Round Robin Bet: How It Works, Payouts and the Real Cost

A round robin bet turns your list of picks into every parlay of the size you choose. Three picks "by 2s" become three two-leg parlays, and each one is its own wager with its own stake.

A parlay is one bet on several picks, called legs, that only pays if every leg wins. In a round robin, one losing pick sinks only the parlays it is in, and the others can still pay.

How does a round robin bet work?

You choose the picks and the parlay size. The sportsbook writes every possible parlay of that size and charges your stake once for each one. On the bet slip it reads like Round Robin (By 2's) x 3 wagers: parlays of two legs, three of them. The total cost is your stake times the number of parlays, which is why it can be several times the stake you typed in.

Some sportsbooks also let you choose several sizes at once, such as by 2s and by 3s together. Three picks in every size is four parlays.

Many sportsbooks block two picks from the same game in one round robin, because linked results make the multiplied odds wrong. Expect a maximum payout as well, set in the sportsbook's rules.

Round robin payout: a worked example

Take three picks at -110 each, with $10 per parlay by 2s. -110 means you stake 110 to win 100, which is about 1.91 in decimal odds. Count the parlays that win, add their returns, and take away what you staked.

If all three picks win, the ticket returns $109.44. If any two win, one parlay pays and the ticket makes a small profit. One winner or none loses the whole stake. With coin-flip picks, that means a profit half the time.

More picks need more winners. With four picks by 2s, two winners pay a single parlay against six stakes, so you need three of the four.

Round robin vs parlay vs singles

The same stake can go on one three-leg parlay, on three singles (straight bets), or on the round robin. The round robin sits in between: it survives one miss, which the parlay does not, but pays far less than the parlay when everything wins.

At -110, singles pay more than the round robin when two picks win, and lose less when one wins. The round robin only beats singles when all three win. On underdogs it is the other way round: two winners pay more in a round robin than in singles. On short favorites it gets worse: two winners out of three lose money.

Round robin with underdogs

Underdogs are where a round robin pays most when two picks win. Take the same three picks, now priced as underdogs: A at +200 (3.00), B at +180 (2.80) and C at +150 (2.50), with $10 per parlay by 2s. A plus price is the profit on a $100 stake, so +200 wins $200. Any two winners pay far more than the stake, while a three-leg parlay would need all three.

The round robin pays more than singles whenever two or three underdogs win, and loses more when only one does. That changes the shape of the payout, not the cost: the margin still costs more than singles.

The real cost: the margin multiplies

Every bet at -110 carries the sportsbook's margin, often called the vig. In a parlay you pay it once for every leg, so the average loss grows with each leg you add.

A round robin by 2s is three two-leg parlays, so its average loss is the sum of theirs. The round robin costs less than the full parlay, but almost twice as much as singles.

The same multiplication works for you when your picks are priced above fair. The usual evidence that they are is beating the closing line, the final odds before the game starts, over many bets. The vig calculator strips the margin from a two-outcome market, such as a moneyline (a straight bet on which side wins), and shows the fair odds for each pick.

When a round robin makes sense

• You back underdogs and want two winners to pay. Two winners then pay more than the same picks as singles, as the underdog table shows, though the margin still costs more than singles.
• Your picks are priced above fair. The edge multiplies inside every parlay, and the ticket shows a profit far more often than one big parlay. If each pick really wins 55% of the time, the round robin by 2s shows a profit 57.5% of the time; a three-leg parlay of the same picks only 16.6%.
• Skip it for favorites at 1.73 (-137) or shorter. With three picks by 2s, two winners out of three then still lose money, so the round robin only shows a profit when all three win.
• Do not add weaker picks for coverage. Every extra pick adds parlays that carry its margin, and the number of parlays grows fast.

What happens when a leg pushes or is void

A push is a tie on the betting line, such as a point spread (a handicap on the final score) that lands exactly on the number. A void is a leg the sportsbook cancels, such as a postponed game. At most sportsbooks the leg drops out of every parlay it is in, and those parlays are settled on the legs that remain.

Some parlay cards, the fixed printed parlay menus at some US sportsbooks, grade ties as losses, so check the house rules. The parlay void rules guide covers how sportsbooks handle voids and pushes.

How to place a round robin bet

1. Add every pick to the bet slip as you would for a parlay.
2. Choose round robin and the parlay size, for example by 2s.
3. Enter the stake per parlay. To spend the same as one $30 parlay on three parlays, stake $10 on each.
4. Check the total cost and the maximum payout before you confirm.

Round Robin at UK bookmakers

In the UK, Round Robin is a different ticket: ten bets on three picks. It is three doubles (two-leg parlays), one treble (a three-leg parlay) and three "up-and-down" pairs, which UK bookmakers call single stakes about. Each pair counts as two bets: one stakes the second pick if the first wins, the other stakes the first pick if the second wins.

UK bookmakers also sell full-cover bets, which put every parlay size on a fixed number of picks, and some add the singles. The common ones:

Round robin bet FAQ