Singles vs Parlays: My Look at How To Beat the Books

In the sports betting world, there are two categories of wagers that bettors place every single day. These are single bets and parlays. Singles betting is the most common wager that people place, but if you utilize parlays in tangent with singles you can really increase your success when betting on sports.

Singles Betting

Singles are a type of bet that covers one scenario. A singles bet can be placed on the moneyline, over/under, spread, futures, or prop bets. There are no limitations for a person when placing a single bet.

Singles betting is the main bet that comes to mind when we think of sports betting. A lot of people place singles because only one outcome needs to occur to receive a payout. You can receive a profitable return on your bet without accumulating as much risk as you would take on with a parlay.

Single bets have the ability to hit frequently, but you still need to do research to have overwhelming success with singles. The one issue with singles is that you’ll often need to place a larger wager to see a decent return.

For example, if you take a heavy favorite on the moneyline you won’t see much reward unless you put down a lot of money. At that point, the bet becomes very risky if there was an upset. If you take an underdog, you can see more of a payout if your bet hits because the risk level is higher.

I place single bets when I believe the return is good enough to take the risk. I usually don’t place singles on heavy favorites. Instead, I combine heavy favorites into a parlay to make my potential payout greater.

Parlays

A parlay is the combination of multiple single bets in different games to increase your risk in order to receive a greater reward. If you place a parlay, you will need to win each wager to receive your payout.

Parlays are great because you’ll win a lot more money, but you also need to be careful when placing bets because you need more scenarios to go your way.

Different sportsbooks have different odds and rules surrounding their parlay betting. Despite this, the basics of the bet is always the same. More scenarios create a higher risk which will yield a higher reward if the bets hit.

Sportsbooks make a killing off of parlays because the house has the advantage. People place dream parlays that typically don’t hit. For this reason, many people say stay away from parlays. I never give that advice because I believe you can use parlays successfully to beat the house and give yourself a huge payout.

Strategy

In the end of the day, singles betting is the safest wager you can place. My advice for your strategy would be to place moneyline singles on slight underdogs where you will see compensation for your wager. I hate putting a lot of money on heavy favorites because it will bite you at one time or another.

The over/under is my favorite singles bet to make because you can often see very good payouts from this type of wager. Both teams need to contribute for the desired outcome to occur and sportsbooks reward this wager with their odds.

My typical parlay is a straight moneyline on heavy favorites. Whatever you choose to parlay, make sure you’re combining safer bets. If there’s a bet that I like and I’m confident in, I will usually put it in a parlay with another bet that I believe will be successful.

Don’t place the pipedream parlay that you see on showcased on social media where someone bets 10 underdogs, and every scenario is successful which creates a massive payout. These do hit occasionally, but this is the equivalent of winning the lottery.

No matter what bet you’re placing, you need to do your homework. That’s the most important factor in successful betting whether you’re placing singles or parlays.