Nba Parlay Bets
Bookmark this page for daily NBA trends to help your basketball handicapping. Add your pick to the consensus – click the Matchup link for any game. You read that 77.4 percent of the basketball betting public is betting. NBA games lines, odds and player prop bets. Bet on your favorite NBA teams and get into the game now with live sports betting odds Bovada Sportsbook. The majority of smart parlay bettors will bet small combinations. A two, three and sometimes four team parlay is usually preferred. There are three main reasons for this, followed by our list of sportsbooks with the best parlay.
On Tuesday, according to DraftKings, an unidentified bettor risked $3 million on a three-leg parlay featuring the following: Georgia to win the SEC East division; Alabama to win the SEC West division; the Packers to win the NFC North division.
If successful, this bet would pay out $8.6 million, a $5.6 million net profit for the customer.
It's the largest parlay bet that Johnny Avello, DraftKings' sportsbook director and a 30-plus-year Nevada bookmaker, has ever taken. And it's certainly among the biggest ever placed with a U.S. sportsbook -- yet it might not even have been the most interesting bet of the week.
On Thursday, a bettor at the William Hill sportsbook at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas placed a $240,000 money-line bet on heavily favored BYU to beat Texas-San Antonio straight up. The Cougars were favored by 34.5 points. To bet BYU to win outright on Saturday, the bettor had to put up $240,000 for a chance to make a $3,428.55 profit.
UTSA took an early lead and was within one possession late in the fourth quarter but ultimately lost 27-20.
The bettor won $3,400, a 1.4% return on their investment in three days. To quote from the classic poker film 'Rounders,' 'Pay that man his money.'
Another way to look at such a unique bet is, 'Holy bleep! They bet $240,000 to win just over $3,000. What the heck were they thinking?' It turns out, though, that giant money-line bets on large favorites aren't that unique in Las Vegas.
'This happens way more than anyone really thinks,' Dave Sharapan, a former Las Vegas bookmaker at CG Technology sportsbooks, said of big money-line bets placed on heavy favorites.
Details regarding the BYU bet are slim. We know the what, when and where, but not the why or by whom. Only a select few know the true thinking behind risking $240,000 for a chance to win $3,400.
Some believe it has to do with reward club points for casino comps and hotel upgrades. Others suspect something more nefarious: money laundering. A customer has illicit funds and is looking to clean the money through an unsuspecting sportsbook. But that seems unlikely -- or extremely dumb -- says Mac Verstandig, a Las Vegas attorney who specializes in gambling cases.
'If this were a laundering effort, it would be absolutely horribly done,' Verstandig said.
In the past, when Verstandig has seen instances of suspected money-laundering efforts with sports betting, he says it normally involves a team of bettors betting both sides of games on the point spread, willing to pay the typical 10% vig to eliminate the risk of the favorite losing.
'If someone had $240,000 in somewhat illicit funds, and they had a runner that could walk into a Las Vegas sportsbook without arousing suspicion with that amount, BYU, until kickoff yesterday, seemed like an incredibly safe bet, and it gets you the return of your principle into reportable, taxable income, which is what you want from a laundering point of view,' Verstandig said. 'It just sends up more red flags than a May Day parade at Tiananmen Square.'
Sportsbooks, like typical financial institutions, have to follow know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering protocols, and relationships are established with customers who place large wagers.
Sharapan didn't know the specifics of the BYU bet. But during his years behind the sportsbook counter, he saw plenty of big money-line bets on prohibitive favorites. He's seen customers carry cash into a sportsbook in a duffel bag to place big bets, but says most often they are handled with wire transfers to the casino cage or through a VIP host.
'Someone bet a house on BYU to win the game,' Sharapan said, 'and it may never occur to that person that they could lose -- until it does.'
Here is this week's edition of Notable Bets, our look at storylines from sportsbooks around the nation.
NFL
• The Raiders' upset of the Chiefs produced the biggest win Sunday for multiple sportsbooks. The SuperBook at Westgate Las Vegas said the Raiders winning outright was one of the book's most profitable games of the season so far. 'Very high-volume game, with so many money-line parlays and teasers to the Chiefs,' John Murray, executive director for the SuperBook, told ESPN.
• More money was bet on Raiders-Chiefs than any other game Sunday at sportsbook PointsBet. It was also the most profitable game of the day for PointsBet, followed by the Giants covering the spread in a loss to the Cowboys, and the Dolphins' upset of the 49ers.
• The Cardinals' 30-10 rout of the winless Jets produced one of the books' biggest losses of the day. At BetRivers sportsbooks, only 6% of the money bet on the game (point spread and money line) backed the Jets.
• Since the 2018 season, the Jets are 12-24-1 against the spread, the worst ATS mark in the NFL. They have yet to cover the spread this season.
• '[It's] basically a struggle to take a bet on [the Jets] regardless of the number,' John Sheeran, sportsbook director for FanDuel, told ESPN.
• 'Up and down' was how multiple sportsbooks described Sunday's results. 'We probably lost more games than we won with public sides like the Cardinals, Steelers, Rams, Ravens, Texans, Browns all covering,' Murray said, 'but we won the really big games.'
• The sportsbook at The Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey, reported taking a $100,000 bet on the Panthers +4 for the second half of their game against the Falcons. The Panthers led 20-7 at halftime and appeared poised to cover the spread in the second half before Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo made a 54-yard field goal with four seconds to play, making the final score 23-16.
• DraftKings reported taking a $5 bet on Steelers receiver Chase Claypool to score at least three touchdowns on Sunday, at 150-1. Claypool finished with four TDs, three receiving, and the bettor won $755.
• BetMGM said it took a $290,000 bet on the Seahawks -6.5 versus the Vikings in the Sunday night game.
Nearly 80% of the money bet on Vikings-Seahawks was on the Seahawks at PointsBet. The lopsided action on the Seahawks continued after kickoff, too -- PointsBet reported early live betting on them after the Vikings jumped out to a 10-0 lead. The Seahawks won the game but by just one point, 27-26.
• Vikings running back Dalvin Cook scored the first touchdown of the game against the Seahawks. FanDuel had boosted Cook's odds to +750 to score the game's first TD, a promotion that a company spokesperson said cost the sportsbook more than $1 million.
• The chances of a team being forced to forfeit a game thanks to a violation of league protocols on COVID-19 seem to increase each week. A forfeit, while recorded as a loss on a team's record, would have different impacts on season win total bets, depending on the sportsbook. Here's a couple of examples of how sportsbook rules address forfeits, but check your book's house rules:
At BetMGM, the house rules stipulate that teams must play all scheduled games for the bets in the season wins market to be honored. If a game were to be forfeited, all impacted season win market bets would be refunded.
At William Hill, a forfeited game would count as a win or a loss in terms of season win total bets.
College football
• Las Vegas sportsbook Circa Sports opened with Alabama as a 5-point favorite over Georgia in Saturday's prime-time SEC showdown in Tuscaloosa. The line grew to Alabama -7, before settling back at -5.5 on Sunday afternoon. The total on the game had more dramatic early movement, growing from the opening number of 49.5 to 55 within the first three hours after Circa posted it.
• Florida opened as a 14-point favorite over visiting LSU. That line quickly dropped to -11 by Sunday afternoon.
• Two of the three largest college football bets FanDuel accepted on Saturday were on Florida to cover the 5.5-point spread against Texas A&M: $49,000, and $25,000 on the Gators -5.5. A&M won 41-38.
NBA
• The Lakers were favored in each of their 21 playoff games en route to winning the NBA title. According to ESPN Stats and Information, they are the fourth team in the past 30 seasons to be favored in every playoff game, followed the 2016-17 Warriors, the 2014-15 Warriors and the 1995-96 Bulls.
• The amount wagered on Sunday's decisive Game 6 between the Lakers and Heat attracted a similar betting handle to an average NFL game at the SuperBook.
• The SuperBook said any money it won on the NFL on Sunday, it lost on its NBA title futures market. The Lakers attracted more bets and more money to win the NBA title than any other team by far at the SuperBook.
• 'Hats off to the bettors on this one, they bet [the Lakers] from the beginning,' Nick Bogdanovich, director of trading for William Hill U.S., told ESPN.
• The Lakers have already been installed as the favorites to win the title next season as well.
Odds and ends
• $206.8 million was bet with Indiana sportsbooks in September, the most in a month since the state authorized sports betting in the same month last year. Statewide, Indiana bookmakers finished up a net $14.2 million during the month. Bettors did get the best of the books in September at the sportsbooks at Caesars Southern Indiana (-$109,488) and Horseshoe Hammond (-$280,245). Those were the only two casinos to report a net loss on sports for the month.
Here is the breakdown by sports via the Indiana State Gaming Commission:
Football (college and pro): $48.4 million
Basketball: $34.2 million
Baseball: $30.5 million
Parlays: $50.6 million
Other: $43.1 million
• $72.4 million was bet in September with Iowa sportsbooks, who won a net $5.2 million during the month.
• A new interactive video conferencing platform centered on sports betting, BettorView Live, is prepping to launch in the U.S., showcasing betting odds, point spreads and win probabilities, and even helping place your delivery order. Think Zoom for friends wanting to watch and wager on a game together.
The BettorView Live platform, virtually toured by ESPN last week, is the result of a partnership between two tech companies, Edison Interactive (EI) and BettorView, formerly known as KonekTV. BettorView content can currently be found in 1,000 venues nationwide, and there are partnerships with restaurants and sportsbooks like Hooters and William Hill, respectively.
Ultimately, BettorView Live aims to include direct integration into sportsbook partners' betting apps, and allow for live streaming of professional sports.
A parlay bet is a popular form of sports wagering most gamblers are familiar with. In case you’re not, this bet is rather easy to understand. A parlay is simply a combo bet where, rather than betting several teams individually, you group them into a single wager. Using this option, the payout is greater and the risk is less, but you need all teams selected to win.
To give an example, say you’re interested this week in betting Jets -4, Patriots +3, Dolphins +2.5 and Colts -7. If your bankroll is limited to just $100, using straight wagers you’d make four separate bets of $25 to win $22.73. If you we’re feeling both lucky and in the mood to gamble, you might instead bet them all together as a four team parlay. Under the parlay option, the stakes would be $100 to win at least $1,000. To win, you’ll need to go 4-0; if one or more games push while all others win, the payout is reduced, and with any other outcome, the bet is a loss.
What happens if there’s a push in a parlay? That bet will be taken out of the parlay and the payout will be reduced as if there were one fewer team in the parlay. So if you had a 4 team parlay and you got three picks cocrrect and the other was a push, you would be paid out the odds of a 3 team parlay.
Parlay bets can be very tempting as they can offer some big payouts. See a recent parlay Kevin made at 5Dimes.eu and cashed in on!
Are Parlays Sucker Bets?
There is a general misconception in sports betting that all parlays are sucker bets. This is simply because most sports bettors are not familiar with how they work, or how to bet them properly. In this article, I’ll address parlay betting strategies, but first let’s look at parlay odds and how they are calculated.
The parlay odds at most Las Vegas sportsbooks are:
2 teams 2.6 to 1
3 teams 6-1
4 teams 10-1
5 teams 20-1
6 teams 40-1
7 teams 80-1
8 teams 150-1
Online the odds are similar, though some sites such as BetNow and MyBookie offer better odds starting with three teams and up. What’s important to note is that these are fixed odds based on a 50/50 wagering proposition. If a spread is listed at Home Team -7 / Road Team +7 this is 50/50 proposition. If, instead, the spread was Home Team -7 -105 / Road Team +7 -115, this is no longer a 50/50 proposition, and the payout will be calculated using a method bookmakers refer to as “true odds”. I’ll cover that later in this article, but first let’s take a moment to understand where fixed parlay odds are derived from.
Let’s say you decide for the next eight weeks you’re going to bet the Monday night football game, starting with a $1.00 bankroll and betting your entire bankroll each week until you go 8-0 or bust. The potential win is as follows:
Week 1: $1.00 to win $0.91: If win total profit = $0.91 (Bankroll =$1.91)
Week 2: $1.91 to win $1.74: If win total profit = $2.65 (Bankroll =$3.65)
Week 3: $3.65 to win $3.32: If win total profit = $5.97 (Bankroll =$6.97)
Week 4: $6.97 to win $6.34: If win total profit = $12.31 (Bankroll =$13.31)
Week 5: $13.31 to win $12.10: If win total profit = $24.41 (Bankroll =$25.41)
Week 6: $25.41 to win $23.10: If win total profit = $46.51 (Bankroll =$47.51)
Week 7: $47.51 to win $43.19: If win total profit = $89.70 (Bankroll =$90.70)
Week 8: $90.70 to win $82.45: If win total profit = $172.15 (Bankroll =$173.15)
The reason parlays are often sucker bets shows up in this middle column. Had you bet these in an 8 team parlay, you’d only get paid 150 to one. Essentially, a parlay is no different than betting all in each time, only parlays generally pay much worse. However, you’ll notice the odds are not poor until you get to four teams, where the sportsbook has a whopping 31.25% advantage. Two teams pay a smidgen worse than the manual parlay (all in each time) option, where three team parlays pay a smidgen better. Rarely ever is a 2 or 3 team parlay a true suckers bet.
Nba Best Upset Free Picks And Parlays
What Does a Parlay Pay?
Nba Odds Predictions Picks And Parlays
As I mentioned earlier, fixed parlay odds vary greatly between online sportsbooks. Here is some info on which sites offer the best fixed parlay odds:
In general two team parlays pay +260, or $260 for every $100 bet. BetNow offers +264.5, and 5Dimes.eu offers +264, which is better than the +260 most betting sites offer.
3 team parlays pay 6/1 or $600 for every $100 bet. BetOnline.ag is the leader in the industry in 3 team parlay payouts.
This is the area where betting sites generally hurt the sports bettor, paying only 10 to 1, which gives them a 31.25% advantage. This can be avoided when betting at BetNow where the payout is +1228.3, or at 5Dimes where it is +1228.
Generally speaking, parlaying 5 teams or more teams is not a good idea; however, for sports gamblers looking for a lotto ticket, 5dimes.eu and Bookmaker.eu each offer up to 15 team parlays and have by far the best odds in the business on these.
How much does a 15 team parlay pay? A 15 team parlay will pay out over +16,000. I just tested this out and a $1 15 team NFL parlay at -110 odds will payout $16,306. Good luck hitting on that!
True Odds Parlays
1 Earlier, I mentioned fixed odds are only given when all selections are 50/50 propositions. If one side of a line requires a greater stake than the other to yield the same payout, this is not a 50/50 proposition, and the bookmaker will now use “true odds”. What’s important to note is that true odds doesn’t actually mean the “true odds” of winning. Rather, true odds pays the same as if you bet each team individually and rolled the profit forward each time, which is what I showed in the example of 8 all in bets starting with a $1.00 stake.
To calculate true odd parlays, each bet first needs to be converted into a multiplier. To do this, take what a winning ticket would return and divide it by the amount risked. For example, at -110 a $110 stake returns $210 ($110 stake + $100 win). Calculating the multiplier as return/risk here, we plug in 210/110, which means the multiplier is 1.91. If we did the same on -115, the multiplier is 215/115=1.87.
Let’s say you’re in the mood to gamble on an 8 team parlay, but the only out available to you is a bookmaker paying 150-1 fixed odds. A trick of the trade here is to include one bet that is priced differently than -110 in order to force the bookmaker to use true odds. So, let’s say you make 7 selections priced at the standard -110 pricing and one at -115. A true parlay calculates by multiplying each modifier together. The math is 1.91 * 1.91 * 1.91 * 1.91 * 1.91 * 1.91 * 1.91 * 1.87, which equals 173.41. This bet returns 173.41 times the stake, which includes the risk amount, so the bet is 1 to win 172.41. Notice this is significantly better than the fixed odds payout of 1 to win 150 on an 8 team parlay. In short, the trick of the trade when dealing with poor fixed odds is to simply add one team to the parlay that is priced differently than the standard -110.
Nba Parlay Bets Game
As you can now see, if you know how to bet parlays properly, they are not always sucker bets. There are, however, a few reasons that parlays are generally not a good move. I’ll cover these, and then cover the times it does make sense.
Top Reasons to Avoid Parlays
1) Progressive betting systems are generally regarded as poor strategy for both bankroll management and bankroll growth. Professional bettors make wagers based on their quantified edge per game. While the math can work out, doing the math for proper bet sizing on a parlay is a lot of added work with little to no upside for most sports bettors.
2) Parlay bets have higher variance than straight bets. Here you’re getting the same odds, but your chance of hitting a dry spell is greatly increased. When the odds are the same it is most often better to go with the lower variance option, which in this case is straight wagers.
3) Line Shopping – Sports bettors maximize their profit by always shopping for the best price. For example, finding -4 when other sites are -4.5, and finding reduced vig options such as -104 instead of -110. When betting parlays, you’ll need to find the most favorable odds for each team at a single betting site. This scenario is rare, so generally you’ll end up with better odds by making straight wagers at multiple betting sites.
Parlays That Make the Most Sense:
Reduced Juice – BetOnline.ag offers 6.5 to one on three team parlays. This comes out better than betting sides at the -105 price standard reduced juice sports books offer. In sports such as NFL football where 50/50 wagering propositions are common, a sports bettor gets far superior odds by betting 3 team parlays at BetOnline.
Correlated Parlays – If a bookmaker was offering betting lines on both “will it be cloudy today?” and “will it rain today?”, if allowed, you’d be much better off betting either both as no, or both as yes, in a parlay bet as opposed to straight wagers. While this is a simplified example, there are plenty of times when outcomes are correlated in sports betting. For example, a handicapper might determine that if one team covers the spread, the game is more likely to go over or under the posted total. Also, during the final week of the NFL season, a certain team winning or losing the day game might result in a previously important night game now having no meaning in the playoff race.
Free Play Bonuses – Several online betting sites, for example BetNow, offer players free bets based on the size of their initial deposit. Free play bonuses are not the same as cash. The difference is that a bet made with cash returns both stake and win, where a bet made with a free play returns only win. Parlays allow you the chance to use the same free play more than once, because a parlay really is only a wager that continues to place stake+win on the next selection. Remember, fixed odd three team parlays pay a little better than true odds. So when using free plays to bet 3 team parlays, you’re getting slightly better odds, and also a chance to apply that free play stake to three different bets. This is common knowledge that 3 team parlays are a great use of free play bonuses.
Circumventing Betting Limits – I’ll warn you upfront that betting sites do not take kindly to this, and it might get you banned. The basic idea here is, say you find a parlay with monster value in a small market with low betting limits. Let’s say a woman’s field hockey line opens at +150 when it should be +100. Here making ten unique two-team parlays, using the +150 bet with a random -110 each time might be advantageous, as on average you’ll get down 5 times the max bet. At -110 juice the expected ROI is less, but to get the maximum amount down on line of significant value, it might make sense. While personally I rarely use this strategy online, I do attempt to get away with it in Las Vegas from time to time. This takes a little bit of acting, such as starting to walk away from the cage and then saying wait, also give me… Know this: It is a trick of the trade advantage players use that is not for novice bettors.
This concludes our article on parlay betting. As a final tip: if you enjoy using parlays as a lottery ticket, www.Bovada.lv runs a $10,000 weekly parlay jackpot during football season, which is an added bonus on top of what a $5 stake pays on a 10 team parlay win. To learn more, see the promo section at www.Bovada.lv. If nothing else, this article gives you some great conversation material next time someone in the sports bar says, parlays are for suckers. Hopefully, it ends up being much more than that, adding extra winnings to your bankroll. Either way, we wish you the best of luck.
Other Advanced Sports Betting Strategy Articles:
» Teaser Betting Strategy
» Prop Betting Strategy
» How To Get Max Value When Betting