In this circumstance, a parlay bet would be the best option. You’d either parlay both as yes or both as no. In sports betting, these types of opportunities exist, although their correlation may not be as intense. An example is a college football point spread of -21.5/+21.5 with an over/under betting total of 44.5. Probably not the best introduction for an article about parlays, but I wanted to get it out of the way early. Mathematically speaking, parlays never pay out what the true odds should be. Nearly every parlay bet will lose money over the long term.
Recreational sports bettors enjoy parlays for their big potential returns. Bookmakers meanwhile love parlays because they force bettors to be perfect. A 2-1 day would be a solid day of profits for any bettor, but if all his picks were in a parlay that would still account for a losing day.
The average odds at most sportsbooks for parlays with totals and spreads are +260 for 2-team parlays and +600 for 3-team parlays. For moneyline parlays the price will vary depending on the price of the picks included in the parlay.
It is hard enough to win one straight bet, so despite the increased payouts as a rule of thumb parlays usually aren’t worth the risk long term.
One exception to the rule is to use parlays when you see semi-correlation.
An example of a correlated parlay could be taking a team to win both the first half of a game and the whole game. True correlated parlays won’t be accepted by sportsbooks, but most will accept wager on a the moneyline or the spread and the over/under in the same game. also known as semi-correlated parlays.
Semi-correlated parlays should be used when you expect the outcome of one of the legs in the parlay to benefit the other. That can be backing a big underdog and the under if you believe that they’re defense will keep it a close game, or the favorite and the over in what could be a blowout win.
An example would be if the total in a game is 45 and one team is favored by 15 points then it stands to reason that if the favorite covers the spread there is a better than average chance that the game will go over as well. Those two outcomes would be considered correlated.