SEA5
WSH3
VAN2
NYR6
CAR4
PHI1
FLA
BUF
OTT
NJD
VGK
MIN
DET
CBJ
MTL
TBL
STL
NYI
PIT
CHI
WPG
COL
DAL
NSH
TOR
UTA
CGY
ANA
EDM
LAK
BOS
SJS
How parlay odds are calculated
A parlay ties several bets together. Every leg has to win, and if one loses, the ticket loses. In return, the payout grows fast, because each winning leg's return becomes the stake for the next. The math is easiest in decimal odds: convert each leg, multiply them, and multiply by your stake.
Take two legs at -110. Each is 1.909 in decimal. Multiplied, that is 3.645, which is +264 in American odds. A $10 bet returns about $36.45. The break-even win rate is 1 divided by the combined decimal, here 27.4%, which is the same as both legs together hitting at 52.4% each.
That break-even figure is the one to watch. It tells you how often the whole ticket needs to land, not just how much it pays. A ten-leg parlay at -110 pays +64208, and it needs to hit 0.16% of the time. Big payouts and tiny win rates are two sides of the same number.
Why the juice compounds per leg
Each price carries the sportsbook's margin. On a single -110 bet that is a small cost. In a parlay, the margin on each leg multiplies with the others. The table assumes every leg is a true coin flip priced at -110, which is close to a normal NHL total.
| Legs | Pays (American) | Break-even | True chance | Expected loss per $100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | +264 | 27.44% | 25.00% | $8.88 |
| 3 | +596 | 14.37% | 12.50% | $13.03 |
| 4 | +1228 | 7.53% | 6.25% | $16.98 |
| 5 | +2436 | 3.94% | 3.13% | $20.75 |
| 6 | +4741 | 2.07% | 1.56% | $24.36 |
| 8 | +17545 | 0.57% | 0.39% | $31.08 |
| 10 | +64208 | 0.16% | 0.10% | $37.20 |
On a single bet, the expected cost is about 4.5% of the stake. By four legs it is 17.0%, and by ten it is 37.2%. Nothing about the games has changed. You are paying the margin again on every leg, and on the winnings carried from the leg before. The true odds option in the calculator does the same calculation for your own prices.
Same-game parlays in general terms
A same-game parlay takes several legs from one game: a team to win, the total over, a player to record a shot or a point. They are popular because one game can tell a whole story on one ticket. They are also priced differently from a normal parlay.
When legs come from different games, they are close to independent, and the book can multiply the prices. Legs from the same game are not independent. If a team wins 5-1, its top forward probably had a good night and the total probably went over. The book's pricing model estimates how strongly those results move together and adjusts the payout, usually down. The margin is built into that adjustment, and it is often larger than on a standard parlay. The calculator above multiplies legs as if they were independent, so it will overstate what a same-game ticket actually pays.
Correlation: when legs move together
Correlation means two outcomes tend to happen together. Some are obvious. A favorite covering -1.5 means it won, so a moneyline and puck line on the same team are tied. Some are looser. In 2025-26, NHL games averaged 6.25 goals and 57.3% reached six or more. A game with a lopsided score is more likely to be one of those high-scoring nights, so a big favorite at -1.5 and the over are linked to some degree.
Books know this, which is why they block or reprice related legs. The reverse also matters. Legs that work against each other, such as an underdog moneyline and the over in a game you expect to be tight, make a parlay less likely to land than the simple multiplication suggests. Our over/under guide and puck line guide cover how those markets behave.
A useful check is base rates. Home teams won 52.2% of games last season. Three home teams all winning on the same night happened about 14.2% of the time, if the games are independent, which is a long way below what three "safe" home picks feel like.
Pushes, voids and changed lines
If a leg pushes, which can happen on whole-number totals like 6, most US books drop that leg and pay the parlay at the remaining odds. A postponed game or a scratched player on a prop leg is usually handled the same way. Some books void the whole ticket for certain same-game combinations instead. If the price on a leg moves after you bet, your ticket keeps the price you took. Check the house rules, and our overtime and shootout rules for how hockey markets settle.
Why sportsbooks like parlays
Sportsbooks promote parlays for a simple reason: the hold is larger. A book that keeps a few percent on single bets keeps a much bigger share of parlay money, as the table shows, and the big advertised payouts bring in small stakes from many people. Parlay boosts and insurance offers exist because the underlying ticket is so profitable for the book that it can give some of that margin back and still come out ahead.
None of this makes a parlay wrong to bet for fun with a small stake. It does mean the calculator's break-even rate is worth a look first, along with the legs themselves: the starting goalies, the tonight board and the player props page. Sports betting is for adults 21 and older in states where it is legal. If it stops being fun, call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit our responsible gambling page.
