Gambling terms, explained straight

In general English, parley means a discussion or conference, especially to end a dispute.

Sports Betting

Parlay definition football

A parlay is a single bet that combines two or more individual wagers; it wins only if every selection wins.

Minimum legs
2
Also called
accumulator, acca, combo bet, multi1

Key points

  • A parlay links two or more selections into one wager; all must win for the bet to pay.12
  • If one selection loses, the entire parlay loses; a push removes that leg and the bet is recalculated.2
  • In football betting, parlays are common for multi-game or multi-event wagers rather than single straight bets.12

Where this term is used

Sources

  1. Parlay en.wikipedia.org Defines parlay and lists alternative names.
  2. Sports betting en.wikipedia.org Explains how parlays work and the impact of a push.

Sources are drawn from regulators, universities and published research, and each one is labelled with what it actually is — a preprint is not called a paper. Bookmaker and affiliate pages are never cited here, because a page that sells betting is not a neutral authority on it.