A round robin is essentially an easy way to bet multiple parlays at the same time. You select the outcomes (teams) that you want to involve in the bet and then you choose if you want your parlay bets to include anywhere from 2 to 6 teams. If you select 2 then every combination that includes 2 teams will be parlayed, while if you select say 4 teams, then every combination of 4 different teams will be included.
Round Robin Bet Example
Here is a fairly simple example so you can get a basic idea. Say you want to bet on four teams in a three-way round robin bet. For this example here are the teams: Giants -7, Patriots -10, 49ers +4 and Packers +7. Now let’s say you want to bet $100 on each three-team parlay bet. Here is how the round robin would look:
Parlay #1
- Giants -7
- Patriots -10
- 49ers +4
- $100 Bet to win $595.79
Parlay #2
- Giants -7
- Patriots -10
- Packers +7
- $100 Bet to win $595.79
Parlay #3
- Giants -7
- 49ers +4
- Packers +7
- $100 Bet to win $595.79
Parlay #4
- Patriots -10
- 49ers +4
- Packers +7
- $100 Bet to win $595.79
Overall you would be risking $400 to win a potential profit of $2,383.04. This is quite a bit less than the $4,913.33 you would win by putting all of the teams on one 4-team parlay bet, but the benefit is that if just one of your teams lose you will still win one of your parlays from the round robin and end up with a profit of $395.79.
When To Use Round Robin Bets
Round robin bets are best to use when you feel strongly about several games, but don’t want to risk losing a large parlay. For example, if you are confident about 5 NFL teams heading into Sunday it may be smart to bet these 5 teams in 3-team parlays to get a bigger profit if they all win than just betting them individually, but not having the risk of 1 team losing you the big 5-team parlay.
Typical Round Robin Bet Rules
Most online sportsbooks have the same rules regarding round robin bets, with standard parlay betting rules applying. Most sportsbooks have the minimum number of outcomes included in a round robin set at 3, with the max at 8. While the minimum number of teams in each parlay set at 2, with the max at 6. This maximum of 6 team parlays will only come into play when you are choosing 8 outcomes.