There are countless 'handicapping services' available of providing people who have parlays. They'll tout win rates much like one of the most impressive straight wager cappers. Needless to say, so as to they make reference to money line parlays as 'safe' bets. On several sites you may have the privilege of dealing with some kind of royalty in the field of parlay wagering. Regrettably, thousands will be fooled by this fiction again this football season.
The truth is that exotic wagers keep sports books running a business. Next time you're in Vegas check out the discarded tickets you see spread all over the place. It's safe to assume that you will find nearly all these losers are made up of such bets positioned on both sports and racing. Of all sucker bets available to sports bettors, the parlay is king. Bettors are lured in by the promise of a huge payout while disregarding the point that there is absolutely no reasonable expectation of any return on investment.
The house edge on a standard straight wager at -110 is 4.5%. Weighed against many table games this is actually a fairly raised percentage. A great deal of table games and slots provide a better value for the average bettor placing a random wager. However, everybody knows that betting on sports isn't anything like throwing a couple of dice at the trunk wall.
Chance is important in everything the house provides. There are also steps which can be taken to reduce the edge in only about every game. Nowhere in the casino are elements such as skill and preparation more useful than the sports book. The edge on a straight wager could be reversed in the bettors favor by utilizing statistics and expertise in a sport. However, a double digit house edge can never be overcome in the long term.
# 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 includes a whopping 10% house edge or better. Such casino advantages tend to be more consistent with keno, and they are equally impossible to overcome over time. There is no mystery surrounding the planet of parlays. Bettors are attracted to risking a small amount of money for large payouts. The games which are frequently played in the casino are slot machines that offer thousands and even millions in progressive jackpots. The mentality of the bettors is 'Go big, or go home.' The casino is clearly happy 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 that a book accepts are exotic wagers of equal to or double the house minimum. For the reason that most bettors don't have a meaningful bankroll set aside for sports betting. Given that they don't believe they can make any real cash by placing $25-50 on a few games weekly they continue taking parlays for $20 or less. Using this method they essentially ensure a substantial loss by the end of the growing season. Meanwhile, should they only placed straight wagers at that same level they would limit their potential losses to a few units at most.
Many bettors assume that because they are keeping the size of their bets low they are not taking on a significant risk. This analysis is flawed because it ignores several factors. New 88 of all, it is my experience that a lot of bettors do not place just one parlay per week. In football this implies a minimum of 34 parlays are put during the regular season. In baseball that number can simply exceed 100. With a minimal unit bet this is still a dangerous amount of wagers to place with this type of high house edge. For example, should you be placing only 5 team parlays your expectation ought to be to lose about $35 for each $100 you wager. Because the amount of bets you place increases it really is inevitable that you will hit that $100 mark several times over.
Using parlays as a side bet will most likely result in upping your losses or erasing any profits you managed to make on straight wagers. In '09 2009, I had a client 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 going to follow his lead and continue using parlays I've a few pointers that may help you in the long term. First of all, the very best value of all parlays is actually the three team parlay. The difference between the house edge on a 2 & 3 teamer is insignificant, however the payout is a lot more than twice as much. Invest the a look at the graph you should understand why I would never bet a parlay of 4 teams or even more. However, if you're going to make this investment here are two useful tips:
If you are going to bet a 4 or 5 5 team parlay, always make it 6 or even 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 exactly like a 4 team parlay, however the actual odds of hitting it are over 1,000 to 1 1.
If you are likely to throw your money away chasing huge payouts on 7, 8, and 9 team parlays then just bet the 10 teamer. The House 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 is the sign of a profitable professional bettor. Greed must be kept in check to become successful. In this regard, every bettor has two options. It is possible to chase high returns while assuming a huge amount of unnecessary risk. Or you can minimize your contact with a few units while maintaining a reasonable expectation to increase your bankroll by 50%...The choice is yours.