Not too long ago, an owner of a car dealership in Illinois successfully placed a 6-let parlay that saw him take home a cash prize of $2.96 million. The punter, who has since been identified as Marco Piemonte of the Al Piemonte Auto Group placed a parlay wager involving 2 college football games and 4 NFL games.
Piemont placed a wager worth $65,000 with PointsBet. As you can imagine, the PointsBet team was definitely shocked when they realized the payout amount after the Broncos rallied for a victory over the 49ers.
Parlays, which are wagering propositions that combined several wagers, which are also known as legs, have become one of the most popular betting options for sports lovers. Parlay wagers are popular because they allow a gambler to turn a little cash into a huge amount. But what most gamblers fail to understand is that these types of wagers are promoted heavily by oddsmakers because the advantage almost always resides with the house.
Even if one of the multiple wagers does not come through, the entire wager is typically a loser. Based on research, sportsbooks earn, on average, at least 6 cents on every dollar bet on football last year and even higher on every dollar wagered on basketball and baseball.
Parlays generally typically result in a windfall of approximately 32% for each dollar wagered, which explains why many sportsbook operators advertise promotional odds bonuses and other incentives around parlays.
So just how likely is a parlay wager to pay off? Well, that mostly depends on your choices and experience. If a gambler has 2 bets that are each worth $100 to win, then the parlay has a 25% chance of producing positive results. Many inexperienced gamblers make the mistake of chasing massive scores with multiple leg parlays in the hopes of increasing their chances of winning.
However, when a wager has more legs, it may feel like it’s a sure bet but that isn’t often the case. In reality, for instance, a 6-legged parlay only has a 12% chance of winning. Another form of parlay wagers that punters are increasingly taking part in these days is single-game parlays.
In single-game parlays, punters are allowed to pick multiple wagers from within a single game. Sportsbooks often penalize punters for selecting bets that are correlated to prevent them from gaming the system.
What we cover
Illinois still working hard to beat its monthly record
The Illinois Gaming board recently announced the sports betting revenue for the state in September. According to the Gaming Board, sportsbooks in Illinois managed to generate approximately $78.4 million, thus preventing the site from beating its monthly record, which was set last November.
In November 2021, sportsbooks in Illinois managed to produce 79 million and were ranked in 16th position countrywide. Illinois is the 3rd state in the country to boast a win rate of 10% this September, ahead of New Jersey which had a win rate of 9.4%, and Nevada, which had a slightly lower rate of 9.3%.
Traditional sports betting in Illinois totaled $831 million this September, which was quite an impressive performance but still not sufficient to bet New Jersey for the second spot countrywide. Illinois successfully generated more revenue in its traditional sports betting vertical in August thus beating New Jersey last month.
Illinois is today ranked 5th after 29 months of being in business, which is an improvement of close to 90% compared to the same period last year, which only managed to generate $596 million. In total, Illinois received taxes worth $1.8 million which brought the total tax collected for the year to $77 million.
This September, FanDuel generated the highest earnings in a month when it generated 35 million, which was an amount that can largely be attributed to parlay wagers. This was the 4th time consecutively that FanDuel had grossed more than $30 million. What’s so amazing is that September’s sales figures surpassed the previous record that had been set in April of $34.2 million.
DraftKings followed closely to become the second-highest revenue generator in Illinois with $20 million. BetRivers, on the other hand, was ranked third in handling and revenue when it generated $88 million worth of bets that resulted in a profit of $7 million. As far as traditional sports betting handle was concerned, PointsBet generated the most revenue at $55 million. The last 2 sportsbooks to rank were Barstool Sportsbook at $3.8 million while BetMGM rounded out the revenue table with $3.1 million.
The impact of Piedmont’s prize
September’s revenue reports were some of the most highly anticipated this year as the numbers recorded would demonstrate the impact of Piemont’s $3 million parlay win. The largest impact was felt by PointsBet, which accepted a six-legged parlay worth $65,000. If the parlay had failed, PointsBet would have successfully earned more than $5 million in revenue, which would have symbolized a hold of 10.2%.
Instead, PointsBet ended up with $673,206 worth of accumulator wager revenue as Piemont’s win effectively brought down the accumulator hold from a whooping 22% to a much lower 4.2%. When looking at the bigger picture, Piemonte’s $3 million win would end up costing Illinois tax revenue worth close to $440,000.
The sportsbooks that had a lot to celebrate as a result of parlay wins include FanDuel, which managed to generate $22.2 million from just parlay wagers. Barstool, on the other hand, also enjoyed a boosted revenue from parlays. That’s because the $2 million of $9 million in parlay wagers accounted for at least 60% of the revenue. DraftKings also generated more than half of its revenue from parlays. DraftKings’ $11.4 million of $71 million was acquired directly from parlay wagers.
Final Thoughts
Parlay wagers remain the number one choice for punters and with Piemonte’s $3 million win, it is easy to see why they remain a popular choice. As a result of his win, Piemonte is quickly making a name for himself among experienced and novice parlay gamblers. No doubt, his win will continue to inspire hundreds of punters to keep showing up and trying their luck.
