Round Robin Betting Guide

How Does Round Robin Betting Work for Sports Betting? Expert Round Robin Betting Guide

What Is Round Robin Betting?

To the casual gambler, round-robin betting might be something they aren’t familiar with. A round-robin bet works based on parlay betting. For people who don’t know what parlay betting is, it is where a person places a single wager on multiple games to win.

Parlay betting requires at least two games involved for someone to place a parlay wager.

With a round-robin betting format, you need at least three games or more. The round-robin will then put multiple parlays on the games that are selected. The number of games chosen can increase the number of parlay options for the round-robin bet.

For example, if you select four games, the round-robin can choose four different three-game parlays or six different two-game parlays. With that in mind, when you place a round-robin wager, the round-robin will spread it out on the total number of parlays in the round-robin.

For example, if you did the four-game round-robin using six different two-game parlays, the round-robin would apply your wager amount to six parlays. If that wager amount is $10, it would be multiplied by six for a total of $60. So round-robin betting gets more expensive with the number of added parlay bets included in the round-robin.

The gambler can win some of the parlays, all of the parlays, or none of the parlays. The payout on round-robin betting will be based on which parlays won and the odds for the parlays that do succeed.

Round-robin betting also allows mixing and matching different betting options on a game. You could make all point spread bets for your round-robin, or you could do all money lines.

If you want to combine those two forms of betting on your round-robin, you can do that as well. A combination of point spreads and moneyline bets can give some parlays higher odds in the round-robin.

One thing you can’t do with round-robin betting is place opposing bets on the same game. What this means is if you want to take the Miami Dolphins at +6 against the New England Patriots, you won’t be able to take the Patriots at -6.

Additionally, you wouldn’t be able to take the Patriots at -6 and take them on the moneyline as well. The same goes for if you wanted to use the Dolphins for the same scenario.

Is Round Robin Betting Legal?

Anyone confused about round-robin betting may also wonder if round-robin betting is legal. Round-robin betting is legal, and people that live in states where sports betting is legal can place wagers on round-robin bets.

Check your state’s laws on sports betting picks to see if they have legalized sports betting for your state. Not all states have legalized sports betting, but since 2018, many states have started legalizing gambling.

How Do The Odds Work In Round Robin Betting?

Here is where things get interesting for a round-robin bet. Since round-robins are based on parlay bets, the round-robin will align the odds to the odds of each parlay.

The games in a parlay will determine the parlay odds based on the odds for games in that parlay. Also, the number of games in each parlay bet in a round-robin will increase the odds for the parlay.

The reason for that is because the chances of getting multiple bets to win as wagered on become smaller as you add on games. Oddsmakers don’t see a gambler having good odds to get numerous games correct.

Odds will also reflect based on a single bet on the game. Lower odds on a single game bet added to a round-robin will also be reflected on the parlay odds in a round-robin bet.

Is There Any Strategy For Round Robin Betting?

With round-robin betting being more complicated as you add in more games, the strategies you can use become more complex. Round-robins have a computer to separate games that you pick into different parlays. And if you have more than two games in a parlay, you will incur more risk with the bet but with a chance to win more money.

While having more games involved can diversify the parlay, it could also run the risk of incurring more losses. But there are ways to take advantage of having multiple parlay bets in a round-robin. Just remember that the more parlay bets in the round-robin, the more money you will have to bet because the round-robin will apply each dollar amount to all available parlay combinations.

One way to diversify a round-robin bet is to find one or two underdog teams that have the best chances of winning and bet on the moneyline for that team. Those moneyline bets will be added to the round-robin parlay and will have the biggest payout if they win. If both win and are in a two-game parlay, that will net the biggest payout. 

Something like this doesn’t always happen, but moneyline bets on an underdog with the best chances of winning can help your payout in a round-robin. Keeping this in mind, you would need to research all teams involved in the games you are looking to bet on in your round-robin.

With the number of parlay combinations used in a round-robin bet, it is best only to bet small amounts of money on the round-robin parlays. If there are 35 different parlay combinations in a round-robin, your bet amount will be multiplied by 35. So a $10 bet will cost $350 in a round-robin with 35 different parlay combinations. 

While having that many combinations give more chances, it does so at a higher cost. If you only have games with even odds or slightly negative odds, the payoff on the parlay won’t be that big. But if you get an underdog on a moneyline that could win, it will increase the odds and payout on the parlay if it wins.

Before putting any games in the round-robin, make sure that you study the teams involved. Look to see if there is any chance to take advantage of the moneyline instead of the spread odds, seeing that moneyline bets can have better odds. Having just point spread bets in a round-robin might not yield the best return and could be disastrous if one picks the wrong team to cover the spread.

That is what makes studying the teams involved so important, as it might show who had the best chance of winning outright or which team will cover a spread.

Can I Do Multiple Sports In A Round Robin Bet?

Gamblers might want to know if they can have games from different sports in their round-robin bet. The answer to that question is yes; you can have games from multiple sports in your round-robin bet. Since the bets in a round-robin are in a parlay format, it will allow for gamblers to place games from other sports in their round-robin bets.

Since the parlays only require the team to win their bet, whether by a point spread or outright based on the parlay, they can be included in a round-robin bet. Oddsmakers will adjust the odds for the parlay in round-robin betting based on the likelihood of a team’s odds of winning the bet, regardless of the sport involved.

Why Would I Want To Make A Round Robin Bet?

While round-robin betting can be complicated, it can offer multiple betting options that can provide a chance for getting a decent payoff. While making one bet for a substantial amount of money can have a minimum payout, making multiple parlay bets on a round-robin bet for a smaller amount could allow for a bigger payout if one can win some of the higher odds parlays in the round-robin.

With parlays with higher payouts over just a single bet, one could potentially win more money than if they were to make a single bet. It can also hedge against losses in other parlay bets in the round-robin. With a single bet, all the money’s gone with one loss.

With a round-robin bet, one can lose some of the parlay bets in the round-robin but still have a chance to recover the losses or even win more money than what was wagered.

For gamblers looking for excitement, round-robin betting has a lot of excitement involved. That is due to the number of different parlays involved, based on the number of games one puts into a round-robin bet. The thrill of multiple bets might be something that a gambler looks for, outside of making a wager to win money.

Since Round Robin Betting Uses Parlays, Couldn’t I Just Do A Parlay?

In theory, you could do separate parlays instead of a round-robin bet. However, all possible combinations are already made for you with a round-robin bet. That saves the time of making multiple parlay bets to get the same result.

So in a way, round-robin betting offers convenience to doing numerous game outcomes on parlays, something that might take the gambler a while to figure out otherwise.

Are There Any Sports That Are Excluded From Round Robin Betting?

There are no sports excluded from round-robin betting. Any sports that are available for betting can be added into a round-robin bet. So if you want to do a round-robin with games from the NBA, NFL, and NHL, you will be able to do so with a round-robin bet.

How To Weigh The Risks Of A Round Robin Bet

When doing a round-robin, it is essential to look at the teams and games you are adding to the round-robin and the number of games you are adding, along with the number of parlays that could be in the round-robin. When more parlays are added to the round-robin bet, that will increase the amount a gambler will have to wager.

Below is a chart that shows all the different options that one can have when there are up to ten games in the round-robin.

Picks in Round Robin	Number of events in each parlay	Total number of parlays in round-robin
3	2	3
4	2	6
4	3	4
5	2	10
5	3	10
5	4	5
6	2	15
6	3	20
6	4	15
6	5	6
7	2	21
7	3	35
7	4	35
7	5	21
7	6	7
8	2	28
8	3	56
8	4	70

 

Picks in Round Robin	Number of events in each parlay	Total number of parlays in round-robin
8	5	56
8	6	28
8	7	8
9	2	36
9	3	84
9	4	126
9	5	126
9	6	84
9	7	36
9	8	9
10	2	45
10	3	120
10	4	210
10	5	252
10	6	210
10	7	120
10	8	45
10	9	10

With this example, one can have up to 252 parlay bets in the round-robin. A $10 wager would turn into $2,520 with 252 parlays in the round-robin. That would also mean you will have five games in each parlay, which might have better odds but will have a higher risk of losing.

The casual gambler wouldn’t want to bet that much money on a round-robin bet. So what would be a better option that won’t be as risky? For people looking for a lower risk, with a reasonable return, a five-team round-robin bet with two or three games in each parlay can give good odds while not incurring too much risk.

A round-robin bet like this would give the gambler ten different parlays. So a $10 wager would total $100 in the end with ten parlays. There wouldn’t be as much to lose, but the odds will be lower with fewer games being in the parlay.

But with good picks, you can take advantage of two or three-game parlays in a round-robin bet.

The most important thing to look at is how many parlays will be in your round-robin and if you are willing to put a significant amount of money into multiple parlays in your round-robin. Remember that more parlays mean more money will have to be added to the final wager amount. Want to learn more about Moneyline odds? Follow us on Twitter.