PARLAY CALCULATOR

1. What is a Parlay?

A parlay is a bet type that involves combining multiple bet selections into one single bet to increase overall odds and potential payout. Parlays are one of the most popular bet types in the US, accounting for over 60% of online sports bets in some states.

Though parlays increase potential payout compared to individual wagers, it's equally important to note that with this increase in odds comes an increase in risk. Should even one of your bet selections in a standard parlay lose, your full parlay bet loses.

2. What is a Parlay Calculator?

A parlay calculator is a betting tool that rapidly calculates the combined odds, payout and profit of a person's parlay. It can be used as a handy tool to quickly compare parlay profitability and enhance betting decisions.

A parlay calculator works by taking the individual odds of each leg (selection) in a parlay and combining them to produce the parlay's total odds. It then factors the stake entered by the user into these odds to display potential payout and profit.

Also Known As: Parlay odds calculator, parlay payout calculator, parlay bet calculator.

3. How do I use a Parlay Calculator?

Using a parlay calculator to calculate potential parlay payout is simple. It involves four steps:

1. Pick Selections: First of all, you must pick a number of selections from a sportsbook. These may be teams that you expect to win their games in the upcoming weekend, for example.
   
   
2. Enter Odds: Now it's time to enter the individual betting odds attached to each selection (A.K.A leg) provided by the sportsbook in the ‘Bet # Odds’ rows.
   
   Note: Some calculators only calculate up to five to ten parlay legs. Ours can incorporate up to 20+ legs. Simply hit the ‘+Add’ button on the calculator to add a leg. Also, you can toggle the odds format used between American and Decimal depending on your preference.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Enter Stake: Enter the total bet amount (stake) you're thinking of wagering on this parlay in the ‘Parlay Total Wager’ box. Don't worry, our calculator instantly displays calculations so you can adjust this figure at any time.
   
   
4. View Results: The calculator will instantly calculate and display the total parlay odds, potential payout and potential profit of your parlay. Now it's your choice whether to add this selection to your sportsbook bet slip or pass on it.

4. Worked Example: How to Calculate Parlay Payout

Following the same five steps mentioned in the last section, let's look at an example of how we might use the parlay calculator to calculate potential payout.

Let's say we want to bet on five NBA teams to win their games this weekend:

1. Pick Selections: We've checked out the upcoming games, and we fancy:
   • Brooklyn Nets to beat Detroit Pistons (-135)
   • Minnesota Timberwolves to beat Indiana Pacers (-125)
   • Dallas Mavericks to beat Miami Heat (-198)
   • Phoenix Suns to beat Toronto Raptors (-485)
   • Boston Celtics to beat Denver Nuggets (-110)
     
     
     
2. Enter Odds: We go ahead and enter the odds figure attached to each bet selection, one per row. Note: These odds figures will be under the ‘moneyline’ column on the sportsbook. Our calculator will now look like this.
   
   
   
   
3. Enter Stake: We want to bet a total of $10 on this parlay, so we go ahead and add ‘10’ to the ‘Parlay Total Wager’ box
   
   
4. View Results: The calculator has automatically calculated the outputs. We can see total odds for this parlay are 986, total potential payout is $108.59 and total potential profit is $98.59.

We know that we'll only receive this payout if all of our selections win, but we're feeling confident and can afford to bet $10, so we place the parlay on our sportsbook account.

5. What are the Advantages of Using a Parlay Calculator?

A parlay calculator can be a game-changing tool when considering parlay bets. Here are five of its main benefits:

1. Calculates Potential Payout Accurately: Ensures you know potential winnings precisely, minimizing the risk of miscalculations and human errors.
   
   
2. Provides Insights Into Optimal Bet Combinations: Can provide rapid insights into bet combinations that may not have otherwise been visible via the sportsbook, maximizing potential winnings.
   
   
3. Offers Total Flexibility: Total flexibility in inputs to ensure full visibility over your parlay. Including different odds formats (such as American odds and decimal odds), parlay legs of up to 20+ and stake calculations.
   
   
4. Saves Time in Manual Calculations: Eliminates the tedious math of combining odds and potential payout manually, leaving more time to focus on your bet.
   
   
5. Allows Combination with Other Calculators: Can be combined with other betting calculators such as a no-vig calculator (to find fair odds), a hold calculator (to compare sportsbook profit margins) and an implied probability calculator (to convert odds into probability percentages) to strengthen your parlay strategy.

6. Are There any Limitations to Using a Parlay Calculator?

Though an effective time-saving and risk-reducing tool, parlay calculators do come with some crucial limitations that bettors should be aware of. Here are three of the most important:

• Individual Focus: With parlay bets generally based on one-off outcomes, i.e. “These five teams to win this weekend”, the parlay calculator is more of a tool for testing individual outcomes than building a long-term strategy.
  
  
• Doesn't Remove Risk: Though using a parlay calculator can reduce risk through testing for favorable combinations, it does not remove risk entirely. Parlay bets are still a particularly risky betting option.
  
  
• Doesn't Guarantee Winnings: Similarly, though a parlay calculator can maximize returns by finding optimal combinations, it doesn't predict outcomes, but rather calculates potential winnings if all selections win.

Which Strategies Should I Combine with Parlay Betting? Top 4

Traditional sports betting is naturally risky. So when we combine multiple bets on the basis that we only win if they all win, in the form of a parlay, you can see how this can inflate risk and reduce the chance of success.

This doesn't mean that parlays are ineffective, it just means that it's useful to include other betting strategies in your roster to balance out their high risk. Below we've included four of the best risk-minimizing betting methods to complement parlay betting.

1) Matched Betting

Maybe the most effective betting strategy to use alongside parlay betting is matched betting. Unrelated to parlay betting, matched betting is a risk-free betting method (yes, you heard right) that involves betting on every outcome of an event to unlock a sportsbook promo risk-free, before repeating the process using the promo to lock in a guaranteed profit.

Matched betting's lack of risk balances the high risk of parlay betting, making it the perfect strategy to pair in your lineup. What's more, by using tools like dutch matchers, dutch calculators and free bet conversion calculators even total beginners can earn $1,000s in profits each month with matched betting (more info in section 9).

2) Arbitrage Betting

Similarly to matched betting, arbitrage betting involves placing bets on every outcome of a sporting event, however, unlike the former (which uses this stage to unlock a free bet promo) with arbitrage betting this stage is used to generate a profit. How? By taking advantage of discrepancies between event odds through different sportsbooks.

Though a it can be a suitable strategy to balance out the risk of parlay bets, the profits offered by arbitrage opportunities aren't as generous as those offered with matched betting. Though similarly, tools like dutch matchers, dutch calculators and arbitrage betting calculators can simplify this process.

3) Expected Value Betting

Unlike the last two strategies, expected value betting does not guarantee returns. Instead, the expected value betting strategy is based around placing statistically profitable bets (+EV bets), that may only garner a small profit margin individually, but that over the long term add up to significant wins.

This long-term vision can help to counterbalance the usually short-term focus of parlay bets. Additionally, tools like the expected value calculator can make identifying +EV bets and profiting from this strategy achievable even for beginners.

4) Round Robin Betting

The most closely-related betting strategy to parlay betting out of the named options is round robin betting. Round robin betting involves breaking up a standard parlay into multiple smaller parlays, known as round round-robin parlays, which can be mapped out using a round robin calculator.

The fragmented nature of round robin betting, unlike with parlay betting, means you can still have a chance of receiving winnings if some of your selections lose. This makes round robin betting a less risky alternative to parlay betting, and a potentially favorable choice for those seeking something closer to parlays.

Maximize Returns and Minimize Risk: The “Holy Grail of Betting”

As mentioned, matched betting is perhaps the most powerful strategy for minimizing risk and maximizing profit in the sports betting world. Its clever process not only removes the gambling from betting, but allows users to convert sportsbook promos into guaranteed profits in the $1,000s with little time and effort.

So it's no surprise matched betting is among the US's fastest-growing side hustles. With over 500,000 users across the States and Europe using matched betting platforms to earn $1,000s each month, and a raft of global media including Vice and The Guardian having covered the strategy, some have coined it the “Holy grail of sports betting”.

At ProfitDuel, we're the experts in matched betting.

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