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It might not be a good game, but you can definitely find a way to make it a fun one.
Sometimes, you look ahead at a game on a schedule and think, “Wow, this is going to be a great game.” Other time, you notice the San Francisco 49ers are hosting the New York Giants on Thursday Night Football.
While almost everyone expects the 49ers to walk away Thursday night with a win, this feels like a great opportunity to place a little money on the line to make your game-watching experience a little more fun.
Currently, DraftKings Sportsbook still has the money line for a 49ers win at -550, meaning in order to win a $100 payout on the 49ers winning the game, you would have to wager (and risk) $550 on the bet. On the flipside, if you were willing to bet on the Giants shocking the world and upsetting the 49ers in Santa Clara, a measly $100 bet would pay out $410 on the current +410 odds.
But if, like the oddsmakers, you think the 49ers are going to win, you can string that bet together with others in what is known as a “parlay” to potentially increase your payout. You can head over to DraftKings Sportsbook for a full definition of what a parlay is, but essentially, a parlay is a string of multiple bets (each individual bet known as a “leg”), where for there to be any payout whatsoever, each leg of the parlay has to be correct. It is all-or-nothing. In a three-leg parlay, if one of the bets misses but the other two hit, there is no “partial payout.” It is simply a loss. But if all three bets hit, that is where there might be opportunity for money to be made.
So consider this four-leg parlay for tonight’s game:
49ers win (-550). This goes without saying. The San Francisco 49ers are clearly the better team, and that is even more so considering the G-Men are officially without star running back Saquon Barkley for the game.
Christian McCaffrey anytime TD (-285). The 49ers offense has run through Christian McCaffrey when he’s healthy, and this feels like the type of game where McCaffrey should have a big day.
Brock Purdy UNDER 269.5 passing yards (-265). Considering the fact that the 49ers are expected to build an early lead and Christian McCaffrey is likely the superstar for the contest, Brock Purdy can sit back and game-manage his way to an easy win. There’s no need for Purdy to sling the ball all over the field.
Daniel Jones OVER 169.5 passing yards (-380). That’s not so true for the other side. Daniel Jones will likely need to play catch-up the entire game. Even if just in garbage-time, I think Jones can easily eclipse the 170-yard passing mark. He might throw a few picks along the way, but that’s not part of this bet, is it?
The parlay odds for this bet would be +165, meaning a $100 bet would pay out $265 (the original $100 bet plus an extra $165). Again, this takes all four individual legs of the parlay have to come true for this bet to pay out. But look at the odds: Instead of a $100 parlay, if four $25.00 bets were placed on each of these legs individually and all four were to come true, the total payout would be $129.31 (the original $100 bet plus an extra $29.31). By stringing these four bets into a four-leg parlay, a winning bet pays out over five-times more than the four solo bets by themselves.
Does this mean the parlay is a safe bet to make? Of course not. Every bet also presents risk. But stringing together a series of less-risky bets into a parlay, while the risk is greater because it presents more opportunities for the overall bet to miss, the potential reward is greater. Once a basic parlay bet is understood and made, the feeling of it hitting is like no other, and soon, a novice sports better can eventually start stringing together ultra aggressive parlays for a big-time payday. You can head over to DraftKings Sportsbook to try to make it happen.
If you like this material, make sure you’re subscribed to The SB Nation NFL Show podcast where we cover Thursday Night Football sports bets every week. You can catch us wherever you listen to your podcasts. As always, you can follow me on Twitter/X @ChrisDunnells. Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.
