In recent years, online sportsbooks have been blowing up, taking the US by storm. At the time of writing, over two dozen American states allow operators to accept wagers over the internet from their residents, and this figure will undoubtedly grow in the coming months.
One of the main appeals of online betting is the vast types of ways sports gamblers can wager. An established yet underrated method that most newbies have never tried is the round robin parlay strategy. It is a relatively simple concept that often gets overlooked by appearing overly complicated at first sight. However, nothing could be further from the truth, as round robin parlays are super easy to grasp once a bettor understands that they are essentially groupings of auto-generated parlay combinations.
In the subheadings below, we will breakdown how round robin sports betting can save you time and get you the most bang-for-your-buck by answering the following questions:
· How does a round robin bet work?
· What’s the difference between round-robin and parlay?
· Are round robin bets worth it?
· How are round-robin bets calculated?
· How do you win a round robin bet?
Round Robin Concept
First off, the term round robin originates from the 17th-century French Ruban, meaning ribbon. It originally got used to delineate the practice of signatories appending their names in a non-hierarchical circle to a document when petitioning against the Government. Later, it morphed to primarily describe tournaments in which every contestant faces off against every other. Today, it mainly refers to things that operate rotationally.
In a sports betting context, a round robin wager is a straightforward gambling technique. It lets gamblers lay down several parlays with a single bet. These can usually consist of three to eight lines and two to six teams.
The idea here is that a sportsbook aims to simplify things for you by giving you the option to create multiple smaller parlays of the games you wish to bet on in your slip. You pick the markets, the bet amounts, and the number of parlay combinations you want to make. Your chosen sportsbook does the rest automatically. If one of your picked teams doesn’t win, every parlay with that team in it is a non-winning one.
For extreme sports wagering greenhorns, a parlay is a single bet that connects two or more wagers, also known as a combo, multi, or accumulator bet.
Note that every operator will display round robin options a bit differently, at least interface-wise.
Understanding Round Robin Parlays
To give you a basic example of how things work, we will tell you that if you select six teams to wager on, a sportsbook will likely allow you to utilize the option to fashion:
- Fifteen, two-team parlays.
- Twenty, three-team parlays.
- Fifteen, four-team parlays.
- Six, five-team parlays.
For reference and the uninformed, if the odds of each game in a two-team parlay are -150, betting $5 will win you $8.88, for a total payout of $13.88.
Remember, the bet amount you input in the round robin interface box will be valid for each parlay. Your slip will not show one bet but a series of parlays. So, you can lose a lot of money via one bet if you are not careful. Meaning, do not utilize this option quickly without thinking things through.
The best course of action when considering making this type of wager is to use a free round robin betting calculator first. This calculator will tell you your max win potential, the total risk incurred, plus the situational results, or the profit/loss given actual event outcomes. For the calculator to figure these things out, you will have to enter the notional dollar amount of your wager, the number of games involved, the parlay size, and the game lines.
Placing Your Round Robin Bets
The best way to let the information above settle and get 100% understood is to make one round robin bet yourself. You can do so by:
- Pick an online sportsbook – One that tickles your fancy. BetUS, Bovada, and MyBookie are reputable operators with proven track records, so any one of those three will do.
- Create an account – Once you have chosen your site, click the Register/Join Now/Sign-Up button on its homepage, and fill out the pop-up form with all the required data.
- Fund your gambling account – You can do so by heading over to the banking page inside your account window and selecting your desired payment method and deposit amount.
- Select Your Bets – They can be whichever ones catch your eye. Then, check the box, and input your stake in the parlay combo you wish to utilize.
- Confirm Your Decision – Check to see that everything is the way you want it to be, press submit, and await the game results to start coming in.
Is Round Robin a Good Bet?
So, with everything discussed so far – is a round-robin a good bet? Expectedly, there is no definite answer. It can offer massive top payouts and loss mitigation by covering multiple bases, which is excellent for novices. Nevertheless, according to most veteran gamblers, traditional parlays offer more upside because they do not reduce your odds as much.
Per specific online polls, some internet bettors prefer to use them only for sports like baseball, avoiding them when wagering on NFL markets. Though that is entirely subjective and does not have any math basis, it is simply people seemingly seeing more opportunities to profit via baseball markets. The beauty of this wager is that you can use any sport your heart desires.
To Wrap Up
Without a doubt, round robin bets have grown thanks to the proliferation of internet sports betting.USgambling websites can churn out twenty parlays in seconds, listing all the associated odds in play and the max payout ratios. The best course of action when utilizing this betting option is to primarily stick to two-team parlays, as by doing so, you decrease your sportsbook’s advantage. You can also look to use this bet when attempting to clear specific bonus rollover requirements quickly.
For all the newbies out there, you must acknowledge that there is nothing scary about round robins. They are only a bunch of multiple parlays thrown together. If you grasp how combo wagers work, you pretty much have already mastered round robins. All you need to do is make one or two of these bets to feel 100% confident in your future use of them.
About the Author
Shelly Schiff has been working in the gambling industry since 2009, mainly on the digital side of things, employed by Safest Betting Sites. However, over her eleven-year career, Shelly has provided content for many other top interactive gaming websites. She knows all there is to know about slots and has in-depth knowledge of the most popular table games. Her golden retriever Garry occupies most of her leisure time. Though, when she can, she loves reading Jim Thompson-like crime novels.
