NBA Parlay Bets Defined - What is an NBA Parlay

During the height of basketball season, there are normally NBA games being played each day. The league is considered the highest level of basketball talent in the world and features teams primarily from the US, but also from Canada as well. 

USA sportsbooks will have multiple betting lines sometimes exceeding 100 for individual games in the NBA. Rather than betting on them each individually, multiple NBA games can be combined into a single bet called a parlay. 

What is a Parlay Bet or NBA Parlay Bet?

A parlay bet is a single wager that is composed of multiple individual bets. Some online sportsbooks will allow up to 20 different selections for each parlay. The selections can include any bet types from spreads and totals to props bets. 

The total NBA parlay odds are the combination of each bet selection included in the parlay. 

Thus, each additional selection in a parlay bet will give you higher odds, but will also increase the risk. The risk increases because  if even one of the selections loses, then the entire parlay is lost. Let's go through some basic information on the special characteristics of NBA parlays. 

How to Correctly Make NBA Parlay Bets

With such a popular sport and league, it's harder to find sportsbooks where you cannot make NBA parlays. Every online sportsbook in America will prioritize betting on the NBA, and the top sportsbooks will have 100 or more bet types for each game. 

This gives players nearly endless combinations for picks in their NBA parlay bets. Some sportsbooks will even have special betting features or promotions specifically for making parlay bets. 

Putting NBA parlay bets together can be done by going through the upcoming NBA games on an online sportsbook and adding selections to the bet slip. However, there are certain strategies that we believe will help players to make smarter NBA parlays.

  1. Follow only one division - before putting NBA parlays together and betting on them, pick one NBA division to take your selections from. Follow and bet only on those five teams throughout the season. Doing this will give you a much better understanding of which way to bet each game than following all 30 league teams. 
  2. Employ a Bankroll Strategy - this can help with all betting, not just on parlay bets. To help minimize risks to your bankroll, strategies like flat betting and catch-up strategies can help you to manage finances, minimize losses and build long term profits. 

  3. Pay attention to NBA parlay picks - even if you choose not to follow the advice of an expert, that is okay. Many of these experts have great analyses on upcoming NBA games that can help give you ideas, reinforce your choices, or open up other options. 

Finding the Best NBA Picks and Parlays 

There are no shortages of the number of betting experts who will share their NBA parlay picks for the upcoming games. Many of these can be accessed freely online, and will usually contain some helpful information for each game. 

When looking for NBA picks and parlays, it's best to keep focused on what statistics and reasons the experts are giving for their predictions. There are plenty of sites with their own NBA picks and parlays.

So sifting through a few sites should give you a good all-around understanding of each game and even some new ideas for your own NBA parlay. 

In order to find the best NBA picks and parlays, you will also need to look for certain information about each expert. The experienced experts who have been doing these predictions for years will usually keep a record of their parlay wins and losses. 

However, you can also try out a certain expert for yourself and keep track of your own record betting with their picks.

They can also be an excellent place to compare your own NBA picks and parlays with those of the experts. See if your picks agree with the general consensus or now. If you are confident of your or an expert’s NBA picks, you can easily add them onto your bet slip and place a wager. 

NBA Parlay Calculator

In order to figure out what your NBA parlay odds will be or what the final payout would be on a winning parlay, you can use a free NBA parlay calculator. These are available both on sportsbooks and on different online websites. 

The NBA parlay calculators are really easy to use either way. On dedicated parlay calculator websites, simply include the odds from each of your selections to see what the final outcome will look like. Selections can also be changed to examine different parlay variations. 

Doing this with an online sportsbook is a little easier however and more sensical. When scanning through the NBA odds on a sportsbook, any selection can be added to your bet slip and included in a parlay bet. 

Once the parlay is finalized, the sportsbook will automatically display both the odds and potential payout. From there, players can either switch around the selections and make a new NBA parlay or quickly wager on the existing parlay. 

Parlay Cards in the NBA

Just like in the NFL, there are also NBA parlay cards available in physical sportsbook locations. These NBA parlay cards list all of the upcoming games in the NBA for a specific week along with the point spreads for each game.

When players receive these NBA parlay cards, they can circle or list the teams that they want to bet on. On some parlay cards, there will be point spreads and over/under numbers attached as well. Players can take one team on the point spread and have the total over as a separate selection. 

The main difference between NBA parlay cards and betting on an online sportsbook are the odds. Parlay card odds are a set amount. If you get three out of three selections right, you get five times your stake. Four out of four and you get nine times your stake and so on.

While an online sportsbook’s odds can be the same on both sides of a point spread or totals, it's certainly possible to find differing odds. For example, the total over for an NBA game may be +135 while the total under might be +100, rather than a set amount like on NBA parlay cards. 

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