What is Round Robin Betting in Sports? (April 2024)

In sports, a round robin is a league or tournament in which there is a group of teams and each team plays against all the others in the group. Football leagues tend to use double round robins, in which every team plays against all the other teams in the league twice – once home and once away. Round robins are therefore not very complicated, but in sports betting the range of betting possibilities opens up even further.

Round Robin Betting

Round robin betting combines a series of single bets and parlays. You must have at least three selections to form a round robin bet. Each bet will require a stake, so the more selections you pick, the larger your stake will need to be. For example, let's say you pick the following three NFL teams to win their games:

• Boston Celtics
• Toronto Raptors
• Chicago Bulls

There are 3 single bets you can make, on each of the teams to win their games. 3 double parlays can be made: Boston Celtics + Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics + Chicago Bulls, and Toronto Raptors + Chicago Bulls. Finally, there is 1 treble bet you can make, which is for all three teams to win their games. You will need to put an equal stake in each bet. If you pick the 3 doubles and 1 treble, you will need to pay x4 your base stake. Picking 3 singles, 3 doubles, and 1 treble will require you to place x7 your base stake.

3 Selections

Now, we can put the theory into practice. Taking the same teams, let us say they are offered with the following odds:

• Boston Celtics at odds 1.6
• Toronto Raptors at odds 2.5
• Chicago Bulls at odds 2.1

Assuming you stake $1 for each bet, you will need to spend $4 to stake 3 doubles and 1 treble bet. In this case, all the parlays in your round robin bet will have the following odds:

Doubles

• Celtics + Raptors at odds 4
• Celtics + Bulls at odds 3.36
• Raptors + Bulls at odds 5.25
• Celtics + Raptors + Bulls at odds 8.4

If all three teams win, you will pocket $21.01 from a stake of $4. If the Celtics lose but the other teams win, then only 1 parlay will pay off and you will win $5.25. If the Raptors lose you will win $3.36, and if the Bulls lose you will win $4. In the event that 2 teams lose, you will not win anything.

You may be wondering how much you would win if you disregarded the round robin and simply placed the same stake on single bets. Well, if the $4 went into 3 separate single bets each bet would have a stake of $1.33 and you would win the following:

• All teams win: $2.13+$3.33+$2.79 = $8.25 (compared to $21.01)
• Celtics lose, other teams win: $3.33+$2.79 = $6.12 (compared to $5.25)
• The Raptors lose, other teams win: $2.13+$2.79 = $4.92 (compared to $3.36)
• The Bulls lose, other teams win: $2.13+$3.33 = $5.56 (compared to $4)

Including Singles

Now, if you include the singles bets, your $1 base stake will increase to $7. In addition to the series of parlays, you will have single bets that will add to your potential winnings. To cut matters short, here are the winnings you can expect in the following scenarios:

• All teams win: 7/7 bets pay off resulting in $27.21
• Celtics lose, other teams win: 3/7 bets pay off resulting in $9.85
• The Raptors lose, other teams win: 3/7 bets pay off resulting in $7.06
• The Bulls lose, other teams win: 3/7 bets pay off resulting in $8.10
• Any 2 teams lose: only 1/7 of the bets pay off, meaning that if Celtics win you receive $1.60; if the Raptors win you receive $2.50; if the Bulls win you receive $2.10

Just to round things off, these winnings should be compared with the potential winnings if $7 was divided three ways and placed on 3 separate singles bets:

• All teams win: $3.73+$5.83+$4.89 = $14.45 (compared to $27.21)
• Celtics lose, other teams win: $5.83+$4.89 = $10.72 (compared to $9.85)
• The Raptors lose, other teams win: $3.73+$4.89 = $8.62 (compared to $7.06)
• The Bulls lose, other teams win: $3.73+$5.83 = $9.56 (compared to $8.10)
• Only Celtics wins: $3.73 (compared to $1.60); only the Raptors win: $5.83 (compared to $2.50); only the Bulls win: $4.89 (compared to $2.10)

To sum off, the full potential rewards of round robin bets can be far larger than what the singles bets can bring. The winnings become closer to what you would get otherwise when one of the selections fails.

4 Selections

Three selections is the bare minimum required to form a round robin bet. Picking out 4 selections greatly increases the number of possibilities, but you will need to stake considerably more. Taking the same odds from the bet before, now we add another selection:

(Singles)

• Boston Celtics at odds 1.6
• Toronto Raptors at odds 2.5
• Chicago Bulls at odds 2.1
• Cleveland Cavaliers at odds 3.0

This makes for a total of 15 bets: (x4 singles), x6 doubles, 4x trebles, and x1 four-fold bet. Here, you can check each bet with its odds:

Doubles

• Celtics + Raptors at odds 4
• Celtics + Bulls at odds 3.36
• Raptors + Bulls at odds 5.25
• Celtics + Cavaliers at odds 4.8
• Raptors + Cavaliers at odds 7.5
• Bulls + Cavaliers at odds 6.3

Trebles

• Celtics + Raptors + Bulls at odds 8.4
• Celtics + Raptors + Cavaliers at odds 12
• Raptors + Bulls + Cavaliers at odds 15.75
• Celtics + Bulls + Cavaliers at odds 10.08

Four-Fold

• Celtics + Raptors + Bulls + Cavaliers at odds 25.2

Going through every single possible outcome will be quite lengthy, so here we will briefly show the expected earnings against what you can make if you placed single bets. Assuming all 15 bets have $1 stakes and single bets have a stake of $3.75 (which adds up to $15 altogether).

• All bets come through: 15/15 = $111.84 (compared to $34.50)
• 3 bets come through: 7/15 = from $42.40 to $27.21 (compared to from $28.50 to $23.25)
• 2 bets come through: 3/15 = from $13 to $7.06 (compared to from $20.62 to $13.87)
• 1 bet comes through: 1/15 = from $3 to $1.60 (compared to from $11.25 to $6)

Here, you can see the maximum and minimum winnings to be expected in each of the scenarios. It is quite varied as the odds range from 1.6 to 3 and so there are possibilities where the higher-paying selections lose and where the lower-paying ones do. However, what you can take out of this is that the maximum payout is significantly higher than placing individual bets. 1 bet that loses will cut into your wins but not hit you too hard. If you lose half your bets or more, then you can cut your losses but probably will not make more than if you had simply placed singular bets.

Bringing Out the Maximum

Understanding the theory is one thing, but what you want to know is how to apply round robin bets. The truth is that the bets work best with long odds. The gigantic wins that you dream of can be achieved if you pick a handful of longshot bets and they all go your way. To put it to the test, here are two examples. One is of a 4-selection bet using point spreads and the other uses bets with longer odds. Point spreads will offer around 1.9 – so we can expect all 4 bets to have those odds.

Bets with Shorter Odds

(where each bet is $1 and the counterpart is $3.75 single bets):

• All bets come through: 15/15 = $69.72 (compared to $28.50)
• 3 bets come through: 7/15 = $23.39 (compared to $21.37)
• 2 bets come through: 3/15 = $7.41 (compared to $14.25)
• 1 bet comes through: 1/15 = $1.9 (compared to $7.12)

The maximum win with a round robin bet is far larger than that of the singles bets. However, if you lose 1 selection you are already looking at practically the same odds. If 2 or more selections fail then it is already far worse.

Bets with Longer Odds

Now check what happens if you pick out underdog bets with odds of 3.0.

• All bets come through: 15/15 = $255 (compared to $45)
• 3 bets come through: 7/15 = $63 (compared to $33.75)
• 2 bets come through: 3/15 = $15 (compared to $12.50)
• 1 bet comes through: 1/15 = $3 (compared to $11.25)

Suddenly, the difference between the maximum winnings is far larger. Even if one selection does not come through, the profit is considerably larger than that of the singular bets. When 2 selections do not come through, then it is close to what you can expect with the single bets, and you have cut your losses to exactly 0. Thus, round robin betting is far more useful when picking out longer odds. Whilst these come at higher risk, you can still make some money if 1 or 2 of your selections fail.

Full Cover Bets

Another term for round robin bets is full cover bets. These are mostly associated with horse and greyhound racing. In truth, those sports usually have the longest odds – even for favourites. This is because there are 6 or more contestants in each race and so there are many more possible outcomes. It does come at a greater risk, but if you bet on horse racing then round robin bets can bring you even larger prizes.

Names are given to the different types of betting combinations you can use for racing bets.

Three Selections

The two types of three selection bets are Trixie and Patent bets. Trixie has 4 bets: x3 doubles bets and x1 triple bets. Patent has bets, which are: x3 singles, x3 doubles, and x1 treble bets.

Four Selections

When you have four selections, you can pick Yankee bets or Lucky 15. Yankee has 11 bets which are: x6 doubles, x4 trebles, and x1 four-fold bets. Lucky 15 has 15 bets which are: x4 singles, x6 doubles, x4 trebles, and x1 four-fold bets.

Five Selections

When you pick out 5 selections, you can choose between Candian and Lucky 31 bets. Canadian has 26 bets which are: x10 doubles, x10 trebles, x5 quadruples, and x1 quintuple bets. Lucky 31 has 31 bets which are: x5 singles, x10 doubles, x10 trebles, x5 four-folds, and x1 five-fold bets.

Six Selections

Picking out 6 different bets, you will be able to form a Heinz or Lucky 63 selection. The Heinz has 57 bets which are: x15 doubles, x20 trebles, x15 four-folds, x6 five-folds, and x1 six-fold bets. The Lucky 62 has 63 bets: x6 singles, x15 doubles, x20 trebles, x15 four-folds, x6 five-folds, and x1 six-fold bets.

Seven Selections

If you combine 7 bets into a round robin, you will have the choice between a Super Heinz and a Lucky 127. The Super Heinz has 120 bets: x21 doubles, x35 trebles, x35 four-folds, x21 five-folds, x7 six-folds, and x1 seven-fold bets. The Lucky 127 has 127 bets which are: x7 singles, x21 doubles, x35 trebles, x35 four-folds, x21 five-folds, x7 six-folds, and x1 seven-fold bets.

Conclusion

The more bets you pick, the larger your potential winnings will be. However, you should also keep an eye on how large the stake can swell up. With simple 3-selection round robin bets, you would need to stake $4 or $7 on a $1 base. Compare that with a whopping $120 or $127 when picking out a massive 7-selection combination, which is quite a large stake even for regular bettors.

You should also always keep in mind that these selections work best with long odds. If you always pick point spreads or similar 50:50 bets, your potential winnings will be nowhere near as large as if you had picked bets with odds of 3.0 or higher. Racing bets may be best suited for round robin betting, but you may also pick out alternative point spreads. Here, you can bet on teams to win with handicaps, lengthening the odds to a more desirable amount.

Round robin is definitely risky, but there it also offers a lot of cover in case 1 or more selections do not come through. This is what makes the bets so popular. Think about it, what are the chances that you lose every single one of your bets? Of course, nothing is guaranteed when it comes to sports betting, but as long as half your selections come through, you should be able to make a small profit.