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The Grueling Truth - Where Legends Speak / Betting Guide / Round Robin Bet Meaning: What Is a Round Robin Bet and Is It Worth It?

Round Robin Bet Meaning: What Is a Round Robin Bet and Is It Worth It?

Publish Date: 08/19/2024
Fact checked by: Mark Lewis

A round robin bet is a combo wager that is made up of at least three selections. However, rather than being a parlay, it actually involves multiple parlays.

Your total stake is spread equally across all available single and parlay bets that your selections can work to combine. For instance, with the standard three-fold round robin, seven active bets; three singles, three doubles, and a triple. There are also a couple of variants, including the Trixie, Patent, and Yankee, which we will discuss in this guide.

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Round robin bet meaning – In brief

The classic round robin is a three-fold bet and is made up of at least seven combo bets. Your total stake is spread equally across all available bets and you have more chances to win as not all of your selections need to be correct.

While there are variants with extra wagers involved this is how a classic round robin breaks down:

  1. 3 x singles bets
  2. 3 x doubles bets
  3. 1 x triple bet

Round robin vs parlay – The difference

With a traditional same game parlay, all of your selections need to be correct for you to receive a payout. However, with a round robin, you can win a payout with just one correct selection out of three. Basically, a round robin is made up of multiple parlays.

Is round robin better than parlay?

We can’t necessarily say that one is better than the other, as they are different. With a parlay, your outlay is smaller and the potential payout is higher, but the risk is also greater as you can only win if all selections are correct.

With a round robin, your risk is spread across multiple bets, meaning your chance of a payout is better. However, your outlay is larger and you don’t stand to win as much. In summary, there are pros and cons to both types of bets.

How do round robin bets work in practice?

If you use a round robin calculator, you can either enter your total stake or your stake per bet. In both cases, you have to bet an equal amount on all available selections.

You cannot, for instance, bet $5 on each of the single bets, but only $1.00 on the doubles and triple. As we said above, the main upside of this is that you can receive a payout even if just one of your selections is correct.

Here are the possible outcomes with a basic parlay:

  1. One of your singles wins
  2. Two of your singles and one of your doubles is correct
  3. All seven bets are correct

Round robin bet example

Take a look at this real-life example of an NFL round robin bet using a calculator and a $10 stake on each selection:

  1. Eagles at +125
  2. Giants at +125
  3. Falcons at +100

Here are the results that you would get:

Bet typeOutlayReturns
Singles$30 (3 x $10)$65.00
Doubles$30 (3 x $10)$140.63
Triple$10 (1 x $10)$101.25
Total:$70$306.88

Different types of round robin bets 

Above we have discussed the basic round robin bet with three selections, but there are many other popular variants:

Round robin 7/8 meaning

You can have more than three selections in a round robin, and the more selections you have, the more wagers that you have. 7/8 would simply mean that you got seven selections correct in an eight-team round robin.

Trixie round robin explained

If you add a Trixie bet to your round robin, you effectively have a round robin within a round robin. A Trixie consists of four bets across three selections like this:

  • 3 x doubles
  • 1 x triple

Patent round robin sports betting

A patent is also a three-selection round robin with seven bets in total. All possible outcomes are covered as described above; three singles, three doubles and a triple.

Yankee bet

A Yankee bet is a four-fold round robin that consists of 11 separate bets:

  • 6 x doubles
  • 4 x triples
  • 1 x four-fold parlay

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Are round robin bets worth it? The pros and cons

With the basics out of the way, here is a roundup of the main pros and cons of round robin betting:

  • High potential payouts
  • Not all selections need to win
  • Split bets for more opportunities
  • Different types of round robin bets available
  • Riskier than single straight bets

How does round robin betting work – A step by step guide

Now that you know the basics, are you ready to get started? Just follow the steps in our guide here:

  1. Create your online sports betting account
  2. Deposit funds and claim your welcome bonus
  3. Browse the possible selections and betting markets on your favourite sports
  4. Use our round robin bet calculator to see if your selections are worthwhile
  5. Once you’re happy, add your selections to your bet slip
  6. Enter your total stake or your stake per bet
  7. Click to confirm and place your bet
  8. Watch the action and collect your winnings if some of your selections are correct

The best strategies for round robin betting explained

You can never guarantee anything in the world of sports betting, but if you want to give yourself a better chance with a round robin, consider using these strategies:

Think carefully about your selections

Don’t make your picks as if it were a random number generator for the lotto. Think carefully about the sports and markets that you want to choose from.

Look for value in the odds

As well as sporting matters, you should also consider the odds for each selection and how much value they will add to your round robin overall.

Less is more

Generally speaking, it’s better to make fewer picks than many. Although the potential payout will be lower, the chance of winning is higher. At the very least you might be able to break even with one single bet winning.

Don’t make round robin your staple

A round robin bet shouldn’t be your go-to wager. It should be viewed as a special bet that you look to occasionally for a bit of extra fun. In general, single wagers incur less risk.

Use a round robin calculator

By using a round robin bet calculator, you can see if the bet is worth it before you place it. Additionally, you can also figure out how much of your bankroll you wish to stake across all of your selections.

How does a round robin bet work for different sports? 

The beauty of the round robin bet is that it is pretty diverse and can work for all sports. You can focus on single games, the same sport, or spread your bets across multiple different mediums, from the NFL, to the NBA, UFC, and much more.

Round robin bets in horse racing 

When placing a round robin bet in horse racing, you can add extra elements, such as each way betting and the show rule 4. However, these types of bets do not apply to other sports and involve splitting your total stake further across more bets.

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Round robin meaning in betting – Conclusion

Basically, a round robin is multiple wagers combined into one, but unlike a parlay, all of your selections don’t need to be correct for you to win. As you spread your stakes across multiple bets (minimum four), you get a payout for every bet that is correct. The upsides of this bet type are that it is flexible and makes things more exciting, but just remember that the outlay isn’t very budget-friendly.

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Round robin bet FAQ

❓ What is a round robin bet?

So what is a round robin parlay? Similar to a teaser bet, a round robin is a type of parlay wager that combines multiple parlays into one. For example, with a standard three-selection round robin, you would have seven bets in total – three single, three doubles and a triple.

🔎 How does a round robin bet work?

Unlike a parlay, you don’t need all of your selections in a round robin to be correct for you to win a payout. You can win a small payout if just one of your selections wins, a medium payout if two win and a full payout if all three win.

👀 Is it possible to lose a round robin bet?

Yes, even though there is a smaller chance of losing than with a parlay, if none of your round robin selections are correct the bet will still lose. Moreover, if you make just one correct selection, depending on the odds, you will win back less than your outlay, so you’ll still effectively lose some money.

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