What Is a Round Robin Bet?

If you like having options, a round robin (RR) bet may be for you.

A round robin bet is a large parlay broken up into smaller parlays. You can win some or all of these, and this flexibility is what makes the wager popular among bettors. As is the case with other types of parlay bets, round robins can be challenging to get right.

So, why place a bet that’s notoriously difficult to land? Well, with round robin betting you get some margin for error. Unlike with a traditional parlay, where you lose the whole bet the moment one leg loses, you can still win a round robin bet even if one of your wagers is unsuccessful.

Let's say you pick four NFL teams for your round robin (Patriots, Bills, Lions, Chargers), with a maximum of two teams on any one wager. That means you will be playing six parlays: Patriots + Bills, Patriots + Lions, Patriots + Chargers, Bills + Lions, Bills + Chargers, and Lions + Chargers.

If the Patriots lose, three of your parlays lose. But three other bets are still alive, and that’s your margin for error.

How Do Round Robin Bets Work?

At one point or another, most of us would have played in a round robin tournament when we were younger. That's when every team plays every other team. With four teams, everyone played three games. If there were five teams, there were four games for every team.

That's where the round robin bet gets its name from. But instead of individual games between the teams, each team forms a parlay with the other teams.

Here’s how you might go about constructing your round robin bet:

The first stage of round robin betting is to pick your teams. This can be anywhere from three teams to dozens of teams. But keep in mind that each individual parlay inside the round robin will require a stake, so the price for a large round robin can get quite high.

Once you have your teams, determine your bet size for each of the parlays in the round robin. As an example, if you place $10 on each of five possible parlays inside the round robin, the total for the bet will be $50.

The final step before making the round robin bet is to determine the parlays. We used four teams to make six two-team parlays in the example above. But with four picks, more parlay combinations are available. With two-team parlays, three-team parlays, and a four-team parlay that combine all your picks, you can have as many as 11 combinations.

And, once again, this is where it is important to remember that each combination works as its own bet, and so requires its own stake. A $10 bet on each parlay will cost $110 to fund when you have the maximum possible combinations on a four-team round robin bet.

NFL Round Robin Bets

The NFL is the most popular sport to bet on in the United States, and it's the perfect place to make parlay bets and to consider making some round robin wagers.

As an example, the four teams you've chosen for this round robin are the Minnesota Vikings to defeat Chicago Bears, the Buffalo Bills to beat the New York Giants, the Baltimore Ravens to best the Atlanta Falcons, and the Philadelphia Eagles to conquer the Dallas Cowboys.

Now that you have your four winning teams, let's set the parlay size at a maximum of three teams. That means that you'll get six parlays of two teams each, and four parlays of three teams each. That’s 10 total bets, and at $10 per bet, the entire round robin costs you $100.

Round robin bets are settled as individual bets, so even if only two of your four teams win, you will win the parlay that includes those two teams. If the Vikings and Eagles lose, but the Bills and Ravens win, you will win at least one of your bets.

NBA Round Robin Bets

Round robin betting in the NBA works just like the NFL, only you have more games to choose from over the course of the season, and the added bonus of two months of NBA Playoffs.

Let's say you want to wager on five teams: the Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls, Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs, and Los Angeles Clippers. And you want your round robin to only have three-team parlays. That will be 10 total parlay combinations using those five teams.

If all odds are equal, you can lose as many as two of the games and still make most of your money back. And if four of the five teams win, you’ll make a profit.

MLB Round Robin Bets

When betting on Major League Baseball, the adage is to bet the streak. Let’s say the four teams on a hot streak are the Atlanta Braves, Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners, and Arizona Diamondbacks. And let’s say, for example, that the Colorado Rockies are on a cold streak. You can bet on each of those four hot teams to win, and then pair each one to win with the Rockies to lose.

That gives you one big four-team parlay, and four two-team parlays, giving you good coverage should one of the hot teams lose their streak.

NHL Round Robin Bets

Because of the low scoring in the NHL and the high variance in betting results, round robin hockey bets make a lot of sense.

You really like the Colorado Avalanche, Toronto Maple Leafs, and New York Rangers to win. But the Avs are on the road at Vegas, where they occasionally have some trouble.

Instead of parlaying all three bets together, make three individual two-team parlays. That way if the Avs slip up, you still have two teams you really like in a winnable parlay. And if the Avs take the W, you have a chance to win three profitable bets.

Are Round Robin Bets Worth It?

The value of a round robin bet depends on what you expect from a wager. If you enjoy placing them, they’re worth it; if you don’t, they’re not.

With that said, there are many advantages to round robin bets - as well as disadvantages - worth considering.

Pros to Round Robin Betting

Chances of cashing a winning ticket are increased because of the many different options selected in a round robin. With a straight parlay, one lost leg dooms the entire bet. With round robin betting, there are still other parlays inside your bet that can win.

Round robins provide you with the flexibility to really place your own bet. Choose the teams, the number of bets, and the amounts of those bets. You can build your round robin to best fit the way you like to play.

With multiple games and multiple possible outcomes, you're placing your eggs in multiple baskets and spreading out the risk. Round robin bets give you diversity in betting, which helps mitigate possible losses.

Cons to Round Robin Betting

The sheer number of teams, games, and bets involved can make round robins expensive. They require funds that many bettors don’t want to spend to cover the stakes.

Profit margins can be significantly lower than other bets because of these higher stakes. You can hit the occasional big win, but even then, the total profit is less because of the split wager across multiple parlays.

Because of the number of bets and differing odds between them, it can be complex to properly calculate your potential winnings. That in turn makes it tough to determine the true value of a bet – and if it makes good sense to place it.

Round Robin Betting Strategy

If you’re completely new to parlay betting, consider giving that a try before advancing to round robin betting. Round robins can be complicated, and they require a solid strategy to be successful.

Full coverage strategy

This strategy is easy to understand. Just make sure that every possible combination is covered. If you have four teams, you place bets on all two-team and three-team combinations, and the full four-team combination. As the name of this strategy says, you are fully covered.

Limited coverage strategy

You only choose some of the possible combinations of round robin bets with this round robin betting strategy. This keeps your total stake low, but still lets you wager on the team you're most sure about. Make sure that team is involved in all of your possible combinations, and then use the other teams sparingly. You get good coverage, if not full, and your total risk is lower.

Multiple market strategy

As with parlay bets, there’s no hard and fast rule that every selection for a round robin is from the same sport. You can place teams from the NBA, NHL, and NFL all in the same round robin bet. And you can include player prop bets along with your team bets.

This strategy allows you to diversify your round robin bet, spreading the risk and giving you the opportunity to take advantage of several different betting markets.

Maybe you only feel good about two NBA teams, but you also feel good about a pair of NHL teams and a Monday Night Football matchup. Build your round robin based on the games and teams you're most confident about, regardless of the sport.

Risk and reward diversification

Two-team parlays have a better chance of winning than three-team parlays, but they also pay less. So, when using this strategy, create a good mix of both.

With your round robin bet you create a number of two-team bets to maximize your possible wins, but also a number of three-team bets to maximize the payout of possible wins. The great thing about this strategy is that you can balance the amount of risk and reward based on your personal betting tastes.