Most gamblers don’t care how a Parlay Calculator works.
But not you.
You are better than most!
On this page you’ll learn how a parlay calculator works and different strategies for improving your gambling skills. Here's the plan:
I've been around gambling my entire life but still remember the first time learning about a parlay, but that's another story. Although I know the answer, I started from scratch and did a little research. First the basics.
The standard parlay is a single wager that includes a combination of selections(teams/fighters). In order to win the parlay, all the individual bets must win. The potential payout is much larger than picking a single winner and grows exponentially as more selections are included into the parlay. (see accompanying graph).
Here's an example of a simple parlay:
In contrast, by betting $100 on both Nunes and Gustafsson straight up, you stand to win a total of $430 - while risking $200.
Fighters | Vegas Payout | Online Payout |
---|---|---|
2 | 2.6/1 | 2.6/1 |
3 | 6/1 | 6/1 |
4 | 10/1 | 12/1 |
5 | 20/1 | 24/1 |
6 | 40/1 | 47/1 |
7 | 75/1 | 91/1 |
8 | 150/1 | 175/1 |
Lets start with the math.
The parlay formula is straight forward. You multiply the wager amount along with the decimal odds for each team/fighter then subtract the wager amount.
($100 * 1.6 * 2.9 * 1.4) - $100 = $550
For all of us in the US, it’s a bit more complicated because we don’t see decimal odds very often. So we first need to convert the money line odds to decimal format then plug them into our parlay formula.
The money line-to-decimal formula is straightforward:
Steps 1 & 2.
Step 3 - Don't forget to add the 1.
Step 4 - Plug the numbers into the parlay calculator formula.
($100 * 1.6 * 2.9 * 1.4) - $100 = $550
You should compare the results from this formula to what your sports book is paying to verify you’re getting the proper value on your wagers. If not, consider moving your business elsewhere.
An educated gambler is always a better gambler and with a thorough understanding of basic parlay principles you’ll soon spot profitable opportunities while recognizing common money pits.
The basics of the parlay calculator have been explained, and you’ve seen how the odds on parlay betting works. Now you're ready to give those big odds a chance and cash in some fat payouts, as a serious MMA bettor mastering the parlay is a key component to long term profitability.
One major benefit of parlay betting is ties or pushes reduce down the number of bets and related odds within your parlay. Unfortunately as a UFC bettor, that's not the case unless the fight ends up as a no decision. The good news is you can combine events or even different sports within the same parlay, which gives you great flexibility when building a winning combination. For example you can do the following:
Multiple event parlaying is an outstanding first step in expanding your MMA betting skills. Start by choosing the fighters you have the highest confidence of winning regardless of which event they're in. Parlaying your best picks on multiple events may not give you a quick payoff, but you will win a higher percentage of bets while you're learning the basics of UFC wagering.
In UFC events you often have high profile fights where one fighter is such a big favorite there is no value in betting on him/her - the payoff is not worth the risk amount. A recent example is the UFC 259 co-main event between Amanda Nunes (-950) vs Megan Anderson (+550). This fight offered no value on either fighter.
If you're looking for a larger payout you could have made a two team parlay wager: Nunes + fight ends Inside-the-Distance. This two team parlay would have pushed your odd up to a playable +110. Note: This kind of parlay is so common many sports books bundle them together and offer them as a straight bet.
Sports bettors in the United States wager on the NFL far more than any other sport or league. NFL games are handicapped with a point spread so that gamblers can wager on either team to win even money (approximately) on a single game.
Here' s a quick look at the payouts for the most common parlay bets made.
For a typical $100 wager on a 2 team parlay you can expect to win $260, which is a multiplier of 2.6x. So a $5 parlay would return $5 x 2.6 = $10.30.
For a typical $100 wager on a 3 team parlay you can expect to win $600, which is a multiplier of 6x. So a $50 parlay would return $50 x 6 = $300.
For a typical $100 wager on a 4-team parlay you can expect to win $260, which is a multiplier of 2.6x. So a $5 parlay would return $5 x 2.6 = $10.30.