What is Parlay Betting and How Does It Work?

Find out What Are Parlays and How Parlay Betting Works

Parlay betting is one of the most popular types of sports bets players make. They are considered riskier bets than straight single-game bets, but the reward is that the payouts are much higher than single-game bets.
Sports betting sites such as Unibet offer parlay betting on just about every major sport, providing players with plenty of opportunities to get in on the fun. Here's some more about what parlay betting is, and how you can place these types of bets.

What is parlay betting?

Parlay betting is a type of sports wager. It involves grouping together multiple wagers into one bet slip. All of these wagers are tied to each other, rather than taken as separate wagers.
In order for parlay bets to be successful, all wagers in the ticket must be successful. If there are five games put within the parlay bet, then, all five games must come out winners. If even one of these wagers loses, then the entire bet loses.

How does parlay betting work?

Parlay betting works in a similar yet slightly different fashion than single-game wagers. Again, parlay betting is typically available for the NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB and other popular sports leagues around the world.
First, a bettor will select multiple wagers that they want to place. Then, they add them all to a betting ticket on the sportsbook they are using, such as Unibet. They'll then select that they want their wagers to be tied together in a parlay.

Unibet will then convert the various wagers into a single parlay betting ticket. When the bettor enters in the amount they want to wager, they’ll see the odds updated based on the fact that they're placing a parlay bet rather than a single-game bet.

In the NFL, for example, a typical against-the-spread wager might have odds of -110. This means a $100 wager would return the player $90 if it is successful. If you placed three separate wagers at $100 with these odds and won all three of them, your total winnings would be $270.

If you placed a single parlay bet with these three wagers, though, your payout would be much higher. A typical three-team parlay in the NFL pays 6-to-1 at Unibet. If you placed the same $300 total wager on these three games as a parlay rather than three separate wagers, your payout would be $1,800 ($300 x 6). This is obviously a much higher payout.
The flip side, of course, is that if even one of these games loses, your entire parlay betting wager would lose. If one of the games loses when you place three separate wagers, you'd still win $80 ($90 + $90 - $100).

Different types of parlay bets

There are two different types of parlay bets that are available at Unibet. We'll discuss them in the next two sections.

Single game parlays

Single game parlays include placing multiple wagers on the same game. This could include picking the winner of a game against the spread plus the over/under in that same game.
In a game that involves the Philadelphia 76ers and the Toronto Raptors in the NBA, for example, a single game parlay could include taking the Raptors +4.5 points plus over the total of 210.5 points.

Multi game parlays

Multi game parlays involve placing a wager from multiple games. These games almost always happen on the same day, though they don't have to. They can also happen in different sports, too.
So, for example, you could choose the Raptors +4.5 in the above NBA game, and tie that together with the Dallas Cowboys -2.5 in an NFL game and the Vegas Golden Nights moneyline in an NHL game. 

They can all be put together in a multi game parlay the same way as the three separate NFL games above.

Advanced Parlay betting guides for different sports

We have some quality intel to help you build some kickass parlays in your favourite sports. Click on the links below to check out those guides and tips:

Make sure check out our Sportsbook Promos in Canada to find some kickass Parlay promos