Round Robin Sports Betting
Round Robin Bets A round robin is a wager where selections are placed into all possible parlay combos. For example, 3-selections of A, B and C placed into a 2-team round robin results in three unique 2-team parlays of A&B, A&C, and B&C. What is Round Robin Sports Betting. Basically a Round Robin is a series of Parlay bets made from a larger selection, and creating every combination available based on a) the number of games you’ve selected and b) how many games you want included in each mini-parlay. To place your NFL round robins, choose the betting lines you want to parlay at Bovada Sportsbook, then select “Round Robin” on your Bet Slip and choose how many teams you want in your parlay. Enter how much money you want to bet for each parlay, and the software will do the rest. A round robin is a way for bettors to make multiple parlay bets on a group of teams at once without having to creative a separate ticket for each of combination. A football specific round robin.
- Round Robin Sports Betting Rules
- Round Robin Sports Betting Calculator
- Round Robin Sports Betting Explained
- Round Robin Sports Betting Calculator
Parlaying is one of the most popular forms of betting, particularly on the National Football League. A parlay bet allows you to wager on the outcome of two or more games on the same ticket. Of course, the catch is that all the games wagered on must be winners for you to cash in. That means higher odds, and higher risk.
One way to reduce that risk is through Round Robin wagering. Often overlooked, particularly by novice sports bettors, Round Robin wagering enables you to create multiple parlays on a single ticket. For example, what if you have found four really great NFL bets to lay a few dollars on this Sunday, as outlined below, but don’t know how to structure your wagers.
New York Jets
New England Patriots -10 (-105)
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks -13 (-105)
Round Robin Sports Betting Rules
Tampa Bay Buccaneers +3 (-105)
Jacksonville Jaguars
Denver Broncos
Kansas City Chiefs -3 (-105)
A winning four-team parlay bet on the Patriots, Seahawks, Buccaneers, and Chiefs would pay out handsomely, with a $10 wager winning $130 or more. But that requires all four picks to win, otherwise your bet is a loser, and it is time to start thinking about next Sunday.
With Round Robin wagering, those four picks can be combined into as many as six two-team parlays and four three-team parlays, thereby distributing your risk while still preserving the chances of a solid payout.
In the example above, each of the point spreads have odds of -105 attached to them. That means if you were to bet only on the Patriots to cover as 10-point favorites, you would have to bet $105 to win $100. Those odds improve dramatically when you parlay multiple picks. Parlaying two teams at -105 translates into a payout of approximately 1.8/1, while a three-team winner will pay out at approximately 11/2.
Now, imagine spreading those wagers across all your picks next Sunday.
Laying $5 on a Round Robin bet of six two-team parlays using the above teams could garner you a win of about $87. But even if one or even two of your teams lose, that means you can still cash in on four or five winning parlays, leaving you up on the day, and preserving your stack for next Sunday’s action.
The allure of putting all your picks on one high-paying four-team parlay is great. But the NFL season is long, and it is critical to manage your stack to get you through until the Super Bowl. With Round Robin wagering, sports bettors, both new and experienced, can boost their chances of coming out of the season in the black.
Round Robin Sports Betting Calculator
A round robin is a wager where selections are placed into all possible parlay combos. For example, 3-selections of A, B and C placed into a 2-team round robin results in three unique 2-team parlays of A&B, A&C, and B&C. When placing round robins online the software of the betting sites automatically does all the work calculating the combos and will show how much stands to be at risk prior to you confirming the bet.
Betting Round Robins Online
The image below shows the round robin option on the menu of three different US sportsbooks. Each has their own unique rules. www.topbet.eu has by far the best interface and also allows up to 8-selections for all combos. With 9, 10, 11 or 12 selections you can still bet the higher combos as well. If your preference is adding a lot of teams, for example 12 selections bet in round robins of 9, then this is by far the best site. At Bovada it is only possible to make 8 selections max and to do combos up to 6 teams. At BetOnline up to 8 selections can be made and all combos are available.
Round robin betting menus at Topbet, Bovada and BetOnline
Round Robin Strategy
Round Robin wagers have a place for both recreational players and for professional sports bettors. For the recreational player who deposits excess money with the goal of either hit big or bust, this is a great way to reduce volatility while still having a chance at a nice score. For the professional it is about optimal bankroll growth and risk of ruin. Handicappers who are picking off many early lines might end up with 23 different pending bets. This means their bankroll size is often theoretical as opposed to fixed. While outside the scope of this article, statistical minded sports bettors should query: Kelly Criterion Simultaneous Events in an internet search engine if this concept is foreign to you. I will cover two more simple strategies for the casual bettor in the remainder of this article.
Arbing out a Free Play
With online sportsbooks there are two types of bonuses, cash bonuses and free play bonuses. If you bet $220 to win $200 with a cash bonus and win you are returned $420 ($220 stake + $200 win). When you bet $220 to win $200 with a free play bonus and win you are returned just $200. This is because the bonus was free play and once you stake it win or lose that free play is used up. This is why parlay betting is advised for free plays.
The reason two team parlays pay 2.64 to 1 is as follows. Make a bet $110 to win $100, and if you win you get back $210 ($110 stake + $100 win). Then bet all $210 on another -110 line and this is $210 to win $190.91. If you win you now have $400.91 of which $110 was your stake so your winning are $110 risked to win ($400.91-$110=) $290.91. Notice $290.91/$110=2.64. You can get the same for $110 either making a 2-team parlay bet or rolling the bet forward yourself. The part I’m trying to point out clearly here is a parlay allows you to bet the same stake multiple times. This is why when using free play bonuses parlay wagers when allowed are a better bet.
One of the best ways to bonus whore is to sign up at a few online sportsbooks at the same time that offer a free play bonus and allow free play bets to be used on parlays. Then pick three games and round robin every single possible outcome in 3-team parlays. So using three games of A vs. B, C vs. D, and E vs. F there are 8 3-team parlays possible. These are ACE-ADE-ACF-ADF-BCE-BDE-BCF-BDF. As 3-team parlays pay 6/1 you make 8 bets and get back 6. You’ve now converted your free play balances into 75% its size in cash. If instead you just bet free plays straight on point spreads your expectation is converting 45.45% of your free play to cash. Doing it the way I just suggested you are guaranteed 75%.
To warn about the above: first make sure the websites bonus terms accept parlay wagers when using free play credits. Also do not bet any more than 3 of the 8 parlays at the same website as most have a bonus abuse or non-recreational player clause in their terms and conditions. Doing just three of the combos at the same site should be fine.
Round Robin Teasers
Round Robin Sports Betting Explained
If you bet teasers note Online Gambling has published some of the best teaser betting strategy found online. If you can find 3-team +180 teasers then it never makes sense to bet 4-team or 5-team teasers. This is a situation when using round robin teasers makes sense. The software of online sportsbooks only supports round robin for parlays. When making teaser bets you’ll need to work out the combinations and manually bet them one at a time.
Round Robin Sports Betting Calculator
Editor’s note: This concludes our article on round robin betting. If you are interested in information about betting specific sports or information on other wager types I suggest visiting our sports betting home page. As always we wish you the best of luck with all your bets this season and beyond.