Teasers betting is something not all bettors are aware of, yet it is an option that allows you to boost your chances of winning a bet featuring multiple selections (albeit at reduced odds). How do Teaser bets work, what are their payouts and what Teasers betting does Pinnacle offer? Read on to find out.
The Odds Are in the House’s Favor. Risking only a few dollars for the chance at winning 50x your. The tradeoff is the payout is only 10/13 (this varies from book-to-book but will serve for our examples today) instead of 13/5 as a parlay would be. If you risked $65, the teaser pays $50 but the same two picks in a parlay would pay $169. You must decide if the greatly improved chance of winning is worth a 2/3 reduction in payout.
Teasers betting explained
In Teasers betting, the bettor receives a specified favourable point adjustment for every selection of a multiple selection bet, with the bet then also set at a fixed payout.
- NFL regular season underdogs between +1.5 and +2.5 covered a 6-point teaser 75% of the time (330-109). And favorites between -7.5 and -8.5 have historically covered at a slightly higher clip of 76% (194-62). That gives us a total of 524-171 or 75.4%, which easily clears the 72.4% hurdle rate.
- The information on the top teaser sportsbooks below is gathered from player feedback, independent research, phone calls, tips and inside sources revealing who offers the best teaser payouts.
Teaser bet example
Here is how a six-point Teaser bet would work on Super Bowl LIV contested between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers:
Market | Points set for regular bet | Points set for six-point Teaser bet |
Kansas City Chiefs (Handicap) | +2.5 | +8.5 |
San Francisco 49ers (Handicap) | -2.5 | +3.5 |
Over/Under | 45.5 | Over 39.5, Under 51.5 |
As you can see, if somebody wanted to bet on the Handicap for the Kansas City Chiefs, they would move from a +2.5 underdog to a +8.5 (2.5 + 6) underdog, greatly increasing the chance of winning this selection. Equally, the Handicap on the San Francisco 49ers would move from -2.5 favourites to +3.5 (-2.5 + 6) underdogs.
For Over/Under bets, Teaser bets open up two separate markets to assist your bet. In this instance, when the Over/Under was set at 45.5, this would move to Over 39.5 (45.5 - 6) and Under 51.5 (45.5 + 6), essentially boosting your chances of winning by six points either way.
All of this does come with a reduced and fixed payout. If someone was to place a €100 Multiple bet on either team to win on the Handicap in one game and the Over/Under for another game, the payout would likely be around €365 (€265 profit), based on odds of -110 / 1.909 for each selection. However, the same bet with a six-point Teaser would have a lower payout with combined odds of -110 / 1.909, meaning that a €100 bet would only win €190.90 (€90.90 profit).
What Teasers betting does Pinnacle offer?
Pinnacle has betting markets for football teasers and basketball teasers. Teaser bets on Pinnacle can include Handicap and Over/Under markets.
Football Teaser bets
Pinnacle has three primary markets for Teaser betting on football:
- NFL Same Game: Teaser bets of 6, 6.5 and 7 points when all of the selections in the bet are on the same NFL fixture.
- NFL/College 2 - 6 Team: Teaser bets of 6, 6.5 and 7 points involving selections on between two and six NFL and/or NCAA football teams.
- Super Teasers: These are ten-point Teaser bets involving selections on three NFL and/or NCAA teams and 13-point Teaser bets involving selections on four NFL and/or NCAA football teams.
The payouts for football Teaser bets on Pinnacle are as follows:
Pinnacle football Teaser bet payouts
Point adjustment | Two teams | Three teams | Four teams | Five teams | Six teams |
6 | -110 / 1.909 | +160 / 2.600 | +260 / 3.600 | +450 / 5.500 | +700 / 8.000 |
6.5 | -120 / 1.833 | +140 / 2.400 | +240 / 3.400 | +400 / 5.000 | +600 / 7.000 |
7 | -130 / 1.769 | +120 / 2.200 | +200 / 3.000 | +350 / 4.500 | +500 / 6.000 |
Super Teaser bet: 10 points, three teams | -130 / 1.769 | ||||
Super Teaser bet: 13 points, four teams | -140 / 1.714 |
Basketball Teaser bets
Pinnacle has two primary markets for Teaser betting on basketball:
- General basketball Teaser bets: Teaser bets of 4, 4.5 and 5 points involving selections on between two and six NBA, WNBA and/or NCAA basketball teams.
- NBA Super Teasers: These are seven-point Teaser bets involving selections on between two and six NBA teams.
The payouts for basketball Teaser bets on Pinnacle are as follows:
Pinnacle basketball Teaser bet payouts
Point adjustment | Two teams | Three teams | Four teams | Five teams | Six teams |
4 | -100 / 2.000 | +180 / 2.800 | +300 / 4.000 | +450 / 5.500 | +700 / 8.000 |
4.5 | -110 / 1.909 | +160 / 2.600 | +250 / 3.500 | +400 / 5.000 | +600 / 7.000 |
5 | -120 / 1.833 | +150 / 2.500 | +200 / 3.000 | +350 / 4.500 | +500 / 6.000 |
Teasers betting rules: Things to consider
There are several things you need to remember when placing a Teaser bet with Pinnacle. Most frequently, this relates to what happens when a tie occurs in at least one of your selections that form the bet or any are deemed to have no action.
Football Teaser Payouts
Teaser bet ties
In the instance of a tie, on both football and basketball Teaser bets involving three teams or more, the selection(s) are removed and the payout is adjusted accordingly. For instance, a Teaser bet involving four teams would be reduced to three teams.
For football and basketball Teaser bets involving just two teams, when at least one selection is a tie or deemed to have no action, the entire bet is considered a push and all money is refunded. If any selection of a Super Teaser bet is a tie or deemed to have no action, the entire bet is graded as no action and all money is refunded irrespective of the number of teams involved.
Teaser bet base Handicap adjustments
On certain occasions, the point adjustment for Teaser bets may also be different than what you are expecting if the base Handicap for a Teaser has been moved to a different Handicap. This is because in some situations, Pinnacle has to limit our exposure and thus cannot allow unlimited Teaser bets to be placed at certain prices.
For instance, if for an NFL game the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks were set at Handicaps of -7.5 and +7.5 respectively (a base Handicap of 7.5), Pinnacle may move the base Handicap to 9.5 to offer six-point Teaser bets.
3 Team Teaser Payouts
As a result, the Teaser bet Handicaps set would be Green Bay Packers at -3.5 and Seattle Seahawks at +3.5 as opposed to Green Bay Packers at -1.5 and Seattle Seahawks at +1.5 that you would ordinarily expect.
Teasers betting with Pinnacle
Like the sound of Teasers betting? Head over to Pinnacle’s betting pages for football and basketball Teasers to build your Teaser bets.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard a friend exclaim, “I almost hit the big parlay! I only missed it by one play.” Unfortunately for them, whether they hit on nine out of 10 legs in a parlay or zero out of 10, the end result is the same regardless.
The answers are many in number, and none are very convincing. In this article, I’ll lay out the four major reasons why teasers and parlays are almost never a good bet at online sportsbooks.
1. The Odds Are in the House’s Favor
Risking only a few dollars for the chance at winning 50x your initial bet seems like something that the sportsbooks would fear.
The surprising reality is actually the exact opposite. The house loves to see people taking the risk of trying out parlays.
If you doubt this notion, ask yourself why promotional material for online sportsbooks almost always talks about parlays and their potential.
To understand why the sportsbooks love parlays, you need to take a closer look at the numbers. According to a UNLV research study that was conducted over a span of 27 years, from 1992 to 2019, the house-made a killing from parlays.
The study above focused on the concept of the “hold.” The hold is a term used to describe the percentage of money that a sportsbook makes after all bets on a given event have been paid out. This begs the question: What is the typical “hold” for a regular sports bet, and how does it change in comparison to parlays?
Obviously, there are some individual factors like the skill (or lack thereof) of the person making a bet, but the data is simply undeniable. This is a major reason why successful gamblers almost never advocate for using parlays on a regular basis.
Don’t get me wrong, you don’t need to remove parlays entirely from your gameplan, but they should only be used sparingly.
Think of a parlay like a lottery ticket. You wouldn’t spend a significant amount of money on a ticket, and you shouldn’t be buying them every day, but it is okay to take a flyer now and then. Treat it as a novelty, and at the very least, you won’t become a parlay victim.
2. It’s Just Hard to Win Two (or More) Bets
If you’ve been betting on sports for any real amount of time, this critique of parlays and teasers will likely hit close to home. To put in bluntly, it’s hard to win multiple bets.
Even the best sports gamblers in the world win at a rate that falls short of 60%. That means your average amateur bettor is extremely lucky if he or she can manage a 50-50 winning percentage.
The reasons parlays can be so detrimental to your betting strategy if they’re overused just comes down to numbers. Theoretically, you could win two-thirds of your picks, but if you’re using three-leg parlays as your primary method, you’re going to win exactly $0.
Even if you typically stick with the safest parlay, one with two legs, you’re still putting yourself at a high risk of coming out with no winnings whatsoever.
- Imagine Gambler 1 picks 10 NFL games and gets half of them right. If all the games are part of parlays, there’s a real chance he’s going to come out of the day empty-handed.
- Next, consider Gambler 2, who picks 10 NFL games and also gets half of them right. Since he played each game individually, he’s only down 10% due to the vig.
What’s the lesson here? For many people, the wins cover or nearly cover the losses. With a parlay, one winning game doesn’t mean anything at all if the others on the ticket don’t hit.
To reiterate, correctly picking games is hard. Don’t waste your wins because you picked another game incorrectly.
3. Teaser Bets Don’t Have Enough Value
On the surface, teasers look like an attractive betting option that feels easier to win than a straight-up parlay. However, as with most betting options that almost feel too good to be true, the reality of the situation is that the house loves when bettors take the bait.
If you’re unfamiliar with teaser bets, they’re somewhat of a hybrid between alternate lines or spreads and parlays. You must hit on all the games in the teaser to win money, but the spreads are usually more favorable.
The situation I laid out above is what makes the teasers seem like sure-thing propositions. Unfortunately, there are a few issues that often get overlooked.
- You have to consider the value of the 6 points. It undoubtedly is helpful to get the extra points, but how often would they be the difference between winning and losing? The answer is that it’s not as often as you might think.
- You need to consider the odds of the teaser itself. Whereas in a parlay bet, you would win a payout of 13/5 (for example, $130 on a $50 bet would mean you would end up with $180 in your pocket), in a teaser, things are much more modest.
For a 6-point, two-team teaser, you’ll likely be looking at odds in the -110 to +110 range. While these aren’t necessarily awful odds given the 6-point cushion you have on the spread, it’s still important to keep in mind that like a parlay, you need to win both games to hit on your bet.
As you add more games to a teaser bet, which many people do, the payouts do increase, but so does the risk. If you’re of the belief that getting the extra points means a safe bet, you could be in for a rude awakening when you discover how often a game goes the opposite of what you predicted.
4. Consider Why They Even Exist
One thing that all sports bettors (or even just gamblers in general) need to realize is that the house does not set up betting options that won’t eventually help them profit. They’ve run the numbers, and even when a few lucky players do hit on low-risk, high-reward bets, things will still turn out in their favor.
Due to the juice (or “vig,” whichever term you prefer), sportsbooks are all but guaranteed to make a profit. With that being said, they’re always looking for extra ways to squeeze more money out of gamblers. Parlays and teasers are simply an extra way to get another leg up on the public.
Conclusion
Few things in the world of sports betting are as tempting as putting down some money on a multi-leg parlay and hoping to hit it big.
With every story that comes out about someone who turned $50 into $50,000 through a lucky week wagering at NFL betting sites, most people can’t help but think, “That could have been me!”
Teasers and parlays are a fun diversion from regular methods of betting. But if you’re going strictly by the data, a regular moneyline or spread bet is going to give you the best chance of long-term success.