Parlay calculator

How a parlay is priced

A parlay multiplies. Convert each leg to decimal odds, multiply them together, and you have the price of the whole ticket. Two legs at +150 and -110 come out at 2.50 x 1.91, or 4.77, so $100 returns $477.27 if both land.

That number looks generous, and it is the reason parlays are marketed so heavily. The catch is what happens to the margin. Every leg carries the sportsbook’s cut, and multiplying the legs multiplies the cut along with the payout.

Why the house likes parlays

On a single -110 bet, the book holds roughly 4.5 percent. String four -110 legs together and the hold on the ticket climbs past 15 percent, because each leg is priced with its own margin and those margins compound. The payout grows, but your share of the true value shrinks with every leg you add.

This is worth knowing before you decide the payout is worth it. A parlay is not a shortcut to an edge. It is the same bets, priced worse, bundled together.

What a parlay pays at standard prices

Most parlay charts assume every leg is priced at -110, the standard number on a spread or a total, which makes the payouts comparable. Here is what a $100 ticket returns as legs are added, and what the sportsbook keeps at each step.

Legs	Combined odds	$100 returns	Implied chance	Hold
2	3.64	$364.46	27.44%	8.9%
3	6.96	$695.79	14.37%	13.0%
4	13.28	$1,328.33	7.53%	17.0%
5	25.36	$2,535.91	3.94%	20.8%
6	48.41	$4,841.27	2.07%	24.4%
8	176.45	$17,644.64	0.57%	31.1%
10	643.08	$64,308.16	0.16%	37.2%

The hold column is the part worth sitting with. A single -110 bet costs you about 4.5 percent. A six-leg ticket at those same prices costs you close to a quarter of the value before anyone takes the field. The payout grows quickly, and your share of it shrinks just as quickly.

Real tickets rarely sit at -110 the whole way down. One +150 leg changes every number in that row, which is what the calculator above is for.

Does the sport change the math?

No. A baseball parlay, an NFL parlay and an NBA parlay are all priced the same way: convert, multiply, apply the stake. What changes is where the individual legs tend to sit. Spreads and totals cluster near -110, so football and basketball tickets track the chart above closely. Baseball moneylines run much further from -110 in both directions, so a two-leg baseball parlay can pay well above or well below that first row depending on which side you take.

What happens when a leg pushes

If a leg lands exactly on the number, that leg pushes and drops out of the ticket. The parlay does not lose. It reprices as though the leg had never been there, so a four-leg parlay with one push pays as a three-leg parlay at the odds of the three legs still standing. Two pushes on a five-leg ticket leave you with a three.

Voided legs, from a postponed game or a scratched player, are usually handled the same way, though house rules differ and are worth reading before you need them. To price a ticket after a push, drop the pushed leg and run the rest through the calculator.

Same game parlays are priced differently

Everything above assumes the legs are independent. In a same game parlay they are not. A quarterback throwing for 300 yards makes his receiver clearing 70 more likely, not less, and books price that correlation in. That is why a same game parlay pays less than multiplying the individual legs suggests it should.

The calculator multiplies the prices you give it, so on a same game parlay it shows what those legs would be worth if they were independent. The gap between that figure and the price the book is showing you is the correlation adjustment.

Where the edge actually lives

Arbitrage runs on the opposite principle. Instead of stacking margin against yourself, you look for a single market where two books disagree enough that their prices leave a gap. The arbitrage calculator works that case, and the no-vig calculator shows how much margin any price is carrying to begin with.

If you want the background, our guide to parlay betting covers when they make sense and when they do not.

Common questions

How is a parlay payout calculated?

Convert each leg to decimal odds, multiply them all together, then multiply by your stake. Two legs at +150 and -110 give 2.50 x 1.91 = 4.77, so a $100 stake returns $477.27 in total if both legs win.

Do parlays have worse odds than single bets?

Yes, in terms of value. Every leg is priced with the sportsbook’s margin built in, and multiplying the legs multiplies that margin. Four legs at -110 carry a combined hold near 17 percent, against roughly 4.5 percent on a single -110 bet.

What does implied chance mean on a parlay?

It is 1 divided by the combined decimal odds, expressed as a percentage. It reflects what the prices suggest, including the sportsbook’s margin, so the true chance of the parlay landing is usually a little lower than the number shown.

How many legs should a parlay have?

There is no number that makes a parlay a good bet on its own, because each leg adds margin. If you are betting parlays for the payout, fewer legs means less compounding margin working against you.

What happens if one leg of my parlay pushes?

The pushed leg drops out and the ticket reprices around the legs that remain. A four-leg parlay with one push pays as a three-leg parlay at the odds of those three legs.

Why does my same game parlay pay less than the calculator shows?

Same game legs are correlated, and books price that in. The calculator treats legs as independent, so on a same game parlay it shows the uncorrelated price. The difference is the book’s correlation adjustment.