Land on any major online betting site for some football betting and you will see a couple of main options, those being NFL and College Football. No matter where you are in the world, be it browsing markets at the best UK betting sites, legal online options in the USA or going through free bonus bets no deposit Australia sites, the landscape is very similar.
There is another option however for professional football wagering, and that is XFL betting. Launched in 2020 the exciting fan-first league came onto the season. It’s a faster, arguably more accessible version of football that has been growing in appeal. While XFL has been changing the game of football, betting options remain the same.
What are XFL Betting Lines?
Are you going to see a difference between NFL and XFL markets? Not really. Arguably the markets on the latter are not going to be as in-depth as those NFL prop bets, but closer to the surface, it is all much the same.
The betting odds on the Moneyline, Points Spreads and Totals in XFL markets, work just the same as those in the NFL and College Football. Even parlays. That leads us nicely around to one of the most hotly debated angles of football betting. Is it worth playing a parlay in football betting?
To Parlay Or Not Parlay
Parlays are a popular form of bet across the world. In the UK you have the accumulator bet which is very frequently played on soccer or a multi in Australia for horse racing. It’s the same bet under a different name, basically pulling several options together in one bet.
All the selections in the parlay wager have to win, which makes it a high-risk, Hail Mary move. But what gets on the highlight reel? Those successful Hail Marys on the field of play and at the sportsbook.
Like back in 2015 when a punter beat 20,000 to 1 odds on a 15-leg football parlay. The bettor, Tayla Polia, played a $5 ticket for a $100,005 return.
The Lure of the Football Parlay
Taking three Moneyline selections in XFL betting and placing them as individual bets is something of a standard practice. Taking those same three selections and lumping them together in one bet, where each leg is reliant upon the other, increases the risk, but massively bumps up the potential returns for a smaller stake.
So there’s an obvious lure here. But parlays are complicated, unfriendly beasts to try and tame. They offer a large payout, but those payouts are not going to come easily. So maybe they are best approached with the mindset of not trying to win money from them. Just a five-fold parlay at +2233 for example, is a staggeringly difficult bet to pull off.
What Works Against You
Maths. It’s not on your side when it comes to a football parlay at all. In 2021 sportsbooks in Nevada had a drop of 58% on football betting ($2,715,795). That’s the percentage of the money they hold onto after all bets are settled.
Riskier bets, say a Points Spread Parlay, is going to boost those figures for the sportsbook. Winning small bets, perhaps two or three individual Moneyline selections would generate only a small profit. But it would be keeping money from the bookmaker to some degree.
Stacking selections together, pulling together your picks into one single bet and sending the risk (and odds) to the stratosphere is doing the sportsbook a favour. Every leg that you add to a parlay is essentially slicing some chance off of the bet being a success.
Let’s put a little more maths into the betting picture. Implied probably for four NFL point spreads should roughly when the match plays out, give you about +1500 (a 6.25% chance). But are you going to get anything like that when you hand in your slip? No? A bookmaker may give you a +1200 quote because they are limiting their own risk.
Two Sides To Every Coin
We can’t say Parlay bets are to be avoided at all costs. You may be lucky enough to land this exotic, elusive creature for a joyous victory. But they are not the type of bet that you are going to strike week-in-week-out.
Parlays are strange things. They are on the fringe of football betting really, because there is a certain logic lacking in placing one. For long-term betting, they are most certainly not the greatest strategy that you can use your bankroll for.
But on the other side of the coin, when you push things like expected value aside, parlays are one of the most exciting, fun bets that you can piece together. The more options you put in a parlay, the bigger of a lottery it becomes. But hey, people land the Powerball.
