Hedging Your Bets Can Be a Smart Move With Parlays

Published on October 6th, 2020 11:23 am EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


Hedging bets is a common practice in sports wagering. Let's say that you place a 7-team parlay wager at your online sportsbook.

The parlay, which cost you $100, will return $20,000 if all of the games hit.

After the first six games, your parlay ticket is still good, which means that $20,000 is riding on the final game.

Do you want $20,000 in potential winnings riding on one game?

In this case, many people will choose to hedge a ticket.

In this case, you would look to bet a sizeable amount of money on the final game of the parlay in order to hedge yourself and guarantee winnings.

For instance, let's say that the final game on your ticket is the Cincinnati Bengals -7 against the Detroit Lions at home.

If the Bengals cover the spread, you would win $20,000. However, you don't feel great about the game, so you decide that you want to hedge yourself.

Let's say that Detroit +7 is +100, or even money.

So, let's say that you decide to guarantee yourself a payout of $10,000, regardless of the outcome of the final game.

In order to to do, you would bet $10,000 on the Lions +7.

If the Bengals win by more than 7 points, you would win $10,000 ($20,000 from the parlay ticket, minus the $10,000 bet on the Lions game).

If the Lions come out the winners after including their +7 points, you would win $10,000 (you'd win $10,000 from your wager on the Lions, while your parlay ticket would lose).

This is a simplified example of hedging.

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If you are close to winning a big parlay ticket, you might want to consider hedging yourself in order to guarantee yourself at least some profit.

While sticking it out until the end of a winning parlay ticket can be exhilarating, losing a massive potential payout on the last game of a parlay can be devastating.

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