If the U.S. sports betting industry had a mantra, it would likely involve the word “parlay.”

Bettors enjoy parlays because they offer the dream of transforming a small investment into life-changing money. Meanwhile, sportsbooks can’t get enough of them because of their high house edge and usefulness as a marketing tool.

So, it stands to reason that many online sportsbooks base their promotional schedules around parlays. One of the more popular types is parlay insurance, which provides a refund to bettors who come up just short of winning their parlays.

Below, BettingUSA discusses the nuts and bolts of parlay insurance promotions, including where to find them, how to use them, and if bettors can use them to their advantage.

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Parlays Explained

Before diving into parlay insurance, it’s essential to know what a parlay is and how it functions. A parlay is a single ticket comprised of multiple bets. For the ticket to cash, each bet (or leg of the parlay) must win.

The winnings from each leg roll into the next. As an example, consider a simple $10 parlay with each leg priced at -200, +300, and -400:

• Leg #1: Bet $10 at -200, win $15
• Leg #2: Bet $15 at +300, win $60
• Leg #3: Bet $60 at -400, win $75

After rolling over the winnings from one leg to the next, the bettor in this example stands to win $75 on an initial $10 wager. As a result, the odds on this parlay are +650.

There is one exception to the “all or nothing” rule of parlays. If one or more legs end in a no contest or draw, they drop from the ticket, and the sportsbook adjusts the payout in accordance with the reduced odds.

Parlays can comprise a combination of many different wagering formats, including moneylines, point spreads, props, futures, derivatives, and more. The only real restriction is that parlays cannot be correlated unless the book explicitly states that it accepts same game parlays.

What is Parlay Insurance?

There’s no worse feeling in gambling than coming up just short of a big win. Losing one leg of a multi-leg parlay is akin to one’s horse coming up on the wrong end of a photo finish or losing with a 20 against a dealer 6 in blackjack. In short, it’s a terrible feeling.

Parlay insurance helps mitigate such stinging defeats by offering bettors their money back when any one bet on their parlay ticket loses.

While that sounds like a great deal, and it can be, sportsbooks often impose restrictions on parlay insurance promos, most of which diminish their value.

Which Sportsbooks Offer Parlay Insurance?

No two parlay insurance promotions are created equal. Not only do the terms vary from book to book, but they may even vary for different promos at the same sportsbook.

Ultimately, the terms of any particular parlay insurance promotion determine how valuable it is for bettors. Below is an overview of sportsbooks that offer parlay refunds and a high-level evaluation of their value.

FanDuel Parlay Insurance

FanDuel Sportsbook should be at the top of the list for anyone who craves the long odds and high payouts of parlays. The book features an assortment of parlay-centric promotions each week, many of which involve the insurance theme.

FanDuel tends to offer a few different types of parlay insurance promotions. The most common is multi-sport parlay insurance. The promo is surprisingly flexible, allowing bettors to combine legs across any sport in any market. Even better, customers can claim it up to four times per day.

Another big upside is that FanDuel issues its refunds as site credit. Very few sportsbooks can make that claim.

FanDuel caps the maximum refund at $25, which is about industry standard.

As far as drawbacks, the main one is that each leg of the parlay must have odds of -200 or longer, meaning a -200, -150, or +150 line would qualify, but a -400 line would not. Also, only parlays consisting of 5+ legs are eligible. That’s steep.

FanDuel also offers same game parlay insurance from time to time, which shares most of the same rules as its multi-sport parlay insurance offer, except all legs of the parlay must originate from the same game. Typically, customers only have to bet 3- or 4-leg parlays to qualify.

Site credits arrive in bettors’ accounts within 72 hours and often much faster. Customers must use their refunds within seven days, or they’ll expire. BettingUSA suggests readers check FanDuel’s promotions page weekly because their offers change often.

BetMGM Parlay Insurance

BetMGM Sportsbook is another major operator that commonly offers parlay insurance. The most noteworthy restriction is that customers usually have to place a one-game parlay with at least four legs to qualify.

The maximum refund amounts range from $25 to $50, which is on the higher end relative to its competitors.

BetMGM typically allows bettors to take advantage of One Game Parlay Insurance once per day, per sport, with the clock resetting at midnight each day.

Typically, BetMGM issues refunds as a single free bet that does not return the initial stake on any winning wagers. That’s not ideal, but the lack of a minimum odds requirement is a massive plus for bettors.

Free bets appear in customers’ accounts within 24 hours, and they must use them within seven days.

DraftKings Parlay Promos

DraftKings Sportsbook isn’t big on parlay insurance, instead preferencing bonus bet offers, but it has offered them in the past.

In all honesty, bettors aren’t missing much. For example, one past DraftKings parlay insurance promo required bettors to place parlays with 5+ legs, and each had to have minimum odds of -300. Additionally, it capped refunds at $25 and issued them as free bets, not as site credit.

Furthermore, teasers, round robins, and odds boost promotions did not qualify for insurance, and bettors could not place the initial parlay with free bets or site credit. In that case, the only favorable term was that bettors could claim the promotion up to four times a day.

Parlay Juice Is Extra Juicy

Parlays are among the most lucrative bets in all of sports betting – for the book. The reason for this is that customers pay a tax (otherwise known as juice, vigorish, or simply “the vig”) on each leg of the parlay.

The more legs a bettor adds to a parlay, the more that tax compounds.

For a simple exercise, imagine a bettor wants to parlay a few NFL point spreads together, each with standards -110 odds and a 50% chance of winning. The vig on each leg is approximately 4.55%, meaning that for each $100 wagered, bettors can expect about $95.45 back.

If the bettor combines two of those wagers into a parlay, their odds of winning drop to 25%, which converts to break-even odds of +300. However, the book will only pay +264 because it taxes each leg of the parlay. The implied probability at +264 is 27.47%, which works out to a vig of approximately 9%.

As the bettor adds more -110 point spreads to their parlay ticket, the vig continues to compound.

The above numbers are not typos. If a bettor places a 5-leg parlay consisting exclusively of reasonably priced point spreads, their expected value on a $100 wager is just $79.20.

What would happen to that parlay ticket if it consisted of moneylines instead? Well, the vigorish would be approximately the same as listed above, assuming fair market price.

Of course, bettors might be able to shave off a few percentage points by line shopping, but the vig on large, multi-leg parlays will still be astronomical.

Worse yet, because the tax on futures, props, and derivatives is often higher compared to point spreads, totals, and moneylines, it follows that the vigorish on tickets consisting of these wager types will be even higher.

For those who didn’t already know all of the above, it’s probably becoming abundantly clear why sportsbooks tend to focus their marketing efforts on multi-leg parlays.

Parlay Insurance: Tips and Optimal Strategy

• Always check to see if the sportsbook pays parlay insurance refunds as site credit or bonus bets. Site credits are always more valuable, but bettors can increase the expected value of bonus bets by wagering them on underdogs.
• Due to the compounding nature of parlay VIG, seek out promos with lower minimum leg requirements. A promo requiring 3-legs to qualify for insurance is far better than one requiring five.
• For Same Game Parlays, understand that correlation, e.g., Knicks -2 (first half)/Knicks -4.5 (game), will be baked into the odds, resulting in lower payouts.
• Do not bet more than the maximum refund amount. If parlay insurance is capped at $25, bet no more than $25, or you’ll cost yourself value. If you must bet more, find a book that offers parlay insurance multiple times a day, and spread the wealth around.
• Avoid promotions with strict minimum odds requirements. We want our parlay ticket to consist of heavy favorites.

The last point warrants further discussion.

Why We Bet Moneyline Favorites

Wait a minute. Aren’t parlay tickets stacked with big moneyline favorites sucker bets?

Yes and no.

“Yes” in the sense that despite the house edge, some bettors think these wagers can’t lose. And “No” because the measuring stick for a parlay bet is in its expected value, not whether the bettor is backing favorites or dogs. Generally, a 5-leg parlay consisting of all favorites has about the same expected value as any other parlay.

However, when parlay insurance is on the table, betting favorites becomes highly preferable. The shorter the odds, the better.

The reason for this is that bettors should maximize their chance of receiving insurance. Consider two examples:

In the first, the bettor places $25 on a 5-leg parlay consisting of all -110 point spreads. That bet will win 3.125% of the time for a payout of $634 ($609 in profit plus the $25 initial stake).

The expected value on this wager is 0.03125 * $634 = $19.81. The bettor will hit 4 out of 5 winners 15.625% of the time, triggering insurance. Assuming the sportsbook issues insurance payouts in site credit, the insurance is worth nearly its cash equivalent, which is .15625 * $25 = $3.91. Add it all up, and the total expected value on a $25 wager is just south of $23.72, for an average loss of $2.28.

Now, consider what happens when the bettor parlays five -200 moneyline favorites instead. The fair market price on -200 is approximately -175. This bet will win roughly 10.44% of the time for $189.86, an expected value of $19.82. That’s almost the same expected value as the previous point spread example. However, this time, the wager triggers insurance 32.93% of the time, which adds $8.23 to its expected value.

Thus, the total EV is $28.05 – a $3.05 profit!

Now, if the sportsbook pays the refund in bonus bets, the margins wouldn’t be nearly as attractive. But on the flip side, if bettors only have to bet 3- or 4-legs to activate insurance, then their EV would shoot up.

The overarching point is that bettors who do opt-in to parlay insurance promotions should always load their cards with the most attractive favorites the book will allow.

Parlay Insurance FAQ