3 Leg Parlay
The true odds for this 3 leg parlay are actually 8-1 given that each individual leg is a 50/50 chance of landing. No wonder sportsbooks actively promote the points spread parlay! The only caveat to the poor value of the point spread parlay is if the bettor firmly believes they have found games where the sportsbooks have the handicap wrong.
- If the bettor chooses to make three-team parlays they will have 56 different parlay tickets. The ticket will cost the amount chosen for each parlay. If the bettor only has $300 they might choose to Round Robin the teams by two, so they have 28 different parlays for $10 each.
- Aug 07, 2017 Bookies offer this category of wager to lure the gambler into a tough situation. For instance, on a 4-team parlay, going 3-1 is no different than going 0-4. You lose in either case. However, if you’d placed 4 individual bets and won 3 while losing 1, you would make a decent chunk of change.
I’m a pretty awful sports gambler primarily because I know what my main obstacle is and I still don’t fix it. I love a good parlay. I always prefer going big on Can’t Miss Parlay and never take the time to place individual bets on the winners in my parlay so inevitably when I hit 5 of 6 legs of my NHL or MLB parlay I miss out entirely instead of cashing on 5 bets instead of none.
I mention all of this because I’m extremely curious about what this high-roller’s strategy is aside from this multi-million-dollar parlay they placed last week. According to ESPN Chalk, a high roller wagered $3 million on a 3-leg parlay what would profit $5.6 million and net $8.6 million.
According to the report, it’s the largest wager ever taken by DraftKings’ sportsbook director Johnny Avello who has been in the business for 30 years. That’s how quickly things have accelerated now that sports betting has gone mainstream. I’d also LOVE to know the net worth of the person (or persons) who placed this bet.
Here’s the report from ESPN Chalk:
Last Tuesday, according to DraftKings, an unidentified bettor risked $3 million on a three-leg parlay featuring the following: Georgia to win the SEC East division; Alabama to win the SEC West division; the Packers to win the NFC North division.
If successful, this bet would pay out $8.6 million, a $5.6 million net profit for the customer.
It’s the largest parlay bet that Johnny Avello, DraftKings’ sportsbook director and a 30-plus-year Nevada bookmaker, has ever taken. And it’s certainly among the biggest ever placed with a U.S. sportsbook (via)
Georgia is the only 3-0 team in the SEC East and Alabama is the only 3-0 team in the SEC West but A LOT can change and neither of those teams looked unbeatable last Saturday so I’m sure that gambler’s blood pressure went up considerably. The Packers vs. Bears for the top spot in the NFC North will be an interesting battle to watch as well.
The article goes on to talk about another outrageous bet that was placed last week where one gambler rolled in on a Thursday and put down $240,000 to win just $3,000 and they had to sweat it out. They put $240K on a ‘money-line bet on heavily favored BYU to beat Texas-San Antonio straight up’. UTSA eventually lost 27-20 to BYU but they’d jumped out to an early lead.
That gambler eventually took in $3,400 on a $240,000 bet (1.4% return over 3 days) which sounds like the most stressful possible way to earn $3,400.
There’s a lot of debate over why people place these bets on teams like BYU and it ranges everything from racking up points with a casino to illegality but you can read all about that over on ESPN’s Chalk.
Parlay betting allows horseplayers to bet the races they want, their way. Since your Parlay races don’t have to be consecutive on the card, you can identify the horses you want to bet no matter the race they’re in. Plus, you can alternate between Win, Place and Show bets, so you can build your Parlay based on how strongly you feel about each horse. Plus, parlay wagering is the only way to roll over all of your winnings to the next bet – even the pennies. So you really are betting every penny.
3 Leg Parlay
My preferred Parlay betting approach is to build a Parlay around my day’s ‘best bets,’ especially when they’re racing later in the card. Start a small ($10 or $20) five-leg parlay and make the first four legs Show bets on lower-priced horses. Then close it to a Win bet on the horse you like most. You just might be able to parlay your $10 or $20 base bet into a $50 or $100 Win bet on your horse just by making a series of Show bets. And if you lose along the way, you’re only out your starting amount. But if you win, you could be looking at a very nice payout.