Moneyline Parlays
Are moneyline suitable as parlay legs? Are there better wagers for your parlays? These questions are answered through this parlay article.
Moneyline Parlays Explained
Another term for moneyline wagers is a bet on which team or player will win a game. Out of all the wagers on a sports betting site, a good chunk of bettors usually takes moneylines more than other markets.
A common element among parlays is favorites and underdogs, representing a negative (-) and positive (+) symbol beside their odds. Moneylines with negative symbols are your favorites since they indicate the amount you need to stake to gain $100. For example, the Dolphins have a -150 moneyline odds of beating the cubs in tonight's game. A $50 stake on the team will get you $33.33 of profit or $83.33 in total payout if the Dolphins win. Positive moneylines are the underdogs since their odds indicate the amount you can receive when you stake $100. If the cubs with odds of +240 were to win with a stake of $50, you would profit $120 or a $170 payout.
Parlays are an exotic bet that consists of more than one wager, including moneyline, spreads, totals, futures, and props. This wager's straightforward mechanic is why numerous parlays have moneyline as their legs. The appeal behind parlays is their massive payouts since you risk losing your entire wager when you lose just one of its legs. You can see just how much you can win with the number of moneyline teams in your parlays:
| Number Of Legs | Payout |
|---|---|
| 2-Leg | 2.6/1 |
| 3-Leg | 6/1 |
| 4-Leg | 11/1 |
| 5-Leg | 22/1 |
| 6-Leg | 45/1 |
| 7-Leg | 90/1 |
| 8-Leg | 180/1 |
| 9-Leg | 360/1 |
As the chart shows, even a two-team parlay has a large payout should both moneyline wins. Adding more moneyline to your parlay increases your payout because of its risk.
Because the wager is easy to understand, sports bettors new to parlays will likely have moneylines for their legs. Parlays fuel a bettor's excitement for any sports season since there is a large payout for them if all of their teams win each game.
Use our parlay payout calculator to know your profit for any type of parlay bet.
Moneyline Parlays vs Spread Parlays
Spread bets are wagers on the gap between the two team's scores at the end of the game. These wagers predict whether the gap will be close or broader than what the bookies have set. When we mean the end of the game, this includes the scores made during overtime and not what the score is after the regular game time.
To better understand spread bets, let us show an example with an NBA match between the Bulls -5 and Jazz +5 spread. Bulls are the favorite to win here since the -5 point here predicts they will win 6 points or more at the end of the match. On the other hand, the Jazz is the clear underdog in this situation. To cover the underdog bet, the Jazz needs to lose or win outright with a final score gap of 4 points or less between the two.
As a side note, you will also encounter spreads -1.5/+1.5, common among MLB matches. Do not be confused with the added 0.5 decimals since this means the favorite must score two points or more while the underdog must win or lose with a one-point difference.
As mentioned before, bettors are more comfortable with moneyline than spreads since the outcome of the former is easy to understand than the latter. On the other hand, are spreads parlay better than moneyline?
There is no pressure on any team or participants to win the game. However, the anxiety will come on whether underdogs under-perform or the favorite over-perform to cover the parlay leg. The answer comes down to the risk associated with a spread wager based on the team's final score. Spreads usually have a good chance of occurring among basketball, American football, and other sports with high scores. However, this is not the case for sports such as baseball, where the scores tend to end in single or double digits. Spreads that favor the favorites usually have lower odds than underdogs since they must over-perform and achieve the minimum 2-point gap.
With the risks and odds considered, spreads can be a better choice over moneyline when you have a firm favorite against a low-ranking underdog.
While there is a shallow risk for the favorites to lose, the payout is not worth taking. Spreads for this type of game offer a better price with a suitable risk, making them a better choice for parlays. Note that moneyline markets offer better odds for parlays than spreads on certain games.
Value of Moneyline Parlays To Favorites
Moneyline favorites are bettor's "favorite" wagers because of their low risk. This moneyline has a low payout in exchange for the low risk. Numerous bettors wouldn't mind the return since they still profit from the wager. What if there is a way you can boost those payouts?
Let us take NHL moneylines where you bet on the Golden Knights with odds of -440 and Carolina Hurricanes with -310 to win their games. Parlays improve the payout for those moneyline favorites, thanks to their mechanics. If you are to stake $100 for them, you will get $22.73 profit for the Golden Knights and $32.26 for the Hurricanes.
These odds show how favorable the Knights and Hurricanes are likely to win against their opponents. This situation usually happens earlier in the season when a strong team is against participants who have a history of poor performance. These are nearly risk-free odds that do not occur that often.
Parlays offer a way for you to take advantage of these markets. You can see this through a parlay calculator and use the two NHL markets earlier with a $100 stake:
| Team Name | Odds |
|---|---|
| Golden Knights | -440 |
| Hurricanes | -310 |
| Total Payout | $162.32 |
Remember, you have to stake $200 for the Knights and Hurricanes as a straight bet, resulting in a payout of $254.99. Returning to the parlay bet, the payout is $162.32 to cover your stake and $62.32 as your profit. The two-team parlay payout is slightly higher than the sum of the two legs as straight bets.
Of course, the actual payout of a parlay is when there are more legs to it. Let us add another highly favored moneyline to our wager.
| Team Name | Odds |
|---|---|
| Golden Knights | -440 |
| Hurricanes | -310 |
| Lightning | -350 |
| Total Payout | $208.69 |
By having the Tampa Bay Lightning for our parlay, you can see how the return is double that of your stake. Of course, the total sum of all three wagers' profits would be $83.56. However, you need to stake $100 for every three wagers for a total of $300 to get a payout of $383.56.
3-Team vs 5-Team Moneyline Parlays
Payouts for a parlay wager depend on how many legs. At the same time, the risk of your parlay losing grows for every leg it has. What is the ideal number of moneyline parlay legs you should have?
To keep this discussion simple, we will compare three-teams, and five-teams parlay in terms of risk and payouts. Regarding payouts, the latter has the upper hand. We can see this through a sample parlay with the following legs and a $100 stake below.
| Team Name | Odds |
|---|---|
| Team A | +240 |
| Team B | -190 |
| Team C | -400 |
| Total Payout | $648.68 |
| Team Name | Odds |
|---|---|
| Team A | +240 |
| Team B | -190 |
| Team C | -400 |
| Team D | -340 |
| Team E | -220 |
| Total Payout | $1221.05 |
Parlays consisting of mostly favored moneylines have a substantial payout when there are more. You can see how adding two more teams likely to win their games nearly doubled the wager payout when you compare the three-team and five-team parlay.
Remember, the risk is still an essential factor among parlays. Even with its massive payout, you give yourself five ways to lose with a five-team parlay. It is not rare to see an underdog winning against a favorite, and numerous factors can lead to an unexpected outcome. While high-ranking favorites against low-ranking underdogs have a predictable outcome, everything can change instantly during game time.
Consider the risk when deciding how many legs to add to your parlay. No matter the odds, every moneyline parlay still has a chance of losing.
FAQ
What are moneyline parlays?
These are parlay wagers consisting of moneyline bets. Moneylines are predictions on who will win a game or match.
What happens to a parlay if a moneyline leg is canceled?
A parlay is still active even if one of its legs was canceled. Unfortunately, the payout is reduced and recalculated based on the remaining legs of the parlay.
Can you add moneylines from other sports as parlay legs?
Adding moneylines from different sports is considered . It is possible to do this on specific UK or US betting sites.
Are moneyline better for parlays than spreads?
There are situations when moneylines are a better choice and others where spreads are suitable. If there is a team who are known for overperforming in recent games with a massive gap in scores, their spread wager is the better choice.
Should you make a two-team parlay or a five-team one?
Your choice on the number of parlays to include as your legs come down to the risk you are comfortable taking. Two-team or three-team parlays have the lowest risk possible since you only need to have three moneylines win. As you add more legs to your parlay, you are adding the risk of losing your entire wager.
Moneyline parlays are reasonable wagers to add as legs since the outcome is straightforward to understand. Risks will always be a reasonable basis for choosing whether to add moneyline or spreads to your parlays. This basis is also suitable for selecting the number of legs for your wagers.
