A small threat seldom results in an enormous reward, nevertheless it’s definitely not unimaginable. Final week, a sports activities betting buyer received greater than $142,000 from a three-leg parlay, wagering three NFL tight ends would rating the primary touchdowns of their respective video games, DraftKings posted on X. The preliminary wager was simply $15.
The exponentially bigger hit from a meager wager is the temptation of a parlay. It’s a sort of betting that, as an alternative of requiring a singular win to money out on a wager, depends on a string of successful situations that—whereas unlikely to all occur—permits winnings to snowball from a two-digit wager to a six-figure payout. The seemingly low-risk, high-reward type of playing has taken the sports activities betting world by storm.
“The real appeal of them is the kind of insane payout rate,” Joshua Grubbs, an affiliate professor on the College of New Mexico who research playing dependancy, advised Fortune. “You see small number, big payoff, which is appealing to people because it sounds like an amazing possibility.”
Although the successful bettors could appear to be the large winners, it’s the sportsbooks which have cashed in on the rising fever surrounding sports activities betting. In 2024, the passion generated $13.71 billion, a 25.4% improve from 2023, in keeping with state regulatory knowledge compiled by the American Gaming Affiliation.
Parlays are sometimes the rainmakers for sportsbooks, with greater than 70% of NFL and NBA bets on FanDuel coming from parlays in 2023, in keeping with FanDuel father or mother firm Flutter Leisure.Parlays made up 56% of sports activities betting income in Illinois, New Jersey, and Colorado in 2021, The Wall Avenue Journal reported earlier this 12 months. In keeping with Rutgers College’s Middle for Playing Research, New Jersey bettors misplaced $1.41 per greenback received in parlays in 2020. That’s in comparison with a $1.05 to $1 loss ratio for complete moneyline bets.
Furthermore, parlay bets are getting extra sophisticated as time goes on, lowering the probabilities of successful. In 2020, the most well-liked parlays had 5 legs, Rutgers reported. The 12 months earlier than, two-leg parlays have been the most well-liked.
“The notion of a parlay in general is so statistically unlikely to happen that it is one of the surest fire ways for the sportsbooks to just make the money off that,” Grubbs stated.
The rise of parlays
The sports activities betting business rocketed to success after a 2018 Supreme Court docket resolution successfully struck down a ban on sports activities playing, paving the way in which for 38 states to legalize the apply. Its reputation has even permeated the sports activities business itself: This week the NCAA took a step ahead in permitting athletes and division employees members to wager on skilled sports activities following a Division I Administrative Committee approval of the shift.
With a swath of apps taking betting from the on line casino to 1’s pocket, the business has captured the curiosity of Gen Z, who noticed a 7% year-over-year improve in on-line sports activities betting exercise as of 2025’s second quarter, TransUnion present in a report launched final month. The accessibility of on-line sportsbooks has capitalized on Gen Z’s love of playing, with lovers defending the apply as a type of funding.
For parlay betting particularly, there’s a dearth of analysis on why precisely it makes sportsbook prospects tick, Shane Kraus, an affiliate professor of psychology at College of Nevada, Las Vegas, advised Fortune. He stated the betting kind’s personalizable options (customers can choose the completely different legs of their parlays) in addition to the power to create bets after a recreation has began, make them particularly interesting. Past providing incentives to refer platforms to others, rising apps have additionally created methods to wager alongside associates, establishing leaderboards and groups of different customers.
Then, in fact, there’s the analysis suggesting alcohol consumption, typically related to sports activities spectating, is related to bigger wagers and extra fast lack of cash.
“You’re excited, you’re upset, you’re drinking, and you’re watching a football game, and then you start doing parlays or live bets—I don’t think you’re probably going to make the best decisions,” Kraus stated.
However Kraus, who research playing issues, attributes the rising reputation of parlays much less to the customers, and extra to the sportsbooks. Although sportsbooks’ promoting spending has remained flat at round $666 million in 2024, in keeping with Neilson Advert Intel, Kraus stated messaging from sportsbooks is in every single place, together with throughout video games and matches, when commentators stroll viewers by means of over-under odds and parlays.
“It is creating a culture where it’s just all about money,” he stated
Cracking down on sports activities betting platforms
Kraus stated he fears there’s not sufficient being finished of the apps to assuage customers from inserting extra bets, or no less than slowing them down. Playing dependancy, which impacts a bit over 1% of the inhabitants, has led some to gamble away unemployment checks and even lose their properties.
Sports activities betting platforms, for his or her half, have made strikes to place safeguards in place. FanDuel has arrange a evaluate system on its platform to have a look at a consumer’s hours on the location or language used with customer support groups that would set off a evaluate, the end result of which may exclude a participant from the platform by means of a “time-out” or imposing a deposit restrict, a spokesperson advised Fortune. About 90% of same-game parlays on the platform have a wager of $30 or much less and 60% are for $5 or much less.
“Our customers understand that these are fun, entertaining bets with a lower likelihood of winning,” the spokesperson stated in an announcement.
However College of New Mexico professor Grubbs famous that so long as making a wager is as simple as urgent a couple of buttons on a telephone, “there is going to be a lot of potential for things to go sideways.”
“I don’t think these sportsbooks are out there saying, ‘Oh, we need to get people addicted to gambling.’ I don’t think that that’s what they’re trying to do,” Grubbs stated. “I believe they’re making an attempt to make their product as accessible and interesting as doable, to get as many individuals concerned as doable.
“And what’s the net effect of that? Well, the net effect of that is sports betting has exponentially increased since 2018,” he concluded.
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