Parlay betting is one of the most popular ways to bet on sports, and college football is the perfect sport to parlay bet.
With hundreds of available games to bet on each week, and in the age of legal, online sports betting, the sport is tailor-made for dreaming up multi-leg wagers that can lead to enormous payouts for sports bettors.
If you’re dying to craft up a huge sportsbook but feel intimidated about how to do so, fear not. We’re here to help.
Here’s a guide to parlay betting on college football.
How College Football Parlay Betting Works
Parlay betting is the practice of combining multiple betting markets in order to get more lucrative odds and a larger payout. In parlay betting, every wager has to hit in order for the bet to hit — if even one leg fails, the whole bet loses — and many expert parlays have died unfortunate deaths thanks to fluke plays or an untimely upset.
So you can probably see how college football is the perfect sport for parlay betting. Since there are hundreds of games across both FBS and FCS each day, and staggered start times due to the multiple United States time zones, bettors have a mind-spinning number of options to pick from for parlay betting.
For example, if you are a huge Tennessee fan, you can craft up a perfect parlay where the Volunteers win and both Kentucky and Vanderbilt lose in their games. Or if you’re in Arizona and a diehard ASU fan, you could combine the Sun Devils win as well as losses from University of Arizona and UCLA or USC.
Odds can vary drastically depending on the likelihood of the wager hitting. For instance in the parlay referenced above, if UT is playing Alabama, and Vanderbilt is playing an FCS school, the odds would be extremely long. But if the Vols were playing an FCS school or a non-Power 5 school, and Vandy was playing the Crimson Tide, the odds would be lucrative but more favorable.
Benefits of NCAAF Parlay Betting Online
There are so many clear benefits to betting your college football parlay online. For example, it is so much more convenient compared to schlepping to a retail sportsbook and trying to put together a parlay. You can easily log in, peruse betting options and place that perfect parlay then go about your day.
You can place the parlay from your bed, the couch, while tending to your kids or even from the brunch table. Wherever inspiration strikes you’ll be able to place your bet. Then you can spend the rest of your day either doing chores and checking your phone or sitting around and rooting like crazy for your bet to hit.
Plus, online sportsbooks give bettors free playable funds in the form of new-user bonuses that are perfect for college-football parlay bets. For example, if you have a bet-and-get that requires a $5 wager to unlock $200 in free funds, you can put that initial $5 wager on a long-odds parlay and still have a ton of site credit even if that wager doesn’t hit.
Best College Football Parlay Betting Sites
There are dozens of legal sportsbook websites that we love for college football parlay betting. But here are a few of our favorites.
FanDuel Sportsbook
FanDuel, simply, is the No. 1 sportsbook in America, with exceptional odds and a slew of innovative betting practices like same-game parlays, which it invented in 2018. FanDuel has an extremely easy-to-use user interface and makes placing bets a breeze, plus it’s one of the most widely available online sportsbooks in the nation.
DraftKings Sportsbook
DraftKings is another elite option for parlay betting, and although it didn’t invent same-game parlay betting, it makes placing multi-leg wagers on a single game a breeze. Bettors need only toggle an icon, and DraftKings produces a slew of available props and alternate spreads for the perfect single-game parlay.
DraftKings is the most widely available online sportsbook in the U.S., which means if you’re in a state where online sports betting is legal, you can put together a college-football parlay with ease on its app or website.
Caesars Sportsbook
Caesars made a major foray into the online sports betting space when it purchased popular British sportsbook William Hill in August 2021 and has become one of the nation’s top online sportsbooks with an aggressive marketing campaign centered around football betting.
Thus, the Caesars Sportsbook is an exceptional option for college-football parlay betting, with same-game parlay and a robust number of FCS and FBS wagers to place each weekend. Plus, every bet comes with Caesars Rewards, the company’s VIP rewards program that pays out with points that can reimburse for hotel and dining credits, free bets, sports tickets and more.
BetMGM Sportsbook
BetMGM is one of my favorite sportsbooks and is one of the most widely available options in the nation. When a new state legalizes sports betting, BetMGM is always among the first to get in the space, and BetMGM provides bettors with free bets, helpful boosts and even a live-streaming option for certain games.
BetMGM also offers one-game parlays for college games, and bettors are thus empowered to produce their own multi-leg single-game wagers. Or they can put together a multi-leg, multi-game parlay with the competitive odds BetMGM offers.
BetRivers Sportsbook
BetRivers is the perfect online sportsbook for new and novice bettors. With a helpful glossary of terms, the sportsbook cuts through some of the confusion and intimidation that inexperienced bettors may go through. Plus, BetRivers has great odds and gives bettors helpful tips and trends so they can make the most informed betting decisions before placing their multi-leg wagers.
PointsBet Sportsbook
PointsBet is changing the way that sports are wagered, especially with its custom PointsBetting style that rewards users for being right and punishes them for being wrong.
If that sounds a little too intense for your experience level, don’t fret. PointsBet also offers fixed-odds betting, and has a partnership with NBC, which is the official rightsholder of Notre Dame, which makes it a great option for college-football parlay betting.
How To Pick the Best NCAAF Parlay Betting Sites
There is a large collection of criteria to consider when placing a parlay bet on betting sites. Here are things that we recommend taking advantage of.
Odds
Odds might seem fairly standard, but they do vary slightly from sportsbook to sportsbook. The difference between a -120 bet and a -122 bet might seem negligible, but that could boost a parlay’s winnings by a couple of dollars if it hits, which still counts.
The best odds give the best payout. Sometimes betting can be as simple as that.
Same-Game Parlays
Some sportsbooks like FanDuel and DraftKings offer robust same-game parlay options for bettors. Other sportsbooks may offer single-game parlay betting but will not offer the same array of markets. If you’re an SGP fanatic, find the sportsbook that enables you to place the wager you want to make instead of settling on an SGP the sportsbook curates for you that you don’t love.
Interface
You’re going to want to find a sportsbook that makes betting, and signing in, easy. Caesars invites bettors to create a PIN, which is awesome since it speeds up the log-in process. With that login ease, and with a sportsbook that doesn’t crash every time you try to log in, you can finalize your preferred parlay before the odds change drastically and even put together live in-game parlays before the momentum causes the betting odds to shift.
Welcome Bonuses
The best betting bonuses give us the most length of play without needing to constantly re-deposit. DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM and BetRivers have some of the best welcome bonuses in online sports betting — offers that give you the bettor time to both get comfortable with the site and learn how to play if you’re a new or novice gambler.
Sportsbooks are in business to make money, so it’s no surprise that not every online book empowers bettors to keep playing with money they didn’t earn. But the best betting options will enable you, the bettor, to play for a significant amount of time before needing to re-deposit.
Plus, every sportsbook gives bettors a new-user bonus, so you should definitely take advantage of them all.
College Football Parlay Betting Promotions
Many of the sportsbooks above will entice bettors with betting promos like parlay insurance where they will reimburse your wager if exactly one leg falls short. Parlay insurance usually requires an opt-in and minimum odds like -200 or longer for each leg. Plus, the wagers will only reimburse a small stake, like up to $20, but they are strong promos to take advantage of, especially given the likelihood that exactly one leg of your parlay will fail.
Some sportsbooks will curate a three-or-more-leg parlay and boost the odds on that. Caesars or DraftKings have been known to offer regionally relevant parlays, like the Tennessee one referenced for Volunteer State bettors listed above. They are fun ways to get better odds on outcomes you hope will happen and were planning on betting anyway.
College Football Parlay Betting Strategy
Tease up spreads, especially if you are betting on an underdog. There are always upsets, but generally favorites win college games, even on the road. But if you create an alternate spread, which many sportsbooks offer, the odds will diminish slightly, but you’ll be more likely to win your parlay bet.
For example, in 2020 I bet on Boston College to beat a teased-up spread of 14.5 against Notre Dame — the regular spread was 13. The Eagles scored a late touchdown and hit a two-point conversion, which enabled my BC +14.5 leg to hit even though Notre Dame covered the 13-point regular spread. Thanks to that successful leg, my four-legger hit that day.
You should always account for upsets. It might seem blatantly obvious to create a seven-leg parlay of extreme favorites, like -250 or shorter, but inevitably one of those legs will make you sweat or even fail. There are marquee upsets that happen every week in college football. It might feel personal if you bet on the favorite in that game. But it’s not. It’s just the nature of the sport.
Make sure to do your homework too. You’ll want to consider the potential of a bad matchup that may not seem apparent based on the spread. Perhaps if you know that USC historically is a chronically slow-starter in games you’ll be smart enough to wager on first-half spreads or moneylines of its opponents in home conference games. Or you could wager on the underdog to beat the spread.
We at The Game Day produce a robust amount of content about college football each week. That’s a good starting point for your homework.
The best strategy though is to be responsible and have fun. It’s fun to win on parlay betting, but the odds are long because it is really hard to convert. If we stay within our means and have fun with the process then betting is a really fun way to juice up watching college football each week and have a stake in the game.
Best College Football Parlay Bets
My favorite college-football parlay bets are multi-leg, moneyline or spread wagers. It’s really to create a four- or five-leg parlay that’ll hit, especially in conference play where there are upsets every week, but there’s no feeling like dialing one up and watching it play out just the way you suspected.
Still, it’s really, really hard to nail multiple totals, especially toward the end of the season where the weather around the country starts getting inconsistent. Plus, if you bet on a team enough you’ll start to feel strongly about them and learn their strengths, which makes parlay betting more easy.
The best bets are the ones we love, so find the wagers you love, do your homework and take your best shot.
College Football Same Game Parlays
Same-game parlays are when a sportsbook invites bettors to create their own multi-leg wager from a single game. These gained popularity after FanDuel invented the practice in 2018, and by now just about every online sportsbook has its own version.
Same-game parlays aren’t always practical with college football betting, since again some states limit the number of prop-betting options for bettors. But they are great options for Week 0 games or the annual national-TV showcase games played on the Sunday and Monday of Labor Day weekend. Plus, SGPs are exceptional for bowl season, where there might be a single game on in each time slot, or for the annual national-championship game in January.
Online sportsbooks enable SGP betting options for every game, whether it’s the first game or a random Saturday afternoon game in October, so if you fall in love with dialing up a perfect same-game parlay fear not. You can do them almost any time.
Typically, SGPs center around a result, a total and a prop. Although with sportsbooks like FanDuel and DraftKings especially, there are a multitude of SGP betting options, even if you’re in a state where prop-options are limited.
How to Place an College Football Parlay Bet Online
Here’s how you place a college-football parlay with an online sportsbook
- Log In:If you don’t have an online sportsbook account be sure to sign up through our custom link and use your real information to affirm your identity. If you do have an online sportsbook account, sign in.
- Deposit:If you have funds in an online sportsbook account, jump to the next step. If you do not, be sure to use an e-wallet like PayPal to deposit, since you’ll be able to withdraw via that method. Credit-card transactions come with a cash-advance fee, and withdrawing via a credit card isn’t allowed.
- Peruse Betting Options:Consult the markets you wish to wager. Find the first one and add it to your bet slip
- Add Subsequent Legs:Peruse the other betting markets you wish to wager and add as many as you wish to include for your parlay.
- Place Bet: Enter your stake in the line that says “parlay." Press place bet, and root for your parlay to hit!
Where Can I Legally College Football Parlay Bet Online?
There are restrictions about certain available betting markets per state, notably since many states that allow sports betting will not let people bet on in-state games and certain states limit the prop-betting options for bettors.
But here are the states where placing a parlay wager on college football is legal:
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New York
- Nevada
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Tennessee
- Virginia
- Washington D.C.
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
Choose More Than One NCAAF Parlay Betting Site
Odds shopping can’t happen unless you have funds in multiple online sportsbook accounts. The odds may not be substantially different but every dollar counts when it comes to winning a parlay bet.
Plus, sportsbooks will curate a parlay for bettors to consider then boost the odds, which makes it more profitable, especially if it is the parlay you were interested in wagering in the first place.
