000 on a $50 wager. A loss in the fifth game pays you nothing. To guarantee a win, place a straight bet for $525 on the team opposing your parlay pick. This will guarantee you a minimum win of $425 no matter what the result of the fifth game is. While expert bettors don’t bet a lot of parlays, when they do, this is a strategy they often employ.

If your parlay wins, you collect $1000. This is a $950 profit from your $50 bet, minus the $525 side bet, for a guaranteed win of $425.

If your parlay loses, you lose $50 there but make $477 profit (11/10 odds) on the $525 side bet, for $427 guaranteed profit.

Either way, you can grab a beer and enjoy that last game, knowing you’re a winner no matter what.

Parlay Betting Rules in Event of a Tie

Before placing a parlay bet at a live or online sportsbook, find out the rules in the event of a tie. At some sportsbooks a tie will remove one team from the parlay, moving it down one level. For example, if you have a 5 team parlay with one tie, the parlay will automatically become a 4 team parlay, essentially removing one team from the bet.

At other sportsbooks, a tie results in a loss. This is bad for the bettor, so make sure you know the rules before placing your bet. This is especially important for betting on soccer or hockey where ties are common. Expert sports bettors never place a parlay bet without knowing these rules.

NFL & NCAA Football Parlay Betting

Parlay bets are extremely popular with NFL and NCAA football bettors. Parlay bets for football combine multiple straight bets, meaning the point spread is used. A bettors job is to pick teams that will cover the spread. If any team within the parlay does not cover the spread, the entire parlay bet loses.

While we don’t like parlay bets for serious bettors, they’re a great way to add tons of excitement to a weekend of football. Just remember how hard it is to go 3 for 3 in your fantasy league before you place a 10 team parlay.

Moneyline betting is the simplest form of betting on sports. Whether you’re new to gambling or a seasoned bettor, you’ve likely already placed a moneyline bet at some point in your life.

Moneyline bettors don’t care about how many points that games are won by or how many total points are scored. In most sports, one team wins and one team loses. Your job in moneyline betting is to pick the winner of the game, match, race or event. If they win, you win. Pretty simple.

Think of it as the traditional bets you would make with your buddies whether you’re debating team supremacy from the bar, in the office or in the group chat.

For example, an overconfident peer claims their squad is the best in the land. It just so happens that team plays your team this weekend. (If this scenario doesn’t lead to a wager of some sort, you need to find more entertaining people to surround yourself with.) You decide to offer up a bet on the winner of the matchup. Loser has to offer up cash, buy lunch or humiliate themselves in some fashion.

That’s moneyline betting, at its simplest form — picking an outright winner without the point spread involved is moneyline betting.

It’s a little more complicated than that, but not much.

Let’s learn more about it.

How to Identify the Moneyline

Where can you find the moneyline at the sportsbook or online? In most sports, three major categories are listed for you to place a wager on. On the left side, it will typically show the point spread of the game, while the over/under point total resides on the far right.

The moneyline numbers sit in the middle. Usually the team listed with a negative number is the favorite, while the underdog will likely have a positive number. These numbers will likely fluctuate a bit leading up to the start of the event.

Betting the Moneyline Favorite

If you’re new to the growing sports industry, you’re probably thinking this sports betting thing is pretty easy. Just pick a winner and I get paid? Why not bet every favorite, get rich and quit my job?

If only it were that easy.

Put simply, you’re betting a lot to win a little if you decide to go with this strategy. It seems like a sure thing a particular team will win, but upsets happen. That’s why we watch games. It would be boring if the favorites always won.

Is it worth the risk of financial loss when the payout would be so low? That’s the balancing act sports bettors face when considering picking the favorite straight up in a moneyline play.

Betting the Moneyline Underdog

On the other hand, if you decide to bet the underdog, you have a chance to win a lot by betting a little, which makes for a thrilling bet placement.

Is there a big and unexpected outcome you think could shock the sports world? Bet the underdog on the moneyline, win big and brag to your friends.

Or, if you see a slight underdog you feel has a decent shot at not only covering the spread but winning, put some action on the moneyline to increase your payout.

Some bettors will bet the underdog on the moneyline as well as picking the team to cover the spread in an effort to protect themselves in case one bet hits and not the other.

Moneyline Parlays

One sports betting strategy some bettors go with is parlaying moneyline plays. If you are extremely confident in two or more moneyline outcomes, combine them into your wager and cash your ticket with a higher payout if all outcomes go your way. Keep in mind if just one team loses, you lose the bet.

On the flip side, if you start betting multiple underdogs on the moneyline and are successful, the little amount you put on the line could turn into a big-time payday.

Moneyline Examples

Now that you have the basics, let’s dive in to some real-life examples.

How to bet the moneyline in NFL

Example 1

Let’s take the biggest game of last season: Super Bowl 54 between the KansasCityChiefs and the SanFrancisco49ers.

According to the WestGate SuperBook in LasVegas, the Chiefs came into the game as slight favorites and a -130 listing on the moneyline. As small underdogs, the 49ers entered the game with a +110 moneyline.

You can tell sportsbooks anticipated a close game due to both numbers being very close to 100 either way.

To make this easier to calculate in your head, you can think of it this way. If you bet $130 on the favored Chiefs at -130, you will end up with $100. If you bet $100 on the underdog 49ers at +110, you will wind up with $110.

You already know the Chiefs will have a smaller payout than the 49ers, but by how much? Here are the calculations.

• $100 on the Chiefs: $76.92 payout
• $100 on the 49ers: $110 payout

The Chiefs ultimately won the Super Bowl, so their moneyline bettors left the NFL season happy with a decent payout.

Example 2

So we covered the Super Bowl 54, which was expected to be a close game at the end. But what about an expected blowout?

Let’s take a look at week 2 in the 2019 NFL season in a matchup between the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins. The Patriots had Super Bowl aspirations, while the Dolphins had No. 1 overall draft pick aspirations.

Moneyline Parlay Winning

Both plans ultimately fell flat, but the opposing directions of the franchises made for a lopsided expectation from oddsmakers.

According to DraftKings Sports Betting, the Patriots were listed at -2000 on the moneyline with the Dolphins at +1200. See how far away from 100 both these numbers are? A sign that a blowout is highly expected.

This is an extreme example as it’s fairly rare to have these types of numbers in an NFL game, but here’s what the payouts were for bettors:

• $100 on the Patriots: $5 payout
• $100 on the Dolphins: $1,200 payout

Yes, if you would’ve bet $100 on the Patriots to beat the Dolphins in this game last season, you’re walking away with five bucks. Is that worth the risk of a potential upset? That’s up to the bettor.

For what it’s worth, the Patriots won this game, 43-0.

How to Bet the Moneyline on College Basketball

Most college basketball betting scenarios would fit in the description above with the NFL, but what about this scenario? Let’s use a fictitious example. We’re getting ready for the national title game between, oh, let’s say Gonzaga and Kansas.

This would be a great game and who knows who would’ve been favored. However, for the purpose of this post, let’s say the two were so evenly matched the oddsmakers had no idea who’s going to win and it could go either way.

Here’s what the moneyline numbers could look like:

• Gonzaga -110
• Kansas -110

This doesn’t happen often, but occasionally teams are so close together and evenly matched that both teams feature identical negative moneyline numbers.

Either winner in this scenario would lead to a $90.91 payout on a $100 moneyline bet.

How to Bet the Moneyline on UFC Events

An individual sport like UFC is made for moneyline betting. While traditional team sports will show several categories to potentially bet on with different options, UFC betting is mainly focused on the moneyline.

Who do you think will win the fight? If you are confident about it, bet on that fighter.

UFC betting offers additional betting options, but moneyline wagers are far and away the focal point.

Let’s go to UFC 249 in Jacksonville for our example with a fight between TonyFerguson, whose moneyline odds were listed at -200 according to DraftKings, and JustinGaethje and his +168 moneyline odds as the underdog.

Here’s how the payouts would’ve gone had you bet on either fighter.

• $100 on Tony Ferguson: $50 payout
• $100 on Justin Gaethje: $168 payout

As the underdog, Gaethje won the fight, so his bettors had a fun start to the return of live sports.

How to Bet the Moneyline on Soccer

The previous sports are easier to understand and fairly straight forward in regards to the moneyline, but soccer is a little bit different.

Most sports list the moneyline with two options. One team wins or the other team wins. However, in soccer there are three options to choose from on the moneyline because of the amount of draws that occur.

Betting Moneyline Parlays

For our example, let’s go back to the 2018 World Cup between France and Croatia.

France entered the match as the favorite with a -110 moneyline number, while Croatia entered as the underdog with a +350 moneyline.

Bettors could decide a winner that way, but the third option of a draw at the end of regulation was listed at +230. Instead of picking a team, bettors could opt to bet on a draw if they believed the teams are that evenly matched.

Here’s a calculation of the 2018 World Cup payouts:

Moneyline Parlay Calculator

• $100 on France: $90.91 payout
• $100 on Croatia: $350 payout
• $100 on a draw: $230 payout

France wound up with a 4-2 victory as the favorite.

How to Bet Guides

Key Takeaways on the Moneyline

So what did we learn today?

Moneyline Parlay Favorites

• Moneyline bets consist of picking the team you think will win.
• Betting the moneyline favorite has a lesser payout.
• Betting the moneyline underdog has a larger payout.
• Soccer has three moneyline options to choose from.