New Jersey is a fairly influential region when it comes to sports betting, not just in terms of the betting economy but also in how the state and stakeholders lead the way in terms of innovation and regulation.
Many of those innovations arrive in New Jersey sportsbooks, both online and offline, quite quickly, and few have seen more explosive growth than the concept of single-game parlays (SGPs), sometimes known as bet builders. They have taken the sports betting world by storm since their mainstream introduction in the late 2010s.
But what are they? Why are so popular? And how do you use them astutely? How do you avoid pitfalls? Let’s dive in.
What are bet builders/SGPs?
A bet builder is essentially a multi-leg bet on the same event. For example, an NFL game bet builder might consist of the following legs: The Philadelphia Eagles to win the game; over 55.5 points in the game; Jalen Hurts to achieve over 250.5 passing yards. Eagles to score the first touchdown. All legs must be successful for the bet builder to win. The odds are based on a combination of those legs all being successful. Bet builders are commonly used in football, basketball, and soccer, but they are available in other sports, too.
Why have bet builders become so popular?
There has been lots of evidence to show a surge in popularity in bet builders; particularly evident on social media and betting forums. Sportsbooks, too, have clearly recognized the growing trend, with some, like William Hill’s bet builder hub acting as specialized platforms to serve bettors. The secret to their popularity is arguably gamification, as the bets themselves create more engagement with the event. Secondly, they have become popular because they are available – the algorithms that can decide these complex betting outcomes in real-time simply weren’t available ten years ago.
Bet builders and statistics
Depending on the event, there are three types of markets within bet builders – the result, parlays, and random events. The first two can be quantified by statistics, which forms an important part of the culture around bet builder betting. The whole concept is based on pinpointing where the value is with the betting lines offered by the sportsbooks and your statistical knowledge. Some expert bettors talk about using statistics to beat the spread in NFL games. Bet builders ask for you to do that several times in one game.
The math behind the bet
We mentioned earlier that the algorithms that determine the outcome of a bet builder are complex, but they also lead to misunderstandings. For example, some wonder why you simply don’t multiply the odds together as you would for a standard parlay/accumulator bet on multiple games. The reason for this is that each leg can influence the other. For instance, if we were to refer back to our Philadelphia Eagles example, the fact that one of the legs was on the Eagles scoring first, we know that directly increases the chances of the Eagles winning the game (another leg in the bet). Thus, all of this “causality” makes the calculation complex.
Bet builder dos
As suggested above, you should base bet builder bets on statistics. It might be tempting to throw in some random outcomes there to beef up the odds, but that randomness can also hurt the outcome. In addition, you should check out social media tipsters (ones that offer their advice for free) to see how others are interpreting the statistics.
Bet builder don’ts
Don’t get too complicated with your bets. Adding too many legs will make the outcome much too difficult to predict. If you keep things simple, you can use your statistics to give yourself a shot at winning. Also, don’t get carried away. You don’t need to place a bet builder for every NFL game or NBA game you watch. While it can be fun to count a player’s passing yards or 3-pointers, you may find it lessens the enjoyment of the game if you overdo it.
