This glossary defines every key parlay term you'll encounter on a picks column or sportsbook slip. Bookmark it and refer back whenever a phrase trips you up.
What exactly is a leg?
A leg is one individual selection inside a parlay ticket. A two-team parlay has two legs; a five-team parlay has five. Every single leg must win for the ticket to cash. That's the core rule explained in our plain-English breakdown of what a parlay bet is.
What is a push, and does it kill my parlay?
A push is a tie — the final margin lands exactly on the spread or total. In a parlay, the pushed leg is voided and the ticket reverts to the next lower number of legs at adjusted odds. So a four-leg parlay with one push is graded as a three-leg parlay. You don't lose; you just win less.
Core parlay terms, A–Z
- Cover probability
- The estimated statistical likelihood that a given leg wins. Tools like the BettingPros Parlay Wizard use this figure to grade suggested picks.
- Expected value (EV)
- The long-run theoretical average return on a bet. A positive-EV leg is theoretically profitable over many trials; a negative-EV leg costs money over time. Understanding EV is central to any smarter parlay-building strategy.
- Leg
- See above — each individual selection on a multi-leg ticket.
- Line movement
- A change in a betting line caused by sharp money, public volume, or injury news. Significant movement on a leg before you add it can signal where informed bettors stand.
- Parlay card
- A pre-printed card used at retail sportsbooks offering fixed payout tables. These typically pay below the mathematically calculated true parlay odds — a meaningful disadvantage versus a digital sportsbook.
- Parlay insurance
- A sportsbook promotion that refunds a bonus bet when exactly one leg of a qualifying multi-leg parlay loses. Terms and state availability vary by operator. See our full parlay insurance explainer before opting in.
- Push
- See above — a tie result that voids a leg rather than losing the whole ticket.
- Round robin
- A parlay structure that auto-generates every possible combination of smaller parlays from a selected group of legs, each requiring a separate stake. It spreads risk but multiplies the total amount wagered.
- Same-game parlay (SGP)
- A parlay where all legs are drawn from one game. Books apply an additional 10%–20% house edge above standard parlay hold to account for correlated-leg risk. Whether that extra cost is ever worth it is a question we dig into in our same-game parlay analysis.
- Teaser
- A parlay variant where point spreads are moved in the bettor's favor — typically six points in football — in exchange for lower payouts than a standard parlay.
- Units
- A standardized betting unit used by handicappers to track profit and loss across a season (e.g., "+23.7 units on the season"). One unit equals whatever flat stake a bettor chooses; it's a tool for comparing performance across different bankroll sizes.
How do these terms connect to parlay odds math?
Parlay odds are calculated by multiplying each leg's decimal odds together — not adding them. Each extra leg compounds the house edge against you. The full formula, with worked examples, is in our guide to how parlay odds are calculated.
Parlay betting is legal in every U.S. state that has authorized sports betting — roughly 30 states offer mobile wagering as of 2026. For a state-by-state breakdown, see our parlay betting legality by state page. If you're ready to find a licensed book, our best parlay betting sites in the USA guide covers the top regulated options.
Must be 21+ (18+ in some states). If gambling is becoming a problem, contact the National Council on Problem Gambling for state-specific self-exclusion guides and support resources.