Know the difference between a teaser and a parlay

On the surface, parlays and teasers seem similar because both need all legs to hit for a ticket to be graded as a winner.

But new bettors should know the difference between a teaser and parlay ahead of the upcoming football season. Don’t worry, Bet Chicago Sports is here to help with an easy guide to explain the difference between the two wagers.

Make sure to place your football bets at Caesars Sportsbook, which is the official odds partner of Bet Chicago Sports. Thanks to our partnership, you can get a great new-user offer when you sign up today.

What is a parlay bet?

A bet that involves two or more wagers, in which all wagers must win. Parlays are naturally harder to win than a straight bet, but the payouts are much greater as a result. You can parlay point spread, moneylines, over/unders, player props and much more.

Example: If you think the Bears (+7) and Ravens (-7) will both cover their spreads on an NFL Sunday, you could bet them individually and win about $19 on two different $10 bets. If you parlay them together, a $10 bet would result in a payout of more than double your risk if both legs were successful.

In this scenario:

• Both teams cover: Win
• Bears cover, Ravens do not: Loss
• Ravens cover, Bears do not: Loss
• Both teams do not cover: Loss

What is a teaser bet?

A teaser is a bet that involves multiple teams like a parlay, but you can reduce your payout in favor of gaining more points to increase the likelihood of winning each game. The number of points applied to your choice can vary. For a football teaser, you can choose a 6-point, 6.5-point or 7-point teaser with varying payouts.

Example: Let’s use the same Week 1 lines to illustrate how a teaser works. With a 6-point teaser, a bettor can tease the Bears to +13 and the Ravens down to -1 for their respective games. If the Bears stay within a dozen points and the Ravens win by two more more, the teaser would be graded as a winner.

Teasers are especially useful in football due to its rigid scoring system. Stanford Wong’s book called Sharp Sports Betting, which was first published in 2001, was the first to put together a basic strategy for teasers. Wong uses push charts to illustrate that teasing +1.5 to +2.5 underdogs and -7.5 to -8.5 favorites is profitable when given the right teaser odds. The book goes into greater detail, but that should give you a basic idea of the teaser strategy.

Conclusion

Sports betting is supposed to be fun, and so it makes sense why bettors want to play a multi-leg parlay or teaser. It can result in a bigger payout, much like playing the lottery, while also giving the football fan a reason to be excited about multiple games on a Sunday afternoon.

Just remember that it can be hard to win such bets when adding multiple legs. Most books treat teasers and parlay similar in that a push on a game would drop that leg, resulting in a parlay or teaser with one fewer leg. That’s not always the case, so make sure to check the house rules at your sportsbook of choice.