Kris Johnson Deputy Editor -- CasinoBeats.com
Kris Johnson is a Charlotte-based deputy editor. He joined CasinoBeats in July 2025 and oversees the daily news flow of editing and publishing. Kris also reports on all aspects of the gambling industry with a...
Read Full BioParlays are fun.
Parlays are sucker bets.
Parlays are high-margin products for sportsbooks, including the duopoly of FanDuel and DraftKings.
A trio of truths to begin this discussion about one of sports betting’s most popular and polarizing bets.
Watching the Ohio State-Michigan game over the holiday weekend with some good friends, I was asked, “Who’d you bet on?” They were expecting Buckeyes or Wolverines in response.
The truth was both. Without a dog in the fight, and not wanting to drive a few miles into North Carolina to make an actual bet, I opted to make a couple of prop-based parlays on Pick6, the DraftKings-based platform that’s legal in South Carolina.
The fun one involved playing both quarterbacks — Julian Sayin (OSU) and Bryce Underwood (Michigan) — to score a touchdown at $10 to win $250. A small bet with a chance to win at 25-1 odds…
Sayin scored on a QB sneak about halfway through the first quarter (Yay!), before the call was overturned on video replay (Boo!). Another parlay pick gone bad, and it wasn’t even halftime yet.
You know what, though? It was good entertainment for a fraction of the price of a normal bet.
Parlays: Economic Engines for Sportsbooks
Only a minority of states publicize parlay revenue in their monthly reports. The Washington Post reported last month that parlays “often generate a substantial share of sportsbooks’ revenue, even though only about one-third of money is wagered on these bets.”
In Maryland, one of the states that disseminates this information, bettors spent 36% of their wagering money on parlays this year. Here’s the kicker: 67% percent of sportsbooks’ revenue came from parlays. That translated into $315 million for FanDuel, DraftKings, et al in the Old Line State alone.
Commercial sportsbooks aggressively promote parlays, thereby expanding their influence on both mainstream and social media. Why wouldn’t they? Parlays are a boon for business. Here’s one example from CBS college basketball reporter Jon Rothstein that, to his credit, hit last night.
FanDuel also launched a “Pass The Leg” promo for Thanksgiving Day, encouraging the whole family to get involved with parlays.
Do the Math: Parlay Odds are Stacked Against Players
In July, a US News & World Report survey revealed that 25 percent of respondents reported missing at least one bill payment due to money lost on sports betting. Another finding? Approximately one in four bettors said that they most frequently place parlay bets.
Therein lies part of the problem. It’s no secret that these bets are inherently harder to win when you need multiple outcomes to go your way. With every additional leg you add to a parlay, the sportsbook’s edge is compounded.
Michael A. Buzzelli, who serves as director of problem gambling services for the Ohio Casino Control Commission, does not believe that the “average sports bettor understands the ‘terrible’ odds of a parlay.”
Buzzelli added, “Even if they do know — because some probably do, some are pretty savvy — they just don’t care. Risk-taking is fun. Risk-taking is enjoyable. It’s partially about money, but it’s also about that excitement and thrill of: ‘I got it right. I knew what I was doing.’”
The strange thing, though, is that people who do understand the stacked odds involved often don’t govern their behavior accordingly.
Sad moral of the story: One man’s source of fun is another’s source of danger.
