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A parlay card is a printed card from a land-based sportsbook that lists a week’s games with fixed point spreads and a fixed payout table. You pick at least three games and every pick has to win, with bigger payouts for more picks. The payouts look generous, but they’re well below the true odds.
How a parlay card works
The book prints the card before the week’s games, with a fixed point spread for each game and sometimes totals too. You mark the teams you want and the number of picks you’re playing, then hand the card to a ticket writer with your money and get a ticket back. The ticket is what you cash, so keep it.
Stakes are small. The Delaware Lottery’s half-point card, for example, takes bets from $2.
Your picks are graded against the spreads printed on the card when you bet. If a line moves later in the week, your ticket keeps the printed number, which can help you or hurt you.
How cards differ from a regular parlay
| Parlay card | Regular parlay | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Retail sportsbooks and lottery retailers | Online and at the counter |
| Lines | Printed before the games and fixed | The current line when you bet |
| Payout | Fixed table based on the number of picks | Each leg’s odds multiplied together |
| Minimum picks | Usually 3 | 2 |
| Ties | Set by the card’s own rules | A tied leg usually drops out |
The payout is the big difference. A regular parlay pays more when you pick underdogs and less when you pick heavy favorites. A card pays the same multiple whatever you pick, based only on how many games you play.
Ties and postponed games
Half-point cards use spreads that end in .5, so a game can’t land exactly on the number. The Delaware Lottery’s half-point card says it “will have no ties” and also states that ties count as a loss.
Cards with whole-number spreads print their own tie rule, and it varies. On some cards a tie drops that pick and the ticket pays at the next level down. Others count a tie as a loss, and a few count it as a win. Read the rules on the back before you fill one in.
Postponed games have limits too. Delaware’s card says games must be played within seven days of the original date to count, and a winning ticket needs at least three picks still in action. If fewer remain, the bet is refunded.
Card payouts vs true odds
If each pick is a 50/50 proposition, the chance of hitting three in a row is 0.5 × 0.5 × 0.5 = 12.5%, or 1 in 8. A fair payout would be 7 to 1: over eight tries you’d lose seven $1 bets, win $7 once and break even.
The Delaware Lottery’s half-point card for games on Sept. 24–28, 2026 paid 11 to 2 on three picks, which is 5.5 to 1. A winning $2 ticket returns $13, your $2 plus $11.
Win once every eight tries and you get back $13 for every $16 you bet, an 18.75% house edge. A regular three-team parlay at -110 pays about 5.96 to 1, an edge of about 13%.
| Picks | Card pays | Regular parlay at -110 | Fair payout | House edge on card |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 11 to 2 (5.5 to 1) | 5.96 to 1 | 7 to 1 | 18.75% |
| 4 | 10 to 1 | 12.28 to 1 | 15 to 1 | 31.25% |
| 5 | 19 to 1 | 24.36 to 1 | 31 to 1 | 37.50% |
| 6 | 39 to 1 | 47.41 to 1 | 63 to 1 | 37.50% |
| 8 | 149 to 1 | 175.4 to 1 | 255 to 1 | 41.41% |
| 10 | 599 to 1 | 642.1 to 1 | 1,023 to 1 | 41.41% |
| 12 | 1,999 to 1 | 2,343 to 1 | 4,095 to 1 | 51.17% |
Put another way, you’d need to win about 53.6% of your picks to break even on a three-pick card and about 54.9% on a four-pick card. A straight bet at -110 needs 52.38%, as our guide to money lines explains.
Picking carefully can improve on a coin flip, for example by choosing games where the printed line is now out of date. The payouts stay the same, though, so your picks still have to clear the break-even rates above.
“For” and “to” payouts
Read the payout wording. “To 1” means profit on top of your stake. “For 1” includes the stake, so 10 for 1 is the same as 9 to 1. Delaware’s half-point card uses “to” payouts, while its teaser cards are written in “for” terms, such as 7 for 5.
Where parlay cards are still used
Nevada sportsbooks have long offered football parlay cards, and the Delaware Lottery describes the half-point card as the most popular type in Las Vegas. Delaware prints its own cards each week of the football season and sells them at Sports Lottery retailers and the state’s three casino sportsbooks, to players 21 and older.
Online, the usual product is a regular parlay priced leg by leg. Bovada’s parlays, for example, are paid on the combined odds of the lines you pick, from 2 to 16 legs. Our guide on how to bet parlays shows how those payouts are worked out.
Teasers are the closest online match to a card, since the payout is fixed by the number of teams and points. Our guide covers how to place teaser bets on Bovada.
Bovada’s parlays are priced from the current lines on each game you pick, and they run from 2 to 16 legs. If your state has legal online sportsbooks, a state-licensed book gives you more protection than an offshore site like Bovada.
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Sources
- Delaware Lottery: Sports Lottery parlay cards, ½ Point Parlay Card, Week 3, 2026 (PDF)
- Bovada help center: What is a Parlay?, What is a Teaser?