Gambling terms, explained straight

Sports Betting

Parlay meaning basketball

A parlay in basketball betting is a single ticket that bundles multiple bets together, and it only pays out if every one of those bets wins.

Minimum legs
212
Also called
accumulator, acca, combo bet, multi1
Basketball-specific form
same-game parlay1

Key points

  • All chosen bets must win for the parlay to pay; if one loses, the whole parlay loses.12
  • Pushes (ties) are removed from the parlay and the remaining legs are recalculated.2
  • Parlays can combine bets from multiple games or multiple selections within a single basketball game.1

Where this term is used

Sports betting Parlay original meaning Explains the historical origin and original use of the term 'parlay' in gambling. Sports betting Parlay General definition of a parlay bet across all sports. Sports betting 3 leg parlay meaning Defines a parlay with exactly three selections. Sports betting Vig meaning Explains the bookmaker's commission built into odds. Sports betting Parlay payout chart Shows typical payouts for parlays of different lengths. Sports betting Overround meaning Explains the bookmaker's profit margin embedded in betting markets.

Sources

  1. Parlay en.wikipedia.org Defines parlay and states the minimum of two bets.
  2. Sports betting en.wikipedia.org Confirms the all-win condition and push handling.

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.

Written and maintained by Ellis Warrender, writer and maintainer.

Last updated 28 July 2026. Spotted an error? Tell me and it gets fixed and logged on the corrections page.