As if the single game bet wasn’t enough action for most sports gambling junkies, the options widen with the injection of the parlay into the betting equation. This immensely popular form of betting is always going to be the go-to option, if not the main option, of gambling for so many people. And the reason is the return. The odds stack up quickly when the level of difficulty increases so significantly from the parlay.
So what do you need to know? A College Football Betting Parlay is basically stacking multiple games together into a single bet. You have to win them all to cash in, but if you hit, the return is worth the risk. I know many regular gamblers who place up to a dozen different bets a week. Some live by the parlay, and some put it in as a bit of an insurance, if that makes sense. Because if you get lucky and hit one big parlay, you can wipe out a dozen other losses like they never even happened.
Speaking of which, let’s take a look at the basic odds and how they increase the more games you stack together. A two-team parlay typically pays about 13-5 on top of your bet. This is a good place to start if you’ve never taken one of these bets before. You can get a sense for how much studying, prediction and stress goes into working this type of a bet. It’s a different beast from a straight line bet, that’s for sure.
Moving on, a three-team bet pays a nice 6:1, four team jumps to 10:1 and a five-team bet gives you 20:1 odds. For me, this is the limit as far as parlays go. First of all, you should never get into such a hole that you’re considering high-risk parlays as a means to get even. But even if that doesn’t factor into the equation, the risk by itself is too much for me to seriously consider a bigger parlay bet.
But that’s not to say that you can’t or shouldn’t. Everyone’s limit for risk/return is different. A six-team parlay is usually about 50:1 on the ncaa football odds line. Seven team is 75:1 and an eight-team is 100:1. At this point, you easily can see why these are so enticing. The possibility of a $50 netting you $5K is incredibly sexy. Just be sure not to put all your eggs in one basket, and you’ll still be gambling wisely.