Many sporting events can take place simultaneously, which is why many bettors prefer to go for a more flexible way of placing more than one bet at the same time for better results. While these are called a correlated parlay in the US, in the UK, they are referred to as accumulators, with not much difference between them, except in the US, you might use different strategies to determine an outcome.
To find out how these types of bets work and whether they are worth it, read on.
How Does a Correlated Parlay Work
Parlay bets, or accumulators, combine several selections into a single bet and are based on you predicting the correct outcome of a minimum of 5 selections or legs.
The more selections you add, the greater the amount you can win, but if one of these results goes the other way, your bet will be settled as a loss.
Some betting companies might give you incentives like a return if you want to pull out of a selection early or give you a chance to spread it over a longer period of time.
This can often start with a small amount in an attempt to win more with confidence in the results.
The risk comes in the form when you win the first selection, which acts as the stake for the second and continues on this form.
This doesn’t include more than one bet made in the same game, which is referred to as a same-game multiple.
Best Practices
While placing a bet like this can seem pretty straightforward, many elements can affect the outcome of a match, which is why you have to be strategic about the selections you place.
Some examples of this we look to next.
Knowledge Of The Sport You’re Betting On
For a bet of this nature, it’s a good idea to place these selections in sports you are familiar with, as you might be tempted to bet on lower-league games or other betting markets that you are unsure of.
While this ensures a good understanding of how the outcome can develop, you can do research into a bet that you think hits the spot.
These might be odds that trade as not too high or low, as you still want a degree of return, and going with the underdog could have the potential to topple your bet before it’s even reached the second or third selection.
Types Of Parlays
If you’re starting out, you can look to parlays like draw no bet or outright winner.
This saves any confusion as later on, you may want to add situational bets like the number of penalties given or which team scores first, for example.
As with this type of betting, the more selections you add, the higher the chance you will get a loss, so you can start with a minimum selection with a higher stake. Even if your return is less, you still increase your chances of getting over the line.
The Type Of Matches
Whether it be football, horseracing, UFC, formula one, or even tennis, you have to use a degree of patience before deciding that it’s better to cash out or lean into the terms of the bet you’ve placed.
If you think a particular match will leave plenty of room for either side to win, you can take advantage of the terms of both teams to score market, which can extend to which half of the match each team will score, which can get you more value.
The Type Of Odds
Chances are that not every match is going to have odds that are appealing, so this is where you can look into the odds markets that deal with handicaps or over and under goals accumulators.
Note that some of these bet types only apply to specific sporting events.
For example, with an over and under, you can set a number of goals or points per game to tailor the bet as each match progresses. Here you can decide if the total goal amount will be higher or lower than the amount you have set.
If you go for a handicap type of accumulator, you can bet on teams that are more likely to win, thus lowering the odds, and you can plump the bet so you can determine the margin of the point or goal difference to raise the odds of your wager slightly.
Is a Correlated Parlay Worth It?
This will highly depend on a number of factors, including the payout you wish to make, the amount you wager, the sport you’re betting on, and even the variance in which you place the bet each time.
There can be a lot of fine margins in sports betting, which is why individuals see the value in these bets, as each time you try to predict an outcome, you’re going against the bookmaker’s odds.
This is where it can go wrong as they may be the ones who stand to make more profit, and if you’ve spread this across different bookmakers, you can have reduced odds if you bet on an accumulator like a four-fold.
This is why it’s a good idea to research these odds and be skeptical about any promotion that gives a slight enhancement of odds, as these can depend on the number of selections you make, which may end up going against you the more you add.
Are There Other Bets Like This?
You can find bets that work like accumulators, except they give you more of a spread, and you may have to look in more obscure markets to find them in wider varieties.
Notable ones are lucky 31s, Yankees, and cover bets.
These apply more to a sport that works in stages or has a tournament-type structure, so you can choose the number of places you’d like your bet to finish in, so you have more chances of having some sort of payout without fixing it in one place.
Each of these bets may have its own rules regarding these, but the same rule applies where even if your bet doesn’t finish first, you have some insurance if they finish around 2nd-4th.
Profitability
Some long-time bettors may avoid accumulators because they require a higher bet amount with a payout that makes the wager unpractical in their view, where they might only be interested in a few outcomes that don’t meet the minimum for an correlated parlay.
If you want to take these types of bets seriously to make a profit, learn how the odds work for you and the bookmaker. This may even involve you looking up individual players and positions.
The Bottom Line with Correlated Parlay
As well as this, you want to be aware that you want to put limits on your spending as you might hear promotions like enhanced bets with multiple accumulators.
These can often make bookmakers a lot of money, which can make them relatively unprofitable in the long run, so knowing how much is a good amount of money to spread across the bet is a fine balancing act.
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