How does round robin parlay betting work in sports?
Parlays tie multiple bets together, requiring every Bet within a parlay win and rolling over the winnings from one leg to roll over into each of the subsequent ones. A round-robin allows you to play multiple parlays from a set of selected games. Round robin play in sports is like group play in the World Cup or the preliminary round of basketball or hockey at the Olympics. Every team in a group plays every other team in its group once. Round robin bets do the same thing with parlays. Say you like four bets and want to parlay them but dont want the all-or-nothing nature of a four-team parlay. A round-robin groups smaller parlays from those four bets. A round-robin creating two-leg parlays from four bets would create six possibilities. For the sake of a basic example, for now, lets call the bets Bet A, Bet B, Bet C and Bet D. Here are the six parlays that would come from that round-robin:  AB  AC  AD  BC  BD  CD  By playing the round-robin, you now have every combination of two-leg parlays from those four bets. If you play the regular four-leg parlay, all four bets have to win, or you get nothing. In this case, as long as at least two of the bets win, youll get some of your money back. If bets A and B win, only the parlay with the combination AB would win, and the other five would lose. If bets A, B and D win, all the parlays that didnt include Bet C would win (AB, AD, BD). Going 3-3 in six bets may not sound all that good, but remember that these are parlays, so they will have better than even money payouts unless the bets were very significant favorites. In this example, its also possible to use those four bets in a round-robin that creates three three-leg parlays. They would look like this:  ABC  ACD  BCD  To get any money from this round-robin, at least three of the bets would have to win. If three bets win, only one of the parlays would win, but it would pay nicely without extreme favorite odds as a three-leg parlay. OK, so thats how it looks in a dry run. Lets take a look at a possible round robin from the first round of the 2021 NCAA mens basketball tournament. What would have happened if all the lettered bets from above were the No. Those four bets were Liberty (+260), North Texas (+260), Ohio (+260) and UNC-Greensboro (+475), giving the following parlays from the round-robin:  Liberty, North Texas  Liberty, Ohio  Liberty, UNC-Greensboro  North Texas, Ohio  North Texas, UNC-Greensboro  Ohio, UNC-Greensboro  North Texas and Ohio won. The parlay from the round-robin with those two teams would win, and the other five would lose. Using $10 units, that parlay would return $129.60. Taking out the $60 required to put $10 on all six parlays, this round-robin would be up to $69.60. Thats better than playing the four bets individually. Each of the +260 bets would combine to net $52, and the two losing bets would combine to lose $20 for a net positive of $32. Playing those same four bets as a parlay or a round-robin with three-leg parlays loses all the money wagered. Pros and cons of round robins  One of the pros of a round robin is the 13-seed example. In this case, the round-robin with two-leg parlays was the most profitable way to play it. Thats not always the case, but it can work out. Round robins are less volatile parlays. If all the 13 seeds won, the round-robin would not be better than a four-leg parlay, where all those juicy plus money odds would roll over winnings three times. The round-robin removes that best-case scenario and creates a scenario where only two of the four bets have to win to make more money than playing the bets individually. The clear downside is the investment. Playing that round-robin required placing six parlays. In the 13-seed round robin, that meant putting down $60 instead of $40 if they were individual bets or $10 for just a single parlay. It might be wise to drop the price of each parlay in the round-robin down, considering you will have to place several parlays to fulfill the round-robin. How to do them  Sports betting apps or websites do round robins a little differently from each other, but it should work similarly to selecting a parlay. Select at least three bets, go to the digital bet slip section and find an option for round-robin. From there, there are several more options and terminology to go with it. The names vary, but the number of bets in each parlay will usually be in the title. For a round-robin with two-leg parlays from four bets, it can be called a 2 Pick Round Robin or Round Robin 2/4. Theres also a Yankee, which is betting every parlay possible. In the case of a four-bet round-robin is the four-bet parlay, all three three-bet parlays and all six two-bet parlays. Any betting screen should show the number of bets being placed in the round-robin so that it can work as a way to check that you clicked on the right option. Keep in mind that usually, you select how much to wager per bet, which means you may enter $10 but are actually wagering $60 if there are six parlays in the round-robin. Round robins are more complicated and can be confusing, but give bettors another way to try to hit big, like with a parlay, but with less chance of winning nothing.