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How parlays work
A parlay ties several wagers together. Bigger possible payouts come with a smaller chance that every leg hits.
What a parlay is
A parlay (or accumulator) combines two or more selections ("legs") into a single wager. Every counted leg has to win or the whole wager loses.
How the payout is built
Multiply the decimal odds of the legs. Three legs at -110 each give 1.9091 x 1.9091 x 1.9091 = 6.9579 decimal (+596). A $10 wager returns $69.58 if all three win. Try your own legs in the parlay calculator.
Why the chance of winning shrinks quickly
The chance that independent events all happen is the product of their individual chances. If each leg implies 52.38%, two legs imply 27.44%, three imply 14.37%, and five imply 3.94%. The posted prices also contain margin on every leg, and that margin compounds as legs are added. (This is arithmetic on the posted prices, not a forecast.)
Pushes and voided legs
If a leg lands exactly on the line (a push) or is voided, operators commonly remove it and recalculate the parlay on the remaining legs. One operator's published house rules say the wager "will stand on all remaining selections and the odds of the wager are recalculated using odds of the remaining selections." Each operator's and state's rules differ, so read the house rules for your wager.
Questions to ask before placing one
- What happens if a game is postponed or a player does not play?
- Is there a maximum payout?
- Do bonus bets or promotions work on parlays?