What is Parlay Betting in Sportsbook? (A Guide)

What is Parlay Betting

Are you interested in placing bets in sports events? If so, then you need to figure out what is parlay betting first. Yes, it is one of the most interesting and popular bets, commonly among the new players. 

However, figuring out the meaning of its terms is a good idea. It will help you understand how sports betting work and make you the next lucky winner. Read this article carefully because we will give you the best explanation of sportsbooks. 

What is Parlay Betting Actually?

What is parlay betting actually? It is made when a player makes two or more bets and combines them into one bet. Depending on the sports betting or the region, these bets might be called “accumulators” or “multis”. In addition, players must win every low bet to win the parlay bet and losing just 1 of the lower bets loses the parlay.

A sport betting usually offers bigger payouts for adding more games to every parlay. Parlay bets remain riskier since they comprise many players’ chances, however, give a bigger payout if all players’ bets win. 

How to Make a Parlay Bet: Tips

There are many ways to make a parlay bet in sports betting. Any online or offline casino sportsbook will allow this kind of bet and will calculate the odds of winning. The casinos use a common option called a parlay to pick teams and totals. In addition, the card is offered to the ticket writer in the sports betting, along with the bet money. 

Calculating the Payouts

After you figured out what is parlay betting, you also need to understand how to calculate the odds. Well, it actually can be tricky, partially because of how odds are shown in sports betting in Malaysia. Any sports betting will calculate the potential of winning from a parlay and is often what players rely on. Then, to calculate a payout, you need to:

• Converts the Malaysian Ringgit to decimal odds
• After that, multiply all the decimal odds together 
• You have to multiply the result by your bet amount
• Then, subtract your first stake to get the parlay odds

For example, a player is parlaying three-points spreads, each at -110. Firstly, convert those odds to a decimal that is 1.91. After that, multiply them together:

1.91 x 1.91 x 1.91 = 6.97 

Then, you need to multiply this by a bet amount of MYR 10

6.97 x 10 = 69.7

You can subtract the first bet amount:

69.7 – 10 = 59.7

This parlay payout is MYR 59.7 for every bet of MYR 10. In Malaysian odds, that is +597 means this parlay pays nearly 6-1. There is a simple rule for -110 bets. In addition, a double bet pays about 2.6-to-1, and a triple parlay will pay out about 6-to-1. With this way, the odds roughly doubled for every -110 bet added to the parlay. We can assume you understand what is parlay betting.

Parlay Bet Example

To help you more understand about what is parlay betting, let’s see the example of it. If a player thinks that Manchester City (+4) and Arsenal (-6) will cover their spreads on an EPL Sunday, they might use MYR 10 and players’ bet on these teams for MYR 5 each. 

If both are successful, the win is around MYR 19. However, the player can parlay these bets together for a winning of around 2.65 times the bet. The potential results would be as follows:

• Both teams cover: Win (MYR 26.50)
• City cover, Arsenal don’t: Loss (-MYR 10)
• Arsenal cover, City don’t: Loss (-MYR 10)
• Both teams don’t cover: Loss (-MYR 10)

The parlay will not increase but gains more over two players’ bets. In addition, parlays can be more complicated and consist of more players’ bets. A player can bet on 5 teams covering their spread instead of just two.

If 1 team does not cover their spread, then the whole bet is lost. However, if all five are covered, the payout will be high: around +2335, a win of MYR 230.35 on a MYR 10. We bet you already know what is parlay betting.

The Risks and Rewards of Parlay Bet

To help you more understand what is parlay betting, Steven Petrella, deputy editor for the Action Network said the reason parlay bets are so popular is that everyone wants to turn a small amount of money into a big payout.

He added that on the X platform (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, sportsbooks love to highlight big parlay winners. However, they rarely share the thousands of losing parlay tickets.

Players are far less likely to win parlay bets than players’ bets, and sports betting makes more money from parlay than players’ bets. In addition, the odds on players’ bets are calculated even to generate a small win for sports betting.

That gives players a 50% chance of winning with regular bets. By pooling bets into the same bet, the player assumes more risk and limits their chances of winning. 

Petrella also points out that the math supports that as well. About +1500 is the actual chance of winning four EPL point spreads parlayed together. But the bookmaker only gives out +1200. We know, figuring out what is parlay betting is not as hard as you think. 

How Does a Parlay Bet Work in a Casino?

As you know what is parlay betting, this type of bet works when a player makes multiple bets (at least two) and ties them into the same bet. If there is any bet in the parlay lose, then the entire parlay will also lose. However, if all bets win, the player gets a bigger payout. 

What will Happen to Your Parlay Bet in a Canceled Game?

Most of the time, canceled sports events come off the parlay and may go from a three-game parlay to a two-game parlay. For instance, the bookmaker will have rules on how they will handle various situations about various bets. 

Why Should Parlay Bets be Avoided?

Even though you know what is parlay betting, parlays are actually a poor way to bet on sports, at least in terms of long-term expected value. It is because for a parlay to have a positive expected value (EV), all or almost all of the bets in the best will have a positive expected value.

Conclusion

In conclusion of what is parlay betting, it is made up of two or more bets. They remain a way of combining players’ bets into one. In addition, parlay bets are much harder to win than the regular bets and offer big payouts. To give you more confidence in playing, we also suggest you figure out is sports betting legal in Malaysia or not.