Definition: A parlay is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers and is dependent on all of those wagers winning together. The benefit of the parlay is that there are much higher payoffs than placing each individual bet separately since the difficulty of hitting it is much higher. If any of the bets in the parlay loses, the entire parlay loses.

 

Example: Joe placed a three-team NFL parlay on the Lions, Bears and Bengals. If any one of those teams fail to cover the spread, Joe loses his parlay bet. But if all three teams beat the spread, Joe gets paid $600 for every $100 bet.