All betting operators we have reviewed provide easy access to parlay betting, but a couple offer different features within their parlay betting.
FanDuel New York offers a super-easy interface for converting your bet slip into a parlay, a teaser, or a round robin.
BetMGM New York will automatically direct you to a parlay set up within your bet slip if you select one or more parlay-eligible games, same with WynnBET.
How those parlays are employed, added features, and ease of use are the difference between a good sportsbook and the best.
What Is A Parlay Wager?
A parlay is simple – it is a package of wagers that act as one.
You, the player will select two or more bets you like, add them to a single bet slip and if all your predictions are true, you win … but if even one does not win, your parlay fails.
Some operators offer parlay "insurance," which declares your bet a tie and returns your money if only one leg loses.
NOTE: In sports betting vernacular, the parts of a parlay are called a “leg.” In this article, we will use this term to describe the various bets within a parlay whether they are games or props.
How To Place A Parlay Bet In NY
Every New York Betting App we have reviewed employ parlay betting, so the ones that will be approved for New York will allow players to parlay bets. To place a parlay bet, you go to your sportsbook online or app and select the matchups you want. In your digital bet slip, there will be an option to parlay these selections. Click or tap that option, set your wager, and you are done.
How to Build a Winning Parlay
Building winning parlays is difficult, you must ensure you have selected several winners that will all be successful to be a winning parlay. Parlays are more difficult as they get more legs, so keep them small, include good wagers and make sure you understand how each wager is paid out. See below for more tips.
Different Types Of Parlay Bets In New York
Parlays come in many different shapes and finding your favorite will take some time and research. It will also depend on the sport you choose to wager, your risk avoidance, and goals. Some sports offer a ton of in-game action that can be bundled, while others do not.
For more information, check out our post on how to bet on sports in New York in New York.
Point Spread
Point spread wagers are what most people think of when wagering on games. Outside of the “straight-up” or “moneyline” bet, the spread is the most easily recognized and understood. When the books determine a game betting favorite, they also determine a betting “line” … a point spread.
Take, for instance, the Knicks vs Pacers; if the book determines the Knicks are the favorite, they might assign a spread of 14 points, meaning the Knicks are -14 vs the Pacers. As a bettor, you need to understand this line and what it means to know how to place your bet. If you wager the Knicks as the favorite, you need to have the Knicks win by at least 15 points for your bet to be successful. If they win by 14, that is a push, and the bet is voided. If the Knicks win by LESS THAN 14 points, you lose.
Moneyline
A “Moneyline” bet is one where you wager that the betting underdog will win the game outright. Say you notice the Giants are a 3-point underdog to the Cowboys (Cowboys -3) and you believe the G-Men are going to beat the Cowboys, then you would want to wager on the moneyline. If the Giants win the game, you win your bet. This type of wager carries a higher odds marker so your payout will be better than just simply betting against the point spread.
Difference in odds: in our example here, your odds against the spread (+3) would be -110, so on a $10 bet, your potential payout is $19.09. Your moneyline for that same game would be +145 and a potential payout of $24.50.
Same-Game Parlay
In regular parlays, you may select any number of games from several different sports, bundle them into a parlay and make your wager. In a “Same Game” parlay, you make all of your selections from a single matchup. Let’s look at a matchup between the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers and we see that the Bruins are -1.5 for the game, but we are more interested in individual scoring because we know the matchup.
If we want to bet that Brad Marchand will score first, Chris Kreider will get a goal at some point, and that the Rangers will score last, we can bundle these three wagers together into a three-leg SGP. The odds for this parlay go up to +5000, meaning a $10 bet can pay out $510.
Round Robin Parlays
This type of wager allows the player to easily create a series of bets where it normally would have taken much longer. A Round Robin parlay gets its name from the “Round Robin” tournament style where every team plays every other team. This is the same type of deal. Here is an example: we like the a few MLS games:
- Real Salt Lake (-200) vs. Kansas City
- Philadelphia @ Nashville (Tie @ +220)
- New York City (+100) vs. New England
A regular 3-leg parlay’s odds go to +860 with a potential $86 profit on a $10 bet. Here, a round robin parlay would automatically create three two-leg parlays for you to wager $10 each at odds of +373. This type of wager also balances your odds across the three parlays.
- 1 & 2 = +380
- Real Salt Lake (-200) vs. Kansas City
- Philadelphia @ Nashville (Tie @ +220)
- 2 & 3 = +200
- Philadelphia @ Nashville (Tie @ +220)
- New York City (+100) vs. New England
- 1 & 3 = +540
- Real Salt Lake (-200) vs. Kansas City
- New York City (+100) vs. New England
So, you can see here that the parlay odds of +373 is an average of the three individual two-leg parlay odds. The payout of the round robin parlay is $112 vs the $86 profit of the traditional parlay. NOTE: your total stake on this round robin parlay is $30, not $10 because each leg of the Round Robin is considered an individual bet.
Teasers and Pleasers
This can get a little complicated, so stay with me here. Teasers and Pleasers are point spread adjustments on a parlay that can move the point spread either in favor of the bettor or in favor of the book. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. In both these sections, we will utilize the same set of three NFL picks from the 2021 season:
- Steelers (+4) at Bengals
- Colts (+3) vs. the Buccaneers
- Patriots (-6.5) vs. the Titans
Teasers
A Teaser moves the betting lines in favor of the player. This moves the Patriots line from -6.5 to -0.5, the Steelers go from +4 to +10, and the Colts go from +3 to +9. The good news is the games should be easier to win, the bad news is that the odds and payout are much lower with a teaser. ALL teasers must be employed within a parlay, you can’t have a teaser on a single-game bet. The parlay odds for this set of three bets is +600 meaning that on a $10 bet, your payout is $70.
If you employ a +6 (point) teaser, the odds now shift to +140 for the parlay, meaning that the same $10 bet pays out $24 instead of $70.
Pleasers
In a Pleaser bet the lines are moved against the player, the opposite of a Teaser bet. With a Pleaser, the lines are more difficult, but betting odds are increased. At one online sportsbook we sampled, a six-point pleaser bet with our example above moved the odds from +589 on the three-leg parlay to +2055. This brings your potential profit on a $10 bet to $205.50.
Parlay Cards
Parlay cards are typically distributed by the sportsbook/casino with easily selected action pre-printed. The book will have pre-selected the games and other action for you to “select.” The action here, while easy, has lower odds of winning and lower payouts. Simply put if the book is selecting your action for you…it’s in their best interest, not yours.
How Does a Parlay Payout Work?
With Parlays, the one standard rule is that everything in the parlay must win in order for the bet to payout. If you have a three-leg parlay, all three legs must win their wagers; if only one leg loses the entire parlay bet loses. The exception to this is if one of the legs of the parlay pushes, in which case, the parlay’s odds will be discounted as if that matchup was not part of the bet. So, your three-leg parlay becomes a two-leg parlay with reduced odds. Your parlay payout will depend on how well you select the legs of the parlay.
Understanding Parlay Odds
The way Parlay odds work is that each individual game has a moneyline number, you see it as “+110” or “-220.” That number carries a “risk” calculation that is multiplied inside the parlay to create the aggregated odds number you will eventually see on your bet slip. If you have two legs of the parlay that are -110 each, your parlay’s odds will be +264. The more legs you add to the parlay, the higher the odds, the higher the risk…and ultimately, a higher potential payout. Each betting site will have different odds on the individual games or props, so pick the book that is best suited to your playing style.
NOTE: Some books use “fixed” odds for parlays, make sure you understand the fixed odds for parlays and when they are used, it could be to your disadvantage.
Payouts for New York Parlays
Players see the high odds for parlays and salivate over the opportunity to cash-in bigtime, but this isn’t often the case. Parlays by their very nature are difficult to win especially when those parlays include three or more legs. That said, you can mitigate some of the risk by keeping the number of games in the parlay low or choosing the round robin option for better odds on payouts with less risk.
Parlay Betting Tips
First and foremost, include games with different odds in your parlay. If you include three wagers that are all -110, your odds on the parlay are automatically 6-1 or +600 (via fixed odds); if you replaced one of those wagers with a +100, your odds go to 629 on that parlay because the bookmaker is forced to go to true odds as opposed to fixed.
Second, utilize the parlay to take advantage of a poorly set line by the book. If you see a line that looks off, you may be able to take advantage of it and bundle that bet with others to advantage yourself.
Third, use New York sports betting promo codes. If you are new to the sportsbook and have a bonus (risk-free) bet to use, use it on a parlay that could pay out larger odds without the risk to your bank account.
Pros and Cons of Parlay Bets in NY
It must be repeated here that parlays are always difficult to complete, especially as the number of games/bets within the parlay increases. The risk to the player gets higher, but so does the reward. Some books also have fixed odds on parlays, and you have an increasing chances to hit a dry spell. Its not all bad though, you can get higher returns, parlays are exciting and a great way to utilize your bonus bets from your book.
Final Thoughts on Parlay Betting in New York
The last word on parlays is that if you want to have more excitement, then by all means, go for it…just understand that parlays are a high risk and rarely pay off in a big way. Professional gamblers tend to avoid parlays and the books are always figuring out new ways to tilt the odds in their favor; so, exercise caution on that 12-team college football parlay in bowl season.
Parlay Betting New York FAQ
The answer depends on your goals. Professional gamblers avoid parlays for their regular income; if they don’t like them, you shouldn’t either. If, however, you’re simply looking for a little excitement and have a few games you feel really good about, have some fun. Think of parlays as a much more fun way to bet than a scratch-off ticket.
Bettors pick a minimum of two wagers and bundle them together to form a single bet. If all parts of the parlay are successful, the payoff is bigger than single bets would be because the combined odds are more challenging.
Parlays require a complete win of all parts to pay out. If you have a three-leg parlay, all three teams must win for your parlay to payout. Some sportsbooks offer free "insurance," so if you only lose one leg of a parlay, you get your wager back.
A complex parlay is arguably the hardest bet to hit. The easiest bet to make is either against the spread or moneyline. Games are much easier to bet than a parlay, which has multiple parts that must all win in order for the bet to be successful and payout.
+200 is the book’s way of representing the amount of risk on the bet. For a moneyline, these are the odds typically assigned to an underdog to win a game outright. A +200 moneyline would pay off $200 on a $100 stake. The stakes can be smaller or larger. A +200 moneyline would pay off $20 on a $10 stake.
Parlay bets are legal in New York and can be placed online or at commercial sportsbooks.
Yes, the NFL is the most highly-actioned market in sports. Parlays are a big part of that market. In fact, you can place a parlay bet in any sport, and even across sports (for example, taking the Giants, Knicks and Rangers all to win.)
If your parlay has one bet (or leg) that pushes, the book will simply remove that leg from the parlay. Therefore, if you have a three-leg parlay that has one push, it is reduced to a two-leg parlay and the odds are adjusted to accommodate the new configuration.
A 3-leg parlay is one where three bets have been combined into one “package” of betting called a parlay. To win, all three legs of the parlay must be successful. You might also hear this stated as a “three-team” parlay if it is not a same game parlay.
Author
Ryan Buschmeyer is a software developer professionally, which make him perfect for analyzing the betting industry and top apps in terms of what features they have to offer, as well as identifying what sets each sportsbook apart from the other brands.
