There are countless 'handicapping services' in the business of providing people with parlays. They'll tout win rates much like probably the most impressive straight wager cappers. Needless to say, you will see that they refer to money line parlays as 'safe' bets. On a number of these sites you may even have the privilege of dealing with some type of royalty in the field of 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 are in Vegas have a look at the discarded tickets you see spread all over the place. It's safe to assume that might be nearly all these losers are made of such bets placed 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 no reasonable expectation of any return on the investment.
The house edge on a standard straight wager at -110 is 4.5%. Compared with many table games this is really a fairly raised percentage. Lots 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 some dice at the trunk wall.
Chance is important in everything the house has to offer. There are also steps which might be taken to reduce the edge in just about every game. Nowhere in the casino are elements such as for example 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 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 plainly see every parlay it is possible to possibly bet comes with a whopping 10% house edge or better. Such casino advantages tend to be more consistent with keno, plus they are equally impossible to overcome over time. There is no mystery surrounding the planet of parlays. Bettors are drawn to risking handful of money for large payouts. The games which are most often played in the casino are slots that offer thousands and even millions in progressive jackpots. The mentality of the bettors is 'Go big, or go back home.' The casino is clearly pleased to oblige as millions of bettors go back home with nothing within their pockets every year.
It really is fair to assume that the biggest amount of losing bets a book accepts are exotic wagers of add up to or double the house minimum. This is due to most bettors do not 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 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 some units at most.
Many bettors assume that because they're keeping the size of 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 usually do not place just one parlay per week. In football this implies a minimum of 34 parlays are placed through the regular season. In baseball that number can simply exceed 100. With a low unit bet that is still a dangerous number of wagers to place with this type of high house edge. For example, if you are placing only 5 team parlays your expectation should be to lose about $35 for every $100 you wager. As the amount of bets you place increases it is inevitable that you'll hit that $100 mark many times over.
Using suncity as a side bet will usually result in increasing 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 this by placing 'small' side bets including parlays, reverses, and teasers. This is an expensive lesson to learn especially when you consider 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 help you over time. First of all, the very best value of all parlays is actually the three team parlay. The difference between your house edge on a 2 & 3 teamer is insignificant, however the payout is more than twice as much. If you take a look at the graph you need to understand why I'd never bet a parlay of 4 teams or more. However, if you are 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 and even 10. The difference between the 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 probability of hitting it are over 1,000 to at least one 1.
If you are going to throw your money away chasing huge payouts on 7, 8, and 9 team parlays then just bet the 10 teamer. THE HOME edge is approximately 10 points less than all three of these bets and 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 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 it is possible to minimize your contact with several units while maintaining an acceptable expectation to increase your bankroll by 50%...The decision is yours.