There are countless 'handicapping services' available of providing people who have parlays. They will tout win rates much like many of the most impressive straight wager cappers. Of course, so as to they refer to money line parlays as 'safe' bets. On a number of these sites you may even have the privilege of working with some type 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 running a business. Next time you're in Vegas have a look at the discarded tickets you see spread everywhere. It's safe to assume that might be nearly all these losers are made up of such bets placed on both sports and racing. Of all the sucker bets available to sports bettors, the parlay is king. Bettors are lured in by the promise of a huge payout while disregarding the truth that there is no reasonable expectation of any return on the investment.
The home edge on a typical straight wager at -110 is 4.5%. Compared with many table games this is actually a fairly raised percentage. A great deal of table games and slots offer a better value for the average bettor placing a random wager. However, we all know that betting on sports isn't anything like throwing some dice at the trunk wall.
Additional resources is important in everything the house has to offer. There are also steps that could be taken to decrease the edge in only about every game. Nowhere in the casino are elements such as skill and preparation more useful compared to the sports book. The edge on a straight wager could 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 long run.
# 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 consistent with keno, plus they are equally impossible to overcome in the long run. There is no mystery surrounding the world of parlays. Bettors are drawn to risking handful of money for large payouts. The games which are frequently played in the casino are slot machines that offer thousands or even millions in progressive jackpots. The mentality of these bettors is 'Go big, or go back home.' The casino is actually pleased to oblige as an incredible number of bettors go home with nothing in their pockets every year.
It really is fair to assume that the largest amount of losing bets a book accepts are exotic wagers of equal to or double the home minimum. Simply because most bettors don't have a meaningful bankroll set aside for sports betting. Since they don't believe they can make any real cash by placing $25-50 on several games weekly they continue taking parlays for $20 or less. Using this method they essentially ensure a significant loss by the end of the season. Meanwhile, should they only placed straight wagers at that same level they might limit their potential losses to some units at most.
Many bettors assume that because they're keeping how big is their bets low they're not taking on a substantial risk. This analysis is flawed because it ignores several factors. Most of all, it is my experience that a lot of bettors do not place just one single parlay weekly. In football this implies a minimum of 34 parlays are placed through the regular season. In baseball that number can easily exceed 100. With a low unit bet that is still a dangerous amount of wagers to put with this type of high house edge. For instance, should you be placing only 5 team parlays your expectation should be to lose about $35 for each $100 you wager. Because the amount of bets you place increases it is inevitable that you'll hit that $100 mark many times over.
Using parlays as a side bet will usually result in increasing your losses or erasing any profits you were able to make on straight wagers. In 2009 2009, I had litigant who broke even after 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 take into account I issued an identical warning to him.
If you are likely to follow his lead and continue using parlays I have a few pointers that will assist you in the long run. First of all, the very best value of most parlays is clearly 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 even more. However, if you are going to make this investment here are two useful tips:
If you are likely to bet a 4 or 5 5 team parlay, always ensure it is 6 as well as 10. The difference between your house edge to add 1 or 2 2 more teams is at 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, however 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 HOME edge is approximately 10 points lower than all three of these 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 should be kept in check to become successful. In this regard, every bettor has two options. You can chase high returns while assuming a huge amount 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.