What are Round Robin Bets?

As for sports betting, round robin betting is a more complicated form of wager than most of the rest, but it is loved by many players for its big winning chances and attractive payouts. Basically, a round robin bet is established when you combine as many two-team parlay combinations as possible. Today's article will summarize the most basic information about how this type of betting works, its odds calculation mechanism, its pros and cons, and how a player can utilize their round robin wager.  

What are Round Robin Bets?

To understand the concept of round robin betting, you need to know the definition of parlay bets first. Parlay bets are a more complicated form of betting than regular single bets. Instead of betting on a single event, players bet on multiple events happening simultaneously. The player wins the bet if he correctly predicts all the events. Conversely, the player loses the bet if only one of the events does not go as they expected. 

For example, both Liverpool and Man City play in the same round in the English Premier League. Your betting choice is that both of these teams will win their match. You have then established a two-team parlay betting ticket.

Going back to round robin betting, this type of betting is a bit more complicated than regular parlay bets. It works similarly to parlays; however, the events that are matched to your bet ticket are not single bets but two-team parlays, as explained above.

Technically, you will need to include at least three pars in your round robin wager to form a round robin bet. However, there is no maximum limit for this. If you do not know how this type of betting works, we will explain more below.

How does a Round Robin bet work?

As mentioned above, you need at least three teams participating in a round robin bet to form 3 two-team accumulators. For example, your choice is that Man City, Liverpool, and Man Utd all won their match on Sunday afternoon. You will then win your round robin bet if you win all three of the following parlays: 

• Both Man City and Liverpool to win their games. 
• Both Man City and Man Utd to win their games. 
• Both Man Utd and Liverpool to win their games. 

This form of betting will increase your wager size. Assuming you invest $1 on each of the parlay tickets above, you would have to risk $3 to make a round robin bet. However, the payouts it gives will be much more impressive than if you split the bet to make 3 regular parlays, even though you'll end up with a $3 wager in both cases.  

As such, you may be wondering why round robin bets were invented, given the fact that you can combine the 3 teams above into a regular long-shot parlay and win the bet on the same conditions, when all three teams won. The answer lies in the fact that round robin betting offers a greater chance of winning. 

For regular parlay bets, you will lose and lose your entire bet if any of the 3 teams fail to win. However, for round robin bets, if one of the 3 teams loses, you still enjoy the payout brought by the other two teams. That is the biggest difference between the two types of bets.  

3 Team Round Robin Bet

This is the most basic form of bet round robin. Let's say your choices are team A, team B, and team C. Then you will bet on all possible combinations of two-team parlays made up of these 3 teams. These include:

Team A + Team B

Team A + Team C

Team B + Team C

For example: Assuming that you place bet on 2 teams Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss,and Memphis, a $5 wager on each parlay available would risk of $15, and a total return of $39, if your prediction went well for the three spreads.

Based on the bets for single parlays, your bet size will be made up of the sum of those 3 parlays.

4 Team Round Robin Bet

Adding an extra team to your selection reduces your chances of winning. But in return, your payout will increase significantly. Let's say you add team D to your selection. Then, the winning combinations that you need to predict correctly include:

Team A + Team B                               Team B + Team C

Team A + Team C                               Team B + Team D

Team A + Team D                               Team C + Team D

For example: Assuming that you place bet on 4 teams Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss,and Memphis, Indiana Pacers, a $5 wager on each parlay available would risk of $30, and a total return of $80,57, if your prediction went well for the three spreads.

As you see, with the only addition of team D, your round robin bets are much more complicated. Therefore, you will have to invest a larger amount than the original plan, but your return will increase accordingly.

5 Team Round Robin Bet

Things will not change much if you set up round robin bets with 5 participating teams. Then, the winning combinations that you need to predict correctly include:

Team A + Team B                                   Team B + Team D

Team A + Team C                                   Team B + Team E

Team A + Team D                                   Team C + Team D

Team A + Team E                                   Team C + Team E

Team B + Team C                                   Team D + Team E

What Do Round Robin Bet Payouts Look Like?

In theory, the payback of round robin bets is calculated based on the total payout of each parlay bet participating in the entire round robin wager. 

For example, for a round robin wager of three teams, the payout for each two-team parlay is $10 with a bet value of $2 per par. You will then risk $6 with a chance of winning $30, since you can make 3 parlays with 3 teams participating in your round robin bet.

For round robin bets with more participating teams, the payouts to the winners will increase exponentially, as the number of parlay bets formed will increase significantly. As you have seen above, for 3 teams participating in a round robin bet, you can make 3 parlays. However, with only the 4th team joining in, you can already create up to 6 parlays on your bet ticket, which means double your profits. Similarly, when you add a 5th team to your selection, your winnings will be calculated from the sum of the payouts for 10 different parlay combinations made up of 5 teams you trust. 

How Do You Make a Round Robin Bet?

While the way round robin bets work sounds complicated, the reality is that you shouldn't have much trouble setting up your round robin bet. All you have to do is choose which teams to include in your bet, and the online betting site's system will automatically calculate the size of your bet and your potential payout. Specifically, you need to follow these steps:

• Step 1: Select the teams in your round robin bet. For the simplest, let's start with three teams. Most sportsbooks will allow you to include up to 8 teams in your bet, but some sites may allow you to do more.
• Step 2: Open your bet ticket and navigate to the "Round Robin" or "RR" tab.
• Step 3: Select the amount that you will bet on each parlay in the bet ticket. The system will automatically calculate your total bet and notify you of the winning amount.
• Step 4: Confirm with the system and complete the betting process.

Round Robin Bet Calculator

To better understand how the payout from your round robin bet is calculated, simply break down each parlay bet involved in it. The example below will shed some light on how much money you get when at least one team on your roster loses. But first, check the paytable when the entire team in your bet wins the match.

In the table below, the rewards are calculated based on the result when Team A loses, but both Team B and Team C win.

So everything is clear. If any of the teams on your chosen roster lose the match, you will forfeit your winnings from the single parlays that the losing team participated in. However, the good news is that you still get your winnings from the rest of the teams, instead of losing your entire bet. In the example above, you risked $6 on 3 parlays and got $4 back. 

Is Round Robin a Good Bet?

This form of betting is an innovative tactic for experienced bettors, as it allows you to minimize your risk with potentially high payouts. Whether you are a recreational sports bettor or a serious sports bettor who earns a portion of their income betting on sports, round robin betting benefits you. The reason is that this type of bet allows you to guarantee a profit regardless of which team wins, since you have hedged your risk with a larger bet size to cover the rest of the team in the list. 

In other words, the advantage of a round robin over a long-shot parlay is its ability to ensure a payback if one of the teams you choose is unable to cover their spreads. By breaking down a long-shot parlay into a series of two-team accumulators, you eliminate the influence of any one team on your total bet, and you still have a good chance of winning if one of the teams did not achieve the results as you expected.

However, in return, the payout of the round robin bet will not be as large as that of a long-shot parlay. Therefore, this is where your judgment comes into play. If you are a risk player, a long-shot parlay will be a more lucrative choice. Conversely, if you don't want to take on too much risk, a round robin wager offers better security. Remember, both of these bets require the same condition in order to win; that is, all the teams you select win their single bets.

Conclusion

Round robin betting is a creative form of wager that offers huge potential profits. They allow you to reduce your risk by increasing your bet and limiting your parlay ticket to just two teams per bet. It's only downside, however, is that the payout, while larger than 3 single parlays, is not as impressive as a long-shot accumulator that includes all the teams of your choice. Therefore, you need to think carefully and evaluate your risk tolerance before using this type of bet.