In New Zealand, online sports betting sites offer a full range of betting options to suit all types of punters. This includes futures bets, spread bets, fixed odds bets and multi-bets. The most popular type of multi-bet is a parlay bet. If you are familiar with horse racing betting, chances are you have heard of parlay bets.
Punters who have an appetite for risk will be drawn to parlay bets as they have the potential to pay out big returns. In the notes below, we are going to take a look at how these multi-bets work and how they differ from standard fixed odds bets.
Multi Betting
A parlay bet is a type of multi-bet which links two or more wagers into a single online betting slip or ticket. A lot of people ask why you would combine a bet instead of placing two separate bets on two separate races/games or events. The answer is quite simple, when you combine the two bets into a parlay bet, the payout is much larger than the two individuals combined.
The downside is that in order to win a parlay bet, all the individual wagers on the slip or ticket needs to be correct. This means that if you have a four-bet ticket and three of your bets win, the ticket as a whole will lose and you will lose your entire stake.
The Pros and the Cons
As you can see, parlay bets are a lot more risky than standard fixed odds bets. On the other hand, the payouts can be extremely high and worth the risk. So where would you find these type of bets? In New Zealand, multi-bets are most commonly found in horseracing where a number of races are run on a single day.
A punter can then place a parlay bet by correctly guessing the winner of two, three or even four races at the same meet. Parlay bets are also offered when a number of major sporting matches all take place on the same night.
An Example of Parlay Betting
Let’s look at a simple example. Let’s say for instance three major soccer matches are all taking place on a Saturday night. This might be Arsenal against Liverpool, Manchester United against Leeds and Manchester City against West Bromwich. Each match will have its own fixed odds legal online sports betting for either team to win. Punters can then choose to place three separate bets on the three matches or to combine their bets into a parlay bet. If we choose to place three separate bets and all three win, we will have won a reasonable sum. However, if we choose to place a parlay bet and all three win, the payout would be absolutely massive in comparison.
On the other hand, if two of the three bets win, the parlay bet would be worthless while the individual bets would have paid out two out of three. At the end of the day, parlay betting is a lot riskier but has the potential to pay out much higher returns. These bets should only be placed by punters who have years of experience and know all the details of the teams and the players involved.
