Any sports bettor out there who enjoys taking the extra bit of risk that's available, you're in the right place. You could visit your favorite sportsbook and go for a parlay bet with lots of teams, to potentially get a huge payout for taking a big risk. That's one option. Or you could go for a teaser bet and reduce that risk a little. A teaser is quite similar to a parlay bet as both wagers consist of two or more events to occur.
In this article, we'll guide you through teaser betting, how to bet teasers, and see how you can implement it into your sports betting strategy. After reading this guide, you'll be up to speed to leave your sportsbook in shock after delivering you the big payout.
How do teasers work?
The first thing you should be aware of is how teasers work. This means you're wagering on the outcome of multiple events. With a teaser bet, things are slightly different than parlays. The difference between a regular parlay bet and a teaser bet is the risk factor. In a parlay bet, every single outcome relates to the posted odds on the game. With a teaser bet, you're actually allowed to change the point spread on each game.
Let's give you an example to illustrate how this point-moving works. Let's take a look at some football teasers. In this matchup, we'll take a two-team teaser. The original point spread bets would look something like this:
Dallas Cowboys +3 (-110) at Los Angeles Rams
Kansas City Chiefs +3 (+120) at New Orleans Saints
Now, if one chose to bet on those two games at the original lines, then that would be a parlay. To change it into a teaser bet, we'll go with a six-point teaser on both the underdogs. Thus, six points are added to the lines for each of the two underdogs. These two point spread bets would now look like this:
Dallas Cowboys +9 (-110) at Los Angeles Rams
Kansas City Chiefs +9 (+120) at New Orleans Saints
If you'd change that around and bet the six-point teaser on the Rams and Saints, you're looking at the following betting lines:
Dallas Cowboys at Los Angeles Rams +3 (-110)
Kansas City Chiefs at New Orleans Saints +3 (-140)
In this example, the chance of your bet succeeding would suddenly increase when using a teaser bet. The original parlay, of course, would pay more, but the chance of being successful is smaller. In the example above, we took a six-point teaser. You should know that with every extra half-point -- a 6 1/2-point teaser, for example -- your chances are increased, but your payout is reduced. Also, the construction of teasers works the same for the over/under bet as it does for the point spread bet.
It's common to see teaser bets in NFL wagering. It's one of those sports which bettors love because of the ever-changing outcomes: a single score can completely turn a game upside-down. Most sportsbooks offer 6, 6.5 and 7-point teasers in Football. And some bookmakers go even further and offer 10-point teasers and, less commonly, teasers of 13+ points.
You might wonder if there's teaser betting for other sports as well and, in general, there is. With basketball teasers, for example, the common offerings are between four and six points. Basketball games fall closer to the point spread than do Football games. Thus, the points offered on teasers are slightly different.
How do teaser bet odds work?
To completely understand the way a teaser bet works, you should know what the odds look like. Teaser odds can vary with each bookmaker, but the general rule is that you're accepting a better chance to win each bet in exchange for a slightly smaller overall payout. The lower payout varies on the number of points your teaser has. A 7-point teaser has a worse payout than a six-point teaser, for example. But, a 3-team teaser promises a better payout than a two-team teaser.
As teasers are typical in competitions like the NFL and the NBA, the odds that sportsbooks tend to use are the American odds or the moneyline odds. To get a grip of the teaser odds, we have some rules that most sportsbooks will live by:
A 7-point football teaser usually gives -140 odds. That means your initial stake should be $140 to win $100 in profit. It could be that other bookmakers have discounted odds of -130 or -120.
When you move the line to a 6.5 point teaser, it usually changes the odds to -130. Thus, it takes $130 to win $100.
Any six-point, two-team teaser will bring you the odds of -120.
When you start increasing the number of teams in your teaser, you'll see your odds change rapidly. In general, the more risk you take, the greater your payout. And, as mentioned above, some sportsbooks offer better teaser odds than do others. The very best online sportsbook in the world for parlay and teaser odds is BetAnySports. There are many reasons why BetAnySports is the best, but one reason is that it offers "Ties Win" teaser odds (see the table below). If you enjoy betting on parlays and teasers, then you should join BetAnySports today.
How to calculate your payout when teaser betting?
Let's be honest here. For sports bettors, it all comes down to getting paid at the end of the match. Sure, you're happy when your favorite team wins its game, but you'd probably be happier if the opposing team won -- if that was the team on which you bet. As you now understand most aspects of the teaser bets, let's take a look at the potential profits you could attain.
With a teaser bet, it's pretty challenging to provide you with an exact breakdown of how the payout is calculated. It varies per match and how your specific teaser bet is constructed. But, to give you a broader view of the possibilities of how your payout may look, we want to provide you with this "Ties Win" table for NFL teasers from BetAnySports:
BetAnySports' Ties Win teaser odds
As you can see from the table above, there are lots of possibilities. Let's take two random odds from the table and calculate the potential profit with an initial stake of $100:
With a three-team, 7-point teaser, you're looking at +127 odds. That means you win $127 above your initial stake of $100. That makes your total payout $227.
With a seven-team, 6-point teaser, you're looking at +845 odds. That means you'll win $845 above your initial stake of $100. That makes your total payout $945.
How to use teaser betting in your sports betting strategy
As you can see, teaser betting can get lucrative, but you have to be cautious at the same time. Any sports bettor who has been around for a while knows the importance of managing your risk. Thus, the teaser bet can be a perfect solution for bettors who do want to enjoy some sort of a safety net. To correctly add teaser betting to your sports betting strategy, we want to give you a few tips to provide you with a head start.
Be aware of the different types of teasers
The teaser bet is a type of bet which has lots of different outcomes. You can change the number of events you bet on, and you can adjust the number of points per match. That means there are lots of different types of teasers available. There might be sportsbooks that have teaser cards available, but you can pretty much set up your teaser bet as you like.
Before you go online to place a bet, make sure you do some line shopping to find the best point spreads and/or odds. It might not seem like a big difference for a single bet, but in the long run, you'll be glad you consistently took the best numbers. (As we mentioned above, BetAnySports offers the best odds on parlay and teaser bets among all online sportsbooks.)
Manage your bankroll
Years ago, bookmakers created teaser bets as an answer to loads of people losing their parlays. The extra layer of security because of the additional points became widely popular. But bookmakers wouldn't be bookmakers if they didn't find an edge to make money themselves. So, teaser odds are fine-tuned to ensure the house has an advantage.
Nevertheless, teasers are very popular among football and basketball bettors, though they’re risky, as every single leg of your teaser bet has to be a winner for you to cash. That means you're taking quite a risk. To keep your bankroll in place and have your sports betting career last long, make sure you use a small portion of your funds per wager. You're wagering for the long run here, not for short term gains.
Don't forget your research
We can't stress it enough: do your research! You are betting on multiple events, which means you have to be aware of the possibilities for each match. You have a small advantage over a regular parlay bet as the outcome of the game can always change upon a single scoring play. But, similar to a parlay bet, you have to do lots of research. You can't construct a teaser, for example, on seven different games without doing any type of research. To make sure you don't make any mistakes: take the amount of research you typically do for one match and multiply that for each game you add to your teaser.
With the knowledge this guide gave you, you're ready to start betting. Search for your favorite online sportsbook and review its teaser odds. Take a small percentage of your bankroll and have a try at betting a teaser. You might just cash a big ticket and see yourself swimming in profit!
