College Football Parlay Bets

Thursday College Football Parlay +725. College Football Parlays. Wednesday College Football - Parlay. Today / 5:00 PM. No bets selected! It’s hard to believe, but we are already in Week 14 of the college football season and we are back with our favorite parlay of the week. This bet includes a few favorites and a few underdogs from the best games of the weekend. Let’s take a look at our top college football parlay among SportsbookWire’s college football picks and predictions. A college football parlay is a bet where you combine multiple selections into a single wager, with all of the selections needing to cash your ticket. While the difficulty of winning a college football parlay increases with the number of selections you add, so do the odds.

• College Football Parlay Bets Projections
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• Best College Football Parlay Bets

Once considered fun wagers or even ‘sucker bets,’ parlay betting is now considered a smarter way to bet on favorites – in some cases. Parlay betting is a form of football wagering where you pick two or more games on the same ticket and get a better payout (profit potential). Free sports betting picks from all major sports including the NFL, NCAA Football, and MLB Baseball. We also offer free predictions for the NBA, NHL, and thoroughbred horse racing from tracks around the Country.

We are two weeks into the Big Ten season, and there has already been chaos at every turn. The Big Ten has been an absolute dumpster fire for every team except for Ohio State. Only 5 of the 14 teams remain undefeated, and one of those teams has only played one game. Everyone is fighting for second place, and anyone can win it.

While the conference has been chaotic, there is still a great chance for a payout. All you have to do is make sense of this chaotic situation and place your bets accordingly. With that in mind, let’s look at a Big Ten parlay to lock.

What is Up with Michigan?

The Wolverines looked like one of the best teams in the conference in their first win, but their hopes have shifted after losing to Michigan State. That limits how far Michigan can go this year, but it does not limit how crazy things can get. The Wolverines could be anything from an upset bid to the biggest disappointment in college football. Only time will tell, but this will be a fun situation to monitor.

Michigan will play against Indiana this week. The Hoosiers are one of the biggest surprises so far in 2020. Can they sustain their crazy success? Will Michigan get back on track? We’ll find out this Saturday.

Maryland’s Hopes Ride on Taulia

In Maryland’s first game, Taulia Tagovailoa struggled as the team lost. However, he led the Terrapins to victory last week with a dominant performance. If he plays like that again, Maryland has a chance to cover the spread against Penn State. However, it would be a remarkable upset if they managed to win this game outright.

Penn State has struggled so far, but it is hard to imagine them 0-3 to start the year. After all, they had hopes of being a College Football Playoff contender this year. Expect Penn State to get a win. That being said, there is no value in the moneyline here.

How Will Wisconsin Look?

Wisconsin dominated their first game of the 2020 college football season. However, they were sidelined last week due to a COVID-19 outbreak. It is still not a guarantee that this game will be played, but how will they look? This early into the season, I doubt that they will be rusty. However, Graham Mertz might still be out of this game due to protocols. It’s important to consider this when placing your bets on the top sportsbooks.

Without Mertz, this team looks totally different. If you decide to bet this game, keep his status in mind. For the sake of this article, we are going to avoid adding Wisconsin to a parlay. The questions about this game being played show that it is not worth adding to a parlay.

Can Ohio State Cover the Ridiculous Spread?

Ohio State is clearly the best team in the Big Ten, and they will likely walk through their entire regular season without a hiccup. Against Rutgers, there is no doubt that they will win. However, the spread is ridiculously high. The Buckeyes are favored by over five touchdowns. Do they have what it takes to cover? Absolutely. However, any spread that high is a risk. They could dominate this game and still fail to cover. The second string could struggle and fail to maintain a massive lead. So many things could go wrong.

Minnesota Needs to Bounce Back

Minnesota has been one of the most disappointing teams in the conference so far. After a long winning streak last season, they have taken a few bumps and bruises. If PJ Fleck wants to keep rowing the boat, they need to turn things around this Saturday. Thankfully, they will be playing Illinois. This is not a guaranteed win, but it is certainly an easier opponent than what they have seen so far. Look for Tanner Morgan to progress in this one.

Time to Parlay

I like the value of the point spread for Maryland. Tagovailoa looks ready to lead that team, and Penn State is far from what it used to be. They have rested since their last game, and they should be ready to keep this one close.

Due to the wildness of this season, I’m going to simply add a moneyline to this parlay. Crazy things are happening all of the time. The Minnesota moneyline is modest, but it has better odds in this unprecedented college football season.

NCAAFParlay Picks:

• Maryland +25 (-108) vs. Penn State at Heritage (visit our Heritage Review)

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On Tuesday, according to DraftKings, an unidentified bettor risked $3 million on a three-leg parlay featuring the following: Georgia to win the SEC East division; Alabama to win the SEC West division; the Packers to win the NFC North division.

If successful, this bet would pay out $8.6 million, a $5.6 million net profit for the customer.

It's the largest parlay bet that Johnny Avello, DraftKings' sportsbook director and a 30-plus-year Nevada bookmaker, has ever taken. And it's certainly among the biggest ever placed with a U.S. sportsbook -- yet it might not even have been the most interesting bet of the week.

On Thursday, a bettor at the William Hill sportsbook at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas placed a $240,000 money-line bet on heavily favored BYU to beat Texas-San Antonio straight up. The Cougars were favored by 34.5 points. To bet BYU to win outright on Saturday, the bettor had to put up $240,000 for a chance to make a $3,428.55 profit.

UTSA took an early lead and was within one possession late in the fourth quarter but ultimately lost 27-20.

The bettor won $3,400, a 1.4% return on their investment in three days. To quote from the classic poker film 'Rounders,' 'Pay that man his money.'

Another way to look at such a unique bet is, 'Holy bleep! They bet $240,000 to win just over $3,000. What the heck were they thinking?' It turns out, though, that giant money-line bets on large favorites aren't that unique in Las Vegas.

'This happens way more than anyone really thinks,' Dave Sharapan, a former Las Vegas bookmaker at CG Technology sportsbooks, said of big money-line bets placed on heavy favorites.

Details regarding the BYU bet are slim. We know the what, when and where, but not the why or by whom. Only a select few know the true thinking behind risking $240,000 for a chance to win $3,400.

Some believe it has to do with reward club points for casino comps and hotel upgrades. Others suspect something more nefarious: money laundering. A customer has illicit funds and is looking to clean the money through an unsuspecting sportsbook. But that seems unlikely -- or extremely dumb -- says Mac Verstandig, a Las Vegas attorney who specializes in gambling cases.

'If this were a laundering effort, it would be absolutely horribly done,' Verstandig said.

In the past, when Verstandig has seen instances of suspected money-laundering efforts with sports betting, he says it normally involves a team of bettors betting both sides of games on the point spread, willing to pay the typical 10% vig to eliminate the risk of the favorite losing.

'If someone had $240,000 in somewhat illicit funds, and they had a runner that could walk into a Las Vegas sportsbook without arousing suspicion with that amount, BYU, until kickoff yesterday, seemed like an incredibly safe bet, and it gets you the return of your principle into reportable, taxable income, which is what you want from a laundering point of view,' Verstandig said. 'It just sends up more red flags than a May Day parade at Tiananmen Square.'

Sportsbooks, like typical financial institutions, have to follow know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering protocols, and relationships are established with customers who place large wagers.

Sharapan didn't know the specifics of the BYU bet. But during his years behind the sportsbook counter, he saw plenty of big money-line bets on prohibitive favorites. He's seen customers carry cash into a sportsbook in a duffel bag to place big bets, but says most often they are handled with wire transfers to the casino cage or through a VIP host.

'Someone bet a house on BYU to win the game,' Sharapan said, 'and it may never occur to that person that they could lose -- until it does.'

Here is this week's edition of Notable Bets, our look at storylines from sportsbooks around the nation.

NFL

• The Raiders' upset of the Chiefs produced the biggest win Sunday for multiple sportsbooks. The SuperBook at Westgate Las Vegas said the Raiders winning outright was one of the book's most profitable games of the season so far. 'Very high-volume game, with so many money-line parlays and teasers to the Chiefs,' John Murray, executive director for the SuperBook, told ESPN.

• More money was bet on Raiders-Chiefs than any other game Sunday at sportsbook PointsBet. It was also the most profitable game of the day for PointsBet, followed by the Giants covering the spread in a loss to the Cowboys, and the Dolphins' upset of the 49ers.

• The Cardinals' 30-10 rout of the winless Jets produced one of the books' biggest losses of the day. At BetRivers sportsbooks, only 6% of the money bet on the game (point spread and money line) backed the Jets.

• Since the 2018 season, the Jets are 12-24-1 against the spread, the worst ATS mark in the NFL. They have yet to cover the spread this season.

• '[It's] basically a struggle to take a bet on [the Jets] regardless of the number,' John Sheeran, sportsbook director for FanDuel, told ESPN.

• 'Up and down' was how multiple sportsbooks described Sunday's results. 'We probably lost more games than we won with public sides like the Cardinals, Steelers, Rams, Ravens, Texans, Browns all covering,' Murray said, 'but we won the really big games.'

• The sportsbook at The Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey, reported taking a $100,000 bet on the Panthers +4 for the second half of their game against the Falcons. The Panthers led 20-7 at halftime and appeared poised to cover the spread in the second half before Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo made a 54-yard field goal with four seconds to play, making the final score 23-16.

• DraftKings reported taking a $5 bet on Steelers receiver Chase Claypool to score at least three touchdowns on Sunday, at 150-1. Claypool finished with four TDs, three receiving, and the bettor won $755.

• BetMGM said it took a $290,000 bet on the Seahawks -6.5 versus the Vikings in the Sunday night game.

Nearly 80% of the money bet on Vikings-Seahawks was on the Seahawks at PointsBet. The lopsided action on the Seahawks continued after kickoff, too -- PointsBet reported early live betting on them after the Vikings jumped out to a 10-0 lead. The Seahawks won the game but by just one point, 27-26.

• Vikings running back Dalvin Cook scored the first touchdown of the game against the Seahawks. FanDuel had boosted Cook's odds to +750 to score the game's first TD, a promotion that a company spokesperson said cost the sportsbook more than $1 million.

• The chances of a team being forced to forfeit a game thanks to a violation of league protocols on COVID-19 seem to increase each week. A forfeit, while recorded as a loss on a team's record, would have different impacts on season win total bets, depending on the sportsbook. Here's a couple of examples of how sportsbook rules address forfeits, but check your book's house rules:

At BetMGM, the house rules stipulate that teams must play all scheduled games for the bets in the season wins market to be honored. If a game were to be forfeited, all impacted season win market bets would be refunded.

At William Hill, a forfeited game would count as a win or a loss in terms of season win total bets.

College football

• Las Vegas sportsbook Circa Sports opened with Alabama as a 5-point favorite over Georgia in Saturday's prime-time SEC showdown in Tuscaloosa. The line grew to Alabama -7, before settling back at -5.5 on Sunday afternoon. The total on the game had more dramatic early movement, growing from the opening number of 49.5 to 55 within the first three hours after Circa posted it.

• Florida opened as a 14-point favorite over visiting LSU. That line quickly dropped to -11 by Sunday afternoon.

• Two of the three largest college football bets FanDuel accepted on Saturday were on Florida to cover the 5.5-point spread against Texas A&M: $49,000, and $25,000 on the Gators -5.5. A&M won 41-38.

NBA

• The Lakers were favored in each of their 21 playoff games en route to winning the NBA title. According to ESPN Stats and Information, they are the fourth team in the past 30 seasons to be favored in every playoff game, followed the 2016-17 Warriors, the 2014-15 Warriors and the 1995-96 Bulls.

• The amount wagered on Sunday's decisive Game 6 between the Lakers and Heat attracted a similar betting handle to an average NFL game at the SuperBook.

• The SuperBook said any money it won on the NFL on Sunday, it lost on its NBA title futures market. The Lakers attracted more bets and more money to win the NBA title than any other team by far at the SuperBook.

• 'Hats off to the bettors on this one, they bet [the Lakers] from the beginning,' Nick Bogdanovich, director of trading for William Hill U.S., told ESPN.

• The Lakers have already been installed as the favorites to win the title next season as well.

College Football Parlay Bets Projections

Odds and ends

• $206.8 million was bet with Indiana sportsbooks in September, the most in a month since the state authorized sports betting in the same month last year. Statewide, Indiana bookmakers finished up a net $14.2 million during the month. Bettors did get the best of the books in September at the sportsbooks at Caesars Southern Indiana (-$109,488) and Horseshoe Hammond (-$280,245). Those were the only two casinos to report a net loss on sports for the month.

College Football Parlay Bets Rankings

Here is the breakdown by sports via the Indiana State Gaming Commission:

Football (college and pro): $48.4 million
Basketball: $34.2 million
Baseball: $30.5 million
Parlays: $50.6 million
Other: $43.1 million

• $72.4 million was bet in September with Iowa sportsbooks, who won a net $5.2 million during the month.

Best College Football Parlay Bets

• A new interactive video conferencing platform centered on sports betting, BettorView Live, is prepping to launch in the U.S., showcasing betting odds, point spreads and win probabilities, and even helping place your delivery order. Think Zoom for friends wanting to watch and wager on a game together.

The BettorView Live platform, virtually toured by ESPN last week, is the result of a partnership between two tech companies, Edison Interactive (EI) and BettorView, formerly known as KonekTV. BettorView content can currently be found in 1,000 venues nationwide, and there are partnerships with restaurants and sportsbooks like Hooters and William Hill, respectively.

Ultimately, BettorView Live aims to include direct integration into sportsbook partners' betting apps, and allow for live streaming of professional sports.