When the new NFL regular season rolls around, betting parlays at online sportsbooks become a very popular way to try and boost a return on investment. Most online books offer a 2.64-to-1 return on a winning two-team parlay play.
That return jumps to 6-to-1 for a three-team parlay wager, and if you decide to stretch that parlay to four teams, you could earn a 10-to-1 return. However, the more teams you add, the lower your probability of actually winning that parlay bet.
These payout odds pertaining to betting parlays with the use of point spreads and/or total lines. A third way to bet NFL parlays is with the use of money line odds. When you group together multiple money lines in a parlay wager, you need to use a parlay calculator.
Since you are betting the games straight-up on the money line, the difference between the favorite and the underdog in any matchup will have an impact on the overall return. For example, if you are betting three heavy favorites using the money line odds, the overall return on that parlay play will be relatively low if all three bets win.
If you go the other extreme and group together three underdogs, the return on that money line parlay would be rather high.
The best strategy for betting NFL parlays on the money line is finding the proper mix of teams. Given just how hard it can be sometimes to pick just one SU winner, you should limit these plays to no more than three teams.
If you want to go big on a six, seven, or eight-team NFL parlay play, then keep the actual amount of your wager low. Most online sportsbooks will allow bettors to group together as many as 15 teams in one single parlay wager.
Once you come up with four or five solid SU plays for that week’s NFL games, you can start to play around with the numbers to calculate your overall return.
For example, suppose you like Green Bay (-125) and San Francisco (-140) as favorites. As your third play, you decide to go with Arizona as a +130 underdog. The payout odds on this three-team parlay would be $609.71 on a $100 wager.
This example would be slightly higher at 6.08-to-1 odds as opposed to the same three plays in a standard parlay using the point spread.
If you dropped Arizona as an underdog and added Dallas as a -120 favorite, the overall return would drop $465.71.
Supposed you used Green Bay (-125) and Arizona (+130) with Philadelphia as a +120 underdog, the overall return on those three plays would be $810.8, which is a bit more than 8-to-1 odds.
Betting any NFL money line parlay all comes down to your confidence level in the picks you use. If you can only come up with one solid play, bet that game individually in a straight bet. If you have two solid SU plays, then consider grouping them in a two-team money line parlay.
Never force a play to fill out a parlay wager. The more teams you add, the harder it becomes to cash a winner. You should always adjust the amount of your wager accordingly. If you bet $50 a game, you may want to lower that wager to $25 for any parlay play.
