What is a Round Robin Parlay?

A round robin parlay is a group of smaller parlays created from a larger list of bets. The term round robin parlay gets its name from a round robin tournament, where every team plays every other team in its group.

Here is how a round robin parlay works:

Let's say you like 4 teams: Team A, B, C and D

A round robin parlay would put these 4 teams into multiple parlays. They would break down as follows:

 

How Much Do I Have to Risk?

Round robin parlays can be quite expensive. The more selections you make, the more parlay options you have. 

A four-team selection consists of 11 individual parlay possibilities. If you risk $10 per parlay, that equates to a $110 total round robin parlay.

A five-team selection would consist of 26 individual parlay possibilities. If you risk $10 per parlay, that equates to a $260 total round robin parlay.

As you can see, this can escalate very quickly so be sure to use your best judgement.

 

Are Round Robin Parlays Worth It?

Round robins are often a losing bet. Let's take a three-team round robin parlay for example. If you manage to go 2-1 with your selections, which is a good record, you would win only 1 of the 4 parlays; resulting in you losing money in most instances (depending on the odds, of course).

For you to make money on round robin parlays, you must get the vast majority of your selections correct. The advantage of the round robin parlay, is that if you have one special run where you manage to go 5-0, you would get a pretty nice payday.

Generally speaking, it's probably not a good idea to be placing many round robin parlays unless you are confident that you have an edge on every individual pick within the round robin. More often than not, this is considered a sucker's bet.

 

Example

Here is an example of a five-team round robin parlay.

Let’s assume we selected a full five-team parlay (26 individual parlays) at $10 per parlay.