A parlay or accumulator is a single bet that links together two or more individual wager

Wager

Wager can refer to:* Gambling* A scientific wager* A legal wager under the Roman legal system* WAGR syndrome - a rare genetic syndrome-Given name:*Wager Swayne , American military Governor-Surname:...

s and is dependent on all of those wagers winning together. The benefit of the parlay is that there are much higher payoffs than placing each individual bet separately since the difficulty of hitting it is much higher. If any of the bets in the parlay loses, the entire parlay loses. If any of the plays in the parlay ties, or "pushes", the parlay reverts to a lower number of teams with the odds reducing accordingly.

Odds and payout

Parlay bets are paid out at odds higher than the typical single game bet, but still below the "true" odds. For instance, a common 2-team NFL parlay generally has a payout of 2.6:1 if both picks are correct. In reality, however, if one assumes that each single game bet is a coin flip and would be expected to pay out at 1:1, the true payout should instead be 3:1, a substantial difference.

Example 1

Alex places a three-team NFL

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 parlay on the Packers

Green Bay Packers

The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...

, Bears

Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 and Bengals

Cincinnati Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional football team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the AFC's North Division in the National Football League . The Bengals began play in 1968 as an expansion team in the American Football League , and joined the NFL in 1970 in the AFL-NFL...

. If any one of those teams fail to cover the spread, Alex loses his parlay bet. But if all three teams beat the spread, Alex gets paid $600 for every $100 bet.

If Alex pushes on one of those picks, he then has a two-team parlay. If he pushes on two picks, he would then have a straight bet.

Example 2

Winning example

You wager $1,000 on Arsenal/Manchester United to draw, Chelsea to win and Liverpool to win. You win $6,072 as you correctly predicted all three results.

The calculation is: $1,000 × 3.2 × 1.7 × 1.3 = $7,072, less the stake of $1,000.

Losing example

You wager $1,000 on Manchester United to win, Chelsea to win and Liverpool to win. You lose the wager as Manchester United did not win.

Example 3

The following is an example of a traditional Las Vegas Parlay Card, which shows the typical payouts for up to 15 team parlay bet:

Number	Odds
2 Team Parlay	13 to 5
3 Team Parlay	6 to 1
4 Team Parlay	10 to 1
5 Team Parlay	20 to 1
6 Team Parlay	40 to 1
7 Team Parlay	75 to 1
8 Team Parlay	100 to 1
9 Team Parlay	150 to 1
10 Team Parlay	300 to 1
11 Team Parlay	450 to 1
12 Team Parlay	600 to 1
13 Team Parlay	750 to 1
14 Team Parlay	900 to 1
15 Team Parlay	1500 to 1

See also

• Full cover bet
  Full cover bet
  A full cover bet is any bet which consists of all available multiple bets over a given number of selections.Examples of full cover bets:* Trixie - three selections* Yankee - four selections* Canadian or Super Yankee - five selections...
  
  
• Trixie (bet)
• Each-Way (bet)
• Progressive parlay
  Progressive parlay
  A progressive parlay is a joint wager on multiple events, for example team sports or horse races. Generally a progressive parlay involves a joint wager on four to twelve separate events. Should all the selected bets win, the bettor receives a relatively large payout, because of the sizable odds...
  
  
• ComboBet