MyTopSportsbooks Multiple Bets Guide

Multiple bets combine several wagers into one bundle and allow you to multiply your potential profit. Risk and profit increa together, but do not worry! This guide will help you understand multiple bets and learn how to make the best multiple wagers! Below, in the MyTopSportsbooks multiple bets guide, we go through and explore the advantages of each of the two major multiple bets that you can use to make parlays and teasers.

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As a preface, you should know that parlays and teasers have something fundamental in common: They both require you to win each part of your bet. But, because you are taking a higher risk by wagering on more than one game, you’ll get bigger potential payouts and will be awarded certain advantages that aren’t available for single bet markets.

Let’s look at the specifics.

 

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Multiple Bets Guide: Parlays

One of the most common questions our readers look at in our FAQs is “What is a parlay bet?” Picks and parlays look complex at first glance, but they’re not.

All that a parlay bet’s meaning boils down to is a bet where you make multiple picks and, if every single one is correct, you win. While they’re not difficult to understand, they can be hard to win, because if even one pick is incorrect, you get nothing.

Parlays can contain anywhere from two to 12 selections. As you can imagine, the payouts get substantially greater the more selections you add. However, each sportsbook has a cap on how much they’ll payout for a parlay. Things like NFL picks and parlays are very popular and sports bettors can go big on these types of wagers, so be sure to know the limit before you add a 12th team and start losing units!

To summarize, if you are still wondering “What does ‘parlay’ mean in betting?” think of it as a bet that compounds the risk-reward ratio in favor of the bettor, leading to a higher payout without increasing the required deposit.

Parlay Beting

Your potential parlay payout is easiest to calculate using decimal odds. To find out, just multiply the odds of each selection together, then multiply that by your wager. Say you liked Golden State at 1.32, San Antonio at 1.66 and Minnesota at 2.20 and were willing to wager $50, your potential payout would be: (1.32 x 1.66 x 2.20) x $50 = $241
A variety of other bets can be added to a parlay bet, including but not limited to moneylines, game totals, and bets against the spread. However, you can’t parlay a bet against the spread and a moneyline bet from the same game. That means that if you like the Warriors -300, you can’t parlay that pick with Warriors (-8), you simply have to take one or the other. Parlay odds are great if you make multiple selections because they can create huge potential payouts! Almost every sportsbook won’t fault you if the bet pushes (or ties). Instead, that game will just be removed from the parlay, and your payout will be lowered accordingly. So, a three-team bet would become a two-team bet. You can double-check your sportsbook’s stance on pushes and the consequences in parlays by reading their terms of service.
Yes. Not only can parlays involve different types of bets, but they can cross sports, as well. This allows you to combine anything from football to hockey. If any event can’t be parlayed, there will be a “single bets only” notation attached to it. Parlay bets don’t always have to be focused on major leagues. Picks and parlays in the NCAAB, an amateur level, draw in millions of wagers each year. In the U.K., a parlay of two sporting events is called a “double.” A parlay of three events is called a “treble,” and any number higher than that is called an “accumulator.” Be careful when you are formulating your parlays—one of the biggest peril in online betting is adding an unnecessary leg that ends up dooming your entire bet.

Teaser Bets

We’ve touched on the question “what is a teaser bet?” in other guides, but we’ll briefly cover it again here.

Simply put, teaser sports betting is a fan favorite because of the control it gives to the player.

Like a parlay, a teaser bet combines multiple selections in a single bet. However, teasers can only include picks against the spread and game totals, and you will be able to adjust the spread for each game you pick. As with a parlay, if every team covers the new spread, you win the bet, but if even one fails, you get nothing.

There are other restrictions on teasers as well. They are only available for football and basketball, and the payouts are predetermined based on how many teams are involved and how many points you move the spread by.

Gambling sites also prevent players from moving the spread in each direction, since you can’t include two teams from the same game in the same teaser.

Teaser Bets

 

How Does a Teaser Bet Work?

Let’s look at an example.

In football, you can tease the spread by 6, 6.5, or 7 points. If you put New England (-10) and Tennessee (-2) in a six-point teaser, your new spread would be New England (-4) and Tennessee (+4). Essentially, you will have turned a heavy favorite into a moderate favorite and another expected winner into an underdog. The bet would cash if New England won by at least five and Tennessee lost by three or fewer or won outright.

As mentioned, you can also tease a game total. If the total for the New England/Tennessee game was originally set at 48.5, teasing the under by 6 would mean the new total is set at 54.5. Any final score that amounts to less than 54.5, say, 28-26, would be a winner on this teaser.

For NBA teasers, the options are 4, 4.5, and 5 points. In most books, the maximum number of teams you can include in a teaser is 10. As is the case with football, the payouts are predetermined based on the number of teams and the size of the spread adjustment.

Here are two full charts of standard teaser payouts in basketball and football.

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Teaser Payouts in Basketball

Teams4 Points4.5 Points5 Points
2+100-110-120
3+180+160+150
4+300+250+200
5+500+400+350
6+700+600+500
7+1000+900+800
8+1500+1200+1000
9+2000+1500+1200
10+2500+2000+1500

Teaser Payouts in Football

Teams6 Points6.5 Points7 Points
2-110-120-130
3+180+160+140
4+300+250+200
5+450+400+350
6+600+550+500
7+1000+900+800
8+1500+1200+1000
9+2000+1500+1200
10+2500+2000+1500

{courtesy of predictem}

Pushing on a Teaser

Similar to a parlay, if you push in a teaser, that result will be removed and a three-team tease would become a two-team tease. However, if a push occurs on a two-team tease, the overall bet just becomes a push. Therefore, the bettor can’t benefit from only one adjusted spread.

In some books, there’s also the possibility of a “sweetheart teaser.” That is either a three-team, 10-point teaser for -110 odds, or a four-team, 13-point teaser for -120. Unlike regular teasers, these generously large teasers will result in a loss if any game pushes.

 

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Round Robins

You can think of the “round robin” as a third type of multiple bet. In reality, it’s really just the aggregate of multiple parlays.

If you’re familiar with horse racing, a round robin bet is just like boxing horses. In the more likely event that you don’t know what that is, a round robin is two or more parlays played at once.

There’s nothing more frustrating for a bettor than missing out on one game in a parlay and losing the whole thing. The round robin betting market provides a fast way to play multiple, smaller parlays.

But what is a round robin bet’s meaning? Let’s dive deeper.

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Round Robin Bet Explained

Say you wanted to bet on four NFL games: the Steelers (-6), the Packers (-3), the Giants (+2.5) and the 49ers (+7). You like all these picks, but you aren’t confident they’ll all hit. In this instance, you can bet either a two or three-way round robin.

A two-way round robin would package your four teams into a series of six, two-team parlays, i.e.:

Parlay 1Parlay 2Parlay 3Parlay 4Parlay 5Parlay 6
Steelers -6Steelers -6Steelers -6Packers -3Packers -3Giants +2.5
Packers -3Giants +2.549ers +7Giants +2.549ers +749ers +7

And a three-way round robin would package your four teams into a series of four, three-team parlays, i.e.:

Parlay 1Parlay 2Parlay 4Parlay 6
Steelers -6Steelers -6Packers -3Packers -3
Packers -3Packers -3Giants +2.5Giants +2.5
Giants +2.549ers +749ers +749ers +7

There are benefits to both approaches. The three-way round robin doesn’t require you to stake as much money. Furthermore, the potential payout if all of these three-team parlays win is much higher than if all of the two-way parlays hit.

Just for argument’s sake, let’s pretend that the Giants fail to cover: In the three-way round robin, only Parlay 2 is still alive, while in the two-way robin, Parlays 1, 3 and 5 can still win. A two-way requires you to put money on more options but helps mitigate risk, regardless of whether lines are moving or not.

Payout on Round Robins

Round robins can include as many as eight teams and a maximum of six-way parlays, but be careful when you are placing your round robin wager. When you fill out the risk amount, that number will be multiplied by however many bets there are in the round robin.

If you placed $100 on our four-team, two-way round robin, your account would actually be charged $600 (i.e. $100 on each of Parlays 1 through 6). If you only want to risk $100 total, then you have to divide $100 by the number of parlays in your round robin.

Line Shopping

One of the biggest unspoken rules in the sports betting industry is to always go line shopping. Essentially, what that means is to consult other sportsbooks’ betting lines to see if certain books are more advantageous than others. Think of this as bankroll management.

For example, Bovada often has a wide variety of prop bets and, as a result, is likely to at least have a few that are more favorable than what can be found on other online sportsbooks. Others, such as MyBookie or BetOnline, provide tons of betting markets that may appeal to different players.

Many sports betting sites will claim to be the best, and while most have their selling points, that title does not always hold true.

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How to Line Shop

Line shopping just comes down to research, and no, not the kind that you had to do for your science project when you were a child. Instead, all bettors need to do is simply:

  1. Pick out their favorite bets, whether they be single bets or multiple bets
  2. Compare multiple bookies to find the best odds
  3. Place a wager on the sportsbook that makes the most sense

Line shopping can be especially helpful during live betting as different bookmakers are not always as quick to update their odds as others. If done correctly, line shopping will either help reduce your potential loss, if you are operating off of a fixed budget, or increase your potential payout.

Large events such as the Super Bowl are often premier destinations for live bettors due to the number of wagers that are constantly pouring in. However, the NFL in general, along with matchups in other major sports, almost always has live betting options for fans who want betting options while games are still in play.

Betting Options Reviewed

There is no particular betting site or type of bet that is universally regarded as “the best.” However, there are a few that are more prominent than others.

As discussed in this MyTopSportsbooks review, we have:

  • Parlays
  • Teasers
  • Round robins

But, in the case that you are not a fan of round robin betting or any of the options discussed, you may resort to the bookies’ more traditional lines, including:

  • Moneylines
  • Game totals
  • Spreads

Whether you prefer mobile betting or in-person wagering, and whatever betting strategy or types of bets that you use to stack your bankroll, remember that the oddsmakers are always trying to beat you. New players would be best served using their promo sign-up bonus to help create a fallback, usually in the form of risk-free bets.

If any aspect of online sports betting remains a point of confusion for you, do take a look at our guide for betting sites basics, which will provide readers with foundations of the industry, betting vocabulary and guides you to making your first wager online!

Frank Lorenzo
Frank Lorenzo
MTS Co-Founder
Geoff Johnson
Geoff Johnson
MTS Co-Founder