Parlay bets are everywhere before big games. How much do you actually know about them?
By Melissa Toney Associate Director, Community Engagement and Partnerships, Responsible Gambling Council
This year is shaping up to be one of the most exciting in Canadian sports in recent memory. March Madness. The Stanley Cup Playoffs. FIFA. For millions of fans, these moments are what the whole year builds toward. The energy is real; the stakes feel enormous, and for a growing number of people, placing a bet is part of how they enjoy it.
There’s nothing wrong with that. Sports betting is a form of entertainment, and for most people, that’s exactly how it remains: entertainment.
But something happens during big games that doesn’t get talked about enough. The excitement that makes these events so memorable is the same thing that can quietly override the careful thinking we’d normally apply to a financial decision. And one betting product in particular is tends to feel most appealing in exactly that environment: the parlay bet.
Parlay betting has become one of the fastest-growing forms of sports wagering in Canada. The appeal is straightforward. You combine multiple picks into a single bet, and the potential payout climbs with every selection you add. It feels strategic. It feels like you’re putting your knowledge of the game to work.
Here’s what most people don’t fully understand until after the fact: every single selection must win. All of them. Get four out of five right, and you still lose the entire wager. The more picks you add, the longer the odds become against you, even though each individual selection might feel like a reasonable call.
Parlay products are promoted heavily during major sporting events, often alongside bonus offers that make the risk feel smaller than it is. The result is a product that looks attractive, feels skillful, and is, mathematically speaking, significantly harder to win than it appears.
The point is that people are placing these bets without fully understanding how they work, and that has real consequences. Research consistently tells us that sports bettors experience gambling harm at twice the rate of the general gambling population. Young adult males between 18 and 34 are at particularly elevated risk. Those aren’t abstract statistics. They’re people watching the same games the rest of us are watching, making split-second decisions in environments that make it hard to pause and think.
One of the most persistent myths we encounter at the Responsible Gambling Council is that sports knowledge gives bettors an edge. It doesn’t. Gambling is fundamentally random. Knowing every injury update, every matchup history, every statistical trend makes watching the game more engaging. It doesn’t change the odds. The belief that expertise translates into success is what researchers call the ‘illusion of control’, and it is one of the most significant risk factors for gambling harm.
So, what can actually help? A few things, and none of them require you to stop betting on sports.
Make your plan before the game starts. Set a budget before tip-off, before puck drop, before the moment your team ties it up and the room goes
electric. In that moment, you’re not the best person to make financial decisions. The calm, clear-headed version of you who planned ahead is.
If you are going to bet, stick to single bets where possible. Avoid placing bets while drinking. And if something starts to feel off, whether it’s the urge to chase a loss or the anxiety creeping in after a big wager, pay attention to that. That feeling is usually a sign that you may need to think about your next move.
For more than 40 years, the Responsible Gambling Council has worked alongside players, communities, operators, and regulators because we believe gambling should never come at a human cost. T
The games ahead are going to be incredible. Go in with a plan, and you’ll enjoy them a lot more when they’re over.
