by Throughout the college football season, plenty of us will have a bet on the action.
Whether it’s backing the Ducks in a crunch game or using stats to bet on a bunch of teams across a season, plenty of Oregon sports fans have a wager.
As you might expect, technology has transformed the way we bet on sports, giving us more convenience and more options.
Technology has given us new ways to bet, too, including same-game parlays (SGPs).
They have arguably been the biggest trend in sports betting over the last few years, particularly in football, soccer, and basketball betting.
How SGPs Have Changed Football Betting?
What is an SGP?
A same-game parlay, sometimes known as a bet builder, is a combination of bets on a single game. You bet on several things happening in the game, and the odds are combined into a single price. You’ll need all legs of the SGP to win to be successful.
An example of an SGP:
Say, the Ducks were playing the Beavers in an upcoming game.
You might create an SGP with the following legs:
- Ducks to win the game
- Over 40.5 points in the game
- Ducks are to score the first touchdown
- Dante Moore is expected to have over 250.5 passing yards
If the 4 legs are successful, you win the bet. If just 1 loses, the bet loses.
So why are we talking about technology?
While the SGP that we laid out above looks simple, the odds calculation is complex. It is not like a typical parlay where you multiply the odds together.
Each leg influences the other. For example, if the Ducks score the first touchdown in a game, they are more likely to win the game, so you cannot combine the odds like a traditional parlay.
Sportsbooks use algorithms to instantly calculate a price for the bettor. It’s one of the reasons that SGPs are relatively new, at least in their current format, as sportsbooks have only gained the technical expertise to do this en masse over the last few years.
Why are SGPs so popular?
A couple of reasons. First, they tap into that idea of engagement with a game. You are looking for more than just your favorite team winning.
Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, it feeds into stats-based betting.
Indeed, on social media, you will see a huge amount of activity from sports fans discussing SGP tactics for a big game. The idea, as such, is to pinpoint value in the odds using statistical research.
What is the best way to approach SGPs?
Most experts would suggest that you keep things simple and grounded in statistics.
A typical football game could have hundreds of different legs, but you’ll want to keep it to a minimum lest the number of outcomes become too far-fetched.
By all means, some bettors do get a bit exotic – seeing it is as fun to create complex bets with huge odds – but the experts preach simplicity.
What should you not do with SGP betting?
We mentioned statistics there, and they are the key. Some of the markets offered will be based on random outcomes.
What you are looking for are statistics that can be based on quantifiable data. As we said, the goal is to find value based on your statistical research.
All betting carries risk, and SGPs are no different, but experts will tell you that there is an art to SGP betting, and that means doing your homework.
