Round robin bets explained: how many parlays you are really buying
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A round robin turns one list of picks into several separate parlays, so the number of combinations sets both the total stake & how a losing pick plays out.
What a round robin is
A parlay is one wager on two or more bets tied together for a larger payout, & every bet in it must win for it to pay, according to Covers’ parlay guide. Each bet inside a parlay is called a leg.
A round robin takes one list of picks & builds several parlays from it. Covers says round robin parlays “allow multiple parlays to be placed across several games”, “with each parlay variation requiring an individual wager.”
The practical difference shows when a pick loses. In a single parlay, one losing leg sinks the whole bet. In a round robin, Covers says, “Any possible combination of winning bets that fits those parlays will pay out.”
Counting the parlays
Working out how many parlays a round robin contains is a counting problem. A combination is a selection where the order does not matter, as Wikipedia’s entry on combinations explains. Its example: given an apple, an orange & a pear, “there are three combinations of two that can be drawn from this set”.
The number of ways to choose k items from a set of n is called the binomial coefficient, often read as “n choose k”. For round robins, n is the number of picks & k is the number of legs in each parlay.
Applied to two-team parlays, three picks give three pairs, four picks give six & five picks give ten. Swap the fruit for teams & the apple, orange & pear list becomes the three two-team parlays built from three picks.
The same counts appear in British full cover bets. According to Wikipedia’s glossary of bets offered by UK bookmakers, a Trixie on three selections contains 3 doubles, a Yankee on four contains 6 doubles & a Canadian on five contains 10 doubles. A double is a bet on two selections, both of which must win.
Every parlay size at once
A round robin need not stop at two-team parlays. Covers says “a four-team round-robin parlay can include parlays of two, three, and four teams”, & that the bettor “must place individual wagers on the 11 different parlay combinations.”
That 11 is six two-team parlays, four three-team parlays & one four-team parlay. The UK glossary gives the same breakdown for a Yankee: “11 separate bets: 6 doubles, 4 trebles and a fourfold accumulator.” A treble needs three selections to win; an accumulator needs four or more.
With five picks the totals grow quickly. The glossary lists the Canadian, also called a Super Yankee, as 26 bets: 10 doubles, 10 trebles, 5 fourfolds & a fivefold. Leave out the single five-team parlay & every two, three & four-team combination of five picks comes to 25 parlays.
What it costs
Because each parlay is its own wager, the total outlay is the number of parlays multiplied by the stake on each one, often called the unit stake.
Three two-team parlays at $100 each cost $300. The 11-parlay, four-pick round robin at $10 a parlay costs $110, & the 25-parlay, five-pick version described above would cost $250 at the same unit stake.
The unit stake & the total stake are therefore very different numbers once the list of picks grows.
How each parlay is priced
Each parlay inside a round robin is priced like any other parlay. Action Network sets out the steps: “Convert the American odds to decimal odds”, “Multiply all the decimal odds together”, “Multiply the result of Step 2 by your bet amount”, then subtract the original stake.
Decimal odds, which Covers calls a multiplier, are the total return (winnings plus stake) divided by the stake. Action Network converts -110 to 1.91, so three -110 legs give “1.91 x 1.91 x 1.91 = 6.97”, which in American odds is +597, a parlay that “pays nearly 6-1”.
Covers’ payout table, using the standard -110 price for point spreads & totals, lists the payouts for a $100 wager as $264.46 for a two-team parlay & $595.79 for a three-team parlay.
Worked example: when a leg loses
Take three picks, each priced at -110, played as a round robin of three $100 two-team parlays. The total stake is $300.
For each winning two-team parlay, Covers lists a payout of $264.46 on a $100 wager at -110 per leg.
If all three picks win, all three parlays win, each paying at the figure Covers lists for a $100 two-team parlay.
If one pick loses, the two parlays containing it lose, & the $200 staked on them is gone. Only the parlay made of the two winners pays, at the figure Covers lists for a $100 two-team parlay.
If two picks lose, every pair contains at least one loser, so no parlay pays & the whole $300 is lost.
Pushes & promo limits
A push is a bet graded as a tie. Covers says that when a leg pushes, “the bet is removed from the parlay and it’s graded on the remaining bets”, so a three-team parlay with two winners & one push is paid as a two-team parlay.
Covers sets out that rule for parlays in general; its guide does not describe a separate push rule for round robins.
Promotions can also treat round robins differently. FanDuel’s bonus bets page explains that with bonus bets only the winnings are returned, not the stake, & states: “Bonus Bets cannot be applied to Round Robin wagers.”
Not the UK Round Robin
In British betting the name means something narrower. The UK glossary describes the Round Robin as a wager on three selections “consisting of 10 separate bets: 3 doubles, 1 treble and 3 up-and-down bets (each of 2 separate bets)”, which it says “may be considered to be a Trixie to which 3 up-and-down bets have been added”.
According to the glossary, one winning selection guarantees a return on a UK Round Robin, whereas a Trixie needs at least two winners.
The closer UK match to a US round robin is the full cover bet, which the glossary defines as “all possible doubles, trebles and accumulators across a given number of selections”. Examples include the Trixie (three selections, 4 bets), the Yankee (four selections, 11 bets) & the Heinz (six selections, 57 bets).
The margin still applies
Splitting picks across several parlays changes how a result is paid, not how each parlay is priced. Action Network says parlay odds are “not as high as they should be given the true chances of a given parlay winning.”
It compares the gap for a single bet, which it says implies the outcome is about 4.8% more likely than it actually is, with a five-team parlay, where the implied figure is about 33% higher than the true one. Action Network adds: “Sportsbooks make a ton of money on parlays”.
Covers, using standard -110 prices, puts the odds of winning a two-team parlay at 27.47 percent & a three-team parlay at 14.37 percent. A round robin is a bundle of such parlays, each carrying that pricing on every leg.
Questions
How many bets are in a round robin?
It depends on the number of picks & the parlay sizes chosen. Three picks make three two-team parlays, four make six & five make ten; Covers says a four-team round robin of two, three & four-team parlays needs wagers on 11 combinations.
What is the difference between a round robin & a parlay?
A parlay is one wager that loses if any leg loses, according to Covers. A round robin is a set of separate parlays built from one list of picks, each needing its own wager, so some can pay when others lose.
How much does a round robin cost?
The total stake is the number of parlays times the stake on each. Three $100 two-team parlays cost $300, & 11 parlays at $10 each cost $110.
Is a US round robin the same as a UK Round Robin?
No. Wikipedia’s glossary of UK bets describes the UK Round Robin as a fixed 10-bet wager on three selections, including 3 up-&-down bets, while full cover bets such as the Trixie & Yankee are closer to a US round robin.
Can bonus bets be used on a round robin?
FanDuel’s bonus bets page states that “Bonus Bets cannot be applied to Round Robin wagers.”
Sources
Sources checked 29 October 2026. Information only. 18+.
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