Sucker Bets in Sports Betting: What They Are & How to Avoid Them

Sportsbooks are full of flashy wagers promising big payouts – parlays, long-shot props, huge futures odds, and more.

As a bettor, it’s easy to get tempted by those “lottery ticket” bets or wagers that seem like sure things.

However, many of these enticing bets are what experienced gamblers dub “sucker bets.”

In simple terms, a sucker bet is a wager that looks appealing on the surface but is heavily tilted in favor of the house. Over time, these bets will drain your bankroll because the odds are stacked against you.

In this guide, we’ll have a friendly conversation about what exactly a sucker bet is, go over examples across major sports (NFL, NBA, MLB, college football, etc.), and show you how to spot and avoid these bad bets.

We’ll even discuss the rare times when taking a long-shot bet might not be such a bad idea. Let’s dive in!

What Exactly Is a Sucker Bet?

A sucker bet is any wager that sportsbooks love to offer because the odds overwhelmingly favor the bookmaker – so much that only a “sucker” (i.e. an uninformed or overly optimistic bettor) would consistently play it.

In other words, it’s a bet with a huge house edge and a terrible expected return for the player.

If a bet is designed such that the sportsbook is almost guaranteed to profit from it in the long run, you’re looking at a sucker bet.

Put bluntly, these are the kinds of bets that you’re very likely to lose (or get paid far less than fair value even if you win). Making such wagers regularly is like throwing your money away – you might as well donate your cash to the sportsbook’s coffers and get nothing in return.

The term “sucker bet” sounds harsh, but it’s a common phrase in betting circles meant to warn bettors off from wagers that are basically traps.

Key Characteristics of a Sucker Bet

High House Advantage: Sucker bets give sportsbooks a big margin. The bookmaker’s edge is built into the odds, often in sneaky ways. For example, a 50/50 proposition might pay out at only 90% of what it should. (Imagine a coin toss bet that should pay even money but the book offers it at -110 odds – that’s a guaranteed profit margin for the house.)
Enticing Payout or Premise: These bets usually dangle a huge payout or a fun concept to lure bettors. The potential reward seems very attractive (e.g. “Win $10,000 on a $10 bet!” or “easy money if this heavy favorite wins”). That excitement can cloud a bettor’s judgment about the true probability of winning.
Low Probability of Winning: If you dig into the math, sucker bets have a low chance of hitting (or they’re priced such that even a 50/50 chance pays less than 1:1). You’ll hear seasoned bettors say these wagers have negative expected value (EV) – meaning if you made the bet 100 times, you’d almost surely come out behind in the long run.
Appeal to Casual Bettors: Sucker bets often prey on inexperience or wishful thinking. They target recreational bettors who might not know the odds are poor or who are chasing the thrill of a big win. Sportsbooks know that inexperienced bettors tend to go for the “flashy” bets and they shape the offerings accordingly.

In short, a sucker bet is any bet where the smart money would say “no thanks.” If the wager is heavily geared toward making the sportsbook money rather than giving you a fair shot, it falls in this category.

Why Sportsbooks Love Sucker Bets (and Why Bettors Fall for Them)

Sportsbooks aren’t charities – they’re businesses that profit off bettors’ mistakes and biases. Sucker bets are extremely profitable for the house, and bookmakers are very aware of that. Here’s why the books promote these bets heavily, and why so many casual bettors take the bait:

Big Profit Margins: Because sucker bets carry a higher vig (house cut) or lower probability of payout, the sportsbook’s hold percentage on these wagers is huge. For instance, parlays have a much higher built-in edge for the book than single straight bets – as more legs are added, the hold compounds. It’s not uncommon for a large parlay to give the house a 20-30% edge or more, compared to ~5% on a typical single bet. From the book’s perspective, that’s a massive advantage.
Easy to Market the Dream: The idea of turning a few bucks into a small fortune is a powerful draw. Sportsbooks will happily share stories of the rare bettor who hit a crazy 10-team parlay or a long-shot future and won big. You’ve probably seen headlines like “Bettor wins $100,000 on $5 parlay!” floating around social media. Believe it or not, sportsbooks themselves often leak or promote these jackpot stories on purpose . Why? Because it sparks “it could be me!” thinking among the public. When Joe Public hears that someone else hit the lottery, he’s more inclined to try those long-shot bets too. This drives more people to bet parlays and long-shots – exactly what the sportsbook wants.
Appeal of Low Risk/High Reward: Psychologically, many casual bettors would rather risk a small amount for a big payoff than a larger amount for a modest win. It feels like “nothing to lose, everything to gain.” Sucker bets perfectly exploit this mindset. A $10 bet to potentially win $500 or $1000 is very tempting – it feels like buying a lottery ticket. The sportsbook knows that while one person might hit that 100-to-1 long shot, hundreds of others will lose, and the house keeps all those losing wagers. It’s volume business for them, fueled by the public’s love of a long shot.
They’re Fun and Flashy: Let’s be honest – some of these bets are fun. It’s exciting to string together a crazy parlay or put a few bucks on your team to win the championship before the season. Sportsbooks design these bets to be entertaining. Prop bets (like “Who will score the first touchdown?” or wild Super Bowl props) add excitement to games. Same-game parlays let you craft a narrative for a single contest (“Player X scores 20, Team Y wins, total goes over,” etc.). This entertainment factor hooks casual bettors, who might value the fun almost as much as the money. The book is happy to encourage that because fun bets still bring in real losses for the majority of players.
Beginners Don’t See the Hook: New or casual bettors often don’t realize the odds are stacked against them on these wagers. If you’re not calculating the true probabilities or aware of standard odds, a lot of sucker bets can appear like good deals. For example, a +1000 underdog moneyline might entice a novice (“Hey, 10-to-1 payout, what if they win?”) without them understanding that +1000 implies only a 9% chance of winning – and often the true chance is even less, meaning the bet is overpriced in the house’s favor. Likewise, many don’t realize a parlay’s true odds versus the payout offered, or that a coin toss at -115 is a rip-off. Sportsbooks count on this lack of knowledge. They especially push these kinds of bets to recreational bettors who aren’t line-shopping or crunching numbers.

In summary, sportsbooks love sucker bets because they pad the bottom line with minimal risk. And bettors (especially recreational ones) fall for sucker bets due to the allure of big rewards, the fun factor, and not being fully aware of the math. It’s a bit like a carnival game – bright lights, tempting prizes, but the game is rigged just enough to favor the house.

Common Sucker Bets to Avoid (with Examples)

Now that we know what sucker bets are, let’s get specific. Here are some common types of sucker bets you’ll encounter, with examples across major American sports (NFL, NBA, MLB, college football, etc.). If you’re looking to bet smarter, these are the wagers you generally want to avoid or treat with caution:

Huge Moneyline Favorites (and Ultra-Long Underdogs): Betting on a heavily favored team to win outright may feel like a “sure thing,” but it’s usually a sucker’s play on both sides of the coin. Example (NFL): Suppose the Kansas City Chiefs are -1000 favorites against an inferior team. You’d have to risk $1000 just to win $100 in profit – not worth it! One upset and that $1000 is gone. Conversely, betting a massive underdog at +1000 might seem enticing (who wouldn’t want 10-to-1 odds?), but there’s a reason the odds are so high – that team is highly unlikely to win. You’re basically throwing your money away by taking that long-shot flier in most cases . This is common in college football blowouts too. Betting Alabama at -5000 to beat a cupcake opponent? You’ll risk a ton for a microscopic gain. Taking the 50-1 underdog opponent “just in case”? That money is probably gone 49 out of 50 times. In short, extreme moneylines (either huge favorites or huge underdogs) are usually bad bets. The payouts are out of whack with the true probabilities, skewed heavily in the book’s favor.
Parlays (Especially Big Multi-Team Parlays): Parlays are the poster child for sucker bets in many bettors’ minds. A parlay combines multiple picks into one bet, and you only win if ALL of the legs hit. The appeal is obvious: string together, say, five games and you could turn a $10 bet into a few hundred dollars. The reality is also obvious to seasoned bettors: hitting all five picks is really hard! Even if each leg is, say, a 50/50 proposition, the chance of going 5-0 is only 3% (0.5^5 = 0.03125). Yet sportsbooks offer parlays because they know most will lose, and even when they win, the payout is slightly worse than if you had bet those games individually. (Fun fact: If you took that same $10 and bet each game one by one, rolling the winnings over, you’d often end up with more money than the parlay would pay – but parlays lock you in at lower fixed odds .) The house edge compounds with each leg of a parlay. Example (NBA): You pick three NBA teams against the spread at standard -110 odds. Hitting all 3 might pay around 6 to 1 (+600) on a parlay. That sounds great – $100 would win $600. But the true odds of a 3-team parlay at 50/50 each are 7 to 1. The book’s payout (6-to-1) actually short-changes you relative to the true risk, and that difference is their profit. It’s hard enough to win one bet consistently, let alone multiple at once. Sportsbooks love parlays and will often encourage them with promotions like “Parlay Boosts” or by advertising big parlay hits. Remember, those big hits are rare – for every headline of a bettor hitting a 10-leg parlay, there are thousands of losing tickets crumpled in the trash. Bottom line: Parlays are fun and can occasionally hit, but they’re called sucker bets for a reason – the odds are heavily against you.
Teasers and Unorthodox Combo Bets: A teaser is a specific type of parlay (common in football and basketball) where you get to adjust the point spreads in your favor for each leg, in exchange for a lower payout. For example, a 6-point NFL teaser might let you take a 7-point favorite down to only -1, and a 3-point underdog up to +9, etc., for two or more games. Sounds great, right? Easier spreads and a parlay payout. The catch is the payout is much smaller than a normal parlay because you “bought” those points – and often, it’s still not worth it. Why teasers can be suckers: You’re still tying multiple outcomes together, and you’re paying extra juice for those points. Unless you really know what you’re doing (like teasing through key numbers in NFL spreads, a strategy some sharp bettors use), teasers often just create a false sense of security. The sportsbook wouldn’t offer them if they weren’t making money off them! Many pros will tell you teasers are mostly sucker bets, with one notable exception being the well-known strategy of teasing NFL favorites of -7.5 down to -1.5 or underdogs of +1.5 up to +7.5 (crossing the key win margins of 3 and 7 points). Outside of such scenarios, casual bettors usually lose on teasers because they take bad combinations (e.g. teasing through zero or teasing college games with huge spreads). If you find yourself adding a teaser “just because it looks safer than a parlay,” be careful – it might be a sucker bet in disguise.
Wild Prop Bets and Novelty Wagers: Proposition bets (props) are wagers on specific outcomes within a game that aren’t directly tied to the final score – things like a player’s stat line, the occurrence of a certain event, etc. There are also novelty props (especially during big events like the Super Bowl) that have nothing to do with gameplay (coin toss result, length of the national anthem, etc.). While not all props are bad, many fall squarely into sucker bet territory. Why? They often carry higher vig and are harder to accurately handicap. For example, a typical point spread bet might be -110 on each side (the book’s built-in cut is about 4.5%). But a random player prop might be listed at -120 on each side, or -115/-115, meaning the house cut is bigger – you’re getting worse odds than a fair coin flip. Sportsbooks know casual bettors love props (they’re fun side action), so they aren’t shy about taking a larger margin. Example: The Super Bowl coin toss is the classic example of a pure sucker bet – it’s literally a coin flip, 50/50 odds, but the sportsbook will charge juice (e.g. you have to bet $115 to win $100 on “Heads”). There is no skill or edge to be had there, and you’re getting a terrible price on a true coin flip. It’s essentially a guaranteed profit for the book over time . Other examples include “first player to score” props or “exact score” bets. These are incredibly hard to predict and often come with big house edges. If you see a prop bet that looks unusually specific or has a ton of possible outcomes (like picking which player will score the very first touchdown on an NFL Sunday, out of dozens of players), that’s a sign the odds are greatly in the book’s favor. Oddsmakers wouldn’t offer so many props if they weren’t raking in money on them. Bottom line: Enjoy props for entertainment if you must, but understand many of them are traps with high vig.
Long-Shot Futures Bets: A futures bet is a wager on an outcome down the road – for example, picking the World Series winner before the MLB season, or who will win the next Super Bowl months in advance. These can be among the biggest sucker bets, especially the longer odds options. It’s fun to dream (“I’ll put $20 on my team at 50-to-1 to win it all!”), and if it hits you’ll definitely make the news, but the reality is grim: sportsbooks clean up on futures. Why? For one, you’re tying up your money for a long time with a very slim chance to win. More importantly, the odds are usually not as great as they appear – books build a hefty margin into futures. There might be 20 or 30 teams with odds listed, and virtually all of them are priced in a way that the total implied probability far exceeds 100%, meaning the book has a built-in edge. In fact, sportsbook managers often report that futures markets are easy winners for the house – they rarely end up in the red on futures because the long shots almost never come through. For example, in most pro sports, one of the top few favorites wins the title almost every year. If you’re betting a team that’s not in that top tier, you’re usually taking worse odds than you should. Example (MLB): Betting a bottom-of-the-barrel team at +5000 to win the World Series might sound like a fun long shot, but if that team’s true chances are, say, 0.5% (1 in 200), the fair odds would be +20000, not +5000. You’re way off in value. Even a “safer” future, like a favored team at +300, can be poor value when you consider injuries, variance, and the fact that your money is locked up all season. Sure, there’s the occasional Cinderella story – e.g. a bettor hits on a 100-1 long shot for the NCAA tournament or an underdog season – but for every one person who cashes a crazy futures ticket, hundreds (if not thousands) of others lose theirs . Sportsbooks love to highlight that one big winner while quietly keeping everyone else’s money. If you do bet futures, stick to ones where you genuinely think the odds are mispriced in your favor (a rare case) or for small recreational amounts.
Exotic Combo Bets and Lotteries: This is a bit of a catch-all for any other highly complex or multi-part bets that carry big house edges. Some examples: “Grand Salami” bets (over/under on total runs/goals scored in all games of the day across a league) – fun, but one weird high-scoring or low-scoring game can wreck the whole wager, and you’re again dealing with multiple outcomes that increase variance. Or consider those jackpot-style parlays some books offer (like a $5 bet picking correct scores of several games for a shot at $100k). These are basically lotteries. The chance of winning is minuscule, and the expected return is awful because the payout, while huge, is still far less than the true odds of hitting. Same-Game Parlays (SGPs) also deserve a mention: they’re extremely popular now (you’ve probably seen the ads), allowing you to parlay multiple outcomes within one game (like a player’s points, a team to win, and the total). While some legs in an SGP can be statistically correlated (and that’s part of the appeal), the sportsbooks typically adjust the odds to account for that correlation – and often in a way that still favors them. In short, books know how to price these flashy combos to ensure they profit, not you. Treat these exotic bets as pure entertainment. If you want to throw a couple of bucks at a moonshot for fun, fine – but do it knowing it’s very likely a donation to the house.

TL;DR: The common thread with all these bets – huge favorites, parlays, teasers, props, long futures, exotic combos – is that the sportsbook has an outsized edge. They’re often bets that inexperienced or casual fans gravitate toward, which is exactly why they’re on the menu. Smart bettors either avoid them or only bet them in very specific, advantageous situations.

Real-World Sucker Bet Scenarios (Learn from Others’ Mistakes)

It might help to visualize some real-life examples where bettors commonly fall for sucker bets:

The Super Bowl Coin Toss Fiasco: We mentioned it already because it’s so emblematic. Every year, hordes of people bet on the Super Bowl coin toss. It’s pure luck, no skill, and it should pay $100 on a $100 bet (true even odds). Instead, bettors will lay say -115 (risk $115 to win $100). The sportsbook literally can’t lose on this bet in the long run – if equal money goes on heads and tails, they collect a 7.5% cut risk-free. Bettors are essentially paying for the privilege of guessing a coin flip. This is 100% a sucker bet (sorry, but it is!). As one writer quipped, “you are basically just making a donation to the sportsbooks” on such wagers.
Parlay Mania on NFL Sundays: Many casual bettors love to combine a bunch of Sunday NFL games into one parlay ticket – “$20 to win $1000! Why not?” Here’s why not: how often does every favorite or every pick you like actually win in a given day? Maybe once in a blue moon. The reality is usually one or two unexpected results will bust the ticket. Sportsbooks count on this and cheerfully advertise things like “15-leg parlay payout boosts” to encourage the behavior. For example, a bettor might take 10 teams on the moneyline. Even if each game he chose is fairly likely, the chance all 10 win is extremely low. Yet the bettor sees that “+5000” payout and dreams of glory. The book knows that 99 times out of 100, at least one of those teams loses (if not more), and they keep the money. Learn from this: Hitting a big parlay is like winning the lottery. Don’t bank on it as a strategy.
Chasing the Favorite in College Football: Imagine a college football fan who’s sure the #1 ranked team will clobber an unranked opponent. They see the moneyline is -5000. They put $500 on it to win a mere $10 profit, thinking it’s basically free money. But upsets (while rare in such mismatches) do happen, and when they do it’s devastating. Even if the favorite wins, the risk/reward was awful – tying up $500 (or potentially losing it) just to gain $10. Over a season, betting heavy favorites like this will eventually blow up your bankroll the first time a shocking upset occurs. It’s simply not a smart way to invest your money in wagers.
“Can’t Lose” Props and Boosts: Sportsbooks often boost odds on a particular prop or quirky parlay and label it “special” or “promo”. For example, they might boost a famous player to score a touchdown from -150 to +100 for a game, or boost a 3-team parlay payout slightly. Bettors assume “hey, it’s boosted, good value!” But many of these are still not great bets. The player might only score in 40% of games (true odds +150), so even money isn’t really value – it’s just less bad. Or the parlay boost might not overcome the inherent edge the book has. One real example: a book offered an odds boost from +600 to +700 on a very specific outcome . Sounds nicer, but if the true odds of that outcome were like +1000, it’s still a sucker bet – you’re likely losing your money regardless, and the boost is just a shiny lure. The lesson: Don’t assume a promotion means a bet is suddenly in your favor. Books boost things that still have a low probability of hitting, to get more action on them.

Hopefully these scenarios highlight the common theme: whenever you feel too assured a bet will hit despite a poor payout, or too seduced by a huge payout on a crazy bet, pause and reconsider. That gut check can save you from a sucker bet.

How to Spot a Sucker Bet (Tips to Identify and Avoid Them)

Now for the practical part – how can you identify sucker bets before you put your hard-earned money down? Here are some tips and red flags to look for so you can bet smarter:

Compare Implied Odds to Reality: A bit of quick math can expose a sucker bet. Every betting line corresponds to an implied probability. For example, -200 odds imply about a 66.7% chance of winning, while +500 implies about a 16.7% chance. Ask yourself, is that probability realistic? If a bet’s odds suggest something like a 5% chance (e.g. +1900) and you know such an outcome almost never happens, the bet is probably sucker bait. Conversely, if something is basically 50/50 in reality (like a coin toss) but the odds you’re getting are worse than even (e.g. you have to lay -120), that’s a terrible deal. Understanding implied probability and comparing it to your own estimates (or common sense) is key . If the numbers don’t add up favorably for you, stay away.
Look Out for High Vig/Juice: Always check how much vig is baked into a bet. If you see both sides of a wager at -115 or -120 (common in props and niche markets), that means the house cut is larger than normal. Standard -110/-110 lines have about a 4.5% edge for the book. -120/-120 lines shoot that up to ~9% edge for the book – double the take! The higher the juice, the more of a disadvantage for you. Sucker bets often hide in markets with inflated juice or many outcomes (like futures or exotics where the true probabilities of all outcomes sum well above 100%). As a rule, the more outcomes or legs involved, the more vig the book can spread out and hide. A simple moneyline or spread has two outcomes; something like “which player will score first” might have 20 outcomes – plenty of room to give you subpar odds on each and ensure a profit. Be wary of bets where you can’t easily tell what the house edge is.
Be Skeptical of “Too Good to Be True” Payouts: If a $5 bet promises a $5,000 payout, ask yourself why. The book isn’t in the business of giving away $5k easily. Huge payouts exist to lure you into extremely unlikely bets. The bigger the potential reward for a tiny stake, generally the bigger the sucker bet. It’s basically like the lottery – yes, someone wins big occasionally, but the majority lose, and that’s why lotteries make money. The sportsbook is doing the same thing with large parlays, exotic props, and long futures. Always remember: a flashy reward usually comes with hidden terrible odds of success.
Notice Book Promotions and Media Hype: If the sportsbooks or media talking heads are pushing a certain bet type a lot (parlays, same-game parlays, certain props), that’s a clue. Sportsbooks promote bets that make them money. For instance, when you open a betting app and see a big banner for “Parlay Insurance” or “Boosted 5-Leg Parlay of the Day,” they’re not doing it out of generosity. They know these bets are likely losers for players in the long run, so they gladly incentivize you to try. Similarly, if ESPN or some show is touting a “Can’t-miss 8-team parlay” for entertainment, take it with a grain of salt – that’s more for fun than profit. Tip: When a sportsbook leaks a story of a huge parlay winner, view it as an advertisement, not a blueprint. The house wants you to chase that story . Wise bettors smile at those promos and stick to wagers that they’ve researched.
Shop Lines and Compare: A great way to sniff out a sucker bet is to compare odds across different sportsbooks. If one book is offering significantly worse odds on a particular bet than others, that’s a red flag (they know people will bet it anyway, likely a sign of a “public” or sucker bet) . For example, if most books have a prop at +800 but one popular book has it at +600, the popular book might be shading it down because they expect a lot of casual money. Always shop around for the best price – doing so not only improves your potential returns, it also helps highlight when a bet might be inherently bad (if even the best price still seems poor relative to true odds). In today’s world, with many legal online sportsbooks, there’s no reason to settle for one book’s possibly sucker-biased odds. Use that to your advantage.
Use Your Head, Not Just Your Heart: Many sucker bets prey on fan enthusiasm or biased intuition. Betting your favorite team to win it all every year, or always betting on a star player to score because you “have a feeling,” can lead you into bad-value bets. Try to step back and assess a bet objectively. If you can’t make a rational case why the odds are in your favor (or at least fair), then they’re probably not. Don’t let the excitement of a potential win drown out logic. If a bet’s main justification is “it would be so cool if it hits!” – that’s a cue that you might be leaning sucker territory.
Educate Yourself on Betting Math: You don’t need a PhD in statistics to avoid sucker bets, but a little knowledge goes a long way. Learn about expected value (EV) – a concept that basically tells you whether a bet is profitable in the long run or not. A sucker bet, by definition, has negative EV (you’re expected to lose money over time by playing it). There are many resources and simple formulas to calculate EV or at least estimate it. For instance, if you know the implied probability of a bet (from the odds) and you have an estimate of the true probability of it winning, you can gauge if there’s value. If the true chance is less than the implied chance, it’s a bad bet. Even a quick mental check like “Is this outcome really likely enough to justify the odds I’m getting?” can save you from obvious traps.
Learn from Experience (and Others): Finally, pay attention to your own betting history and to cautionary tales. If you’ve been burned by a certain type of bet repeatedly (like multi-team parlays that keep coming one leg short – a very common story!), take that as a lesson. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing expecting a different result. Similarly, watch and learn from other bettors – whether it’s forum posts, articles, or buddies – discussing bad beats on sucker bets. If you notice a pattern like “wow, lots of people regret these kinds of bets,” that’s a sign to steer clear or approach with extreme caution.

In short, identifying a sucker bet comes down to thinking critically. Don’t be blinded by the glitz of a potential payout or a fun gimmick.

Look at the structure of the bet: How many things need to go right? What’s the true likelihood? What’s the sportsbook charging me for this bet?

If you approach each wager with that mindset, you’ll start seeing the sucker bets a mile away and avoid them like a bad bet (which they are!).

Are Sucker Bets Ever Worth It? (When to Take a Long Shot)

After all this doom-and-gloom about sucker bets, you might wonder: Is it ever okay to make these bets? The short answer is that for consistent profit-seeking, you should avoid sucker bets nearly all the time. However, there are a few situations where what is usually a sucker bet might be worth a shot:

When You Find a True Edge: Every once in a while, a savvy bettor might actually find a long-shot bet where the odds are mispriced in their favor. Maybe you have superior knowledge or analysis that the general public (and oddsmakers) haven’t caught onto. For example, you believe a certain underdog team is much better than everyone thinks, and they have a 10% chance to win a championship, but the odds imply only a 2% chance (+4900 or so). That could be a rare positive EV futures bet. These opportunities are few and far between, and usually only bettors who do a lot of research or model-building will spot them. But if you genuinely identify a bet that the sportsbook has overpriced (and you’re not just wishfully thinking), then by all means – that wouldn’t be a sucker bet, it would be a smart long shot. Professional bettors occasionally hit big parlays or futures, not because they got lucky, but because they carefully constructed a bet that had value.
NFL Teasers with Key Numbers: As hinted earlier, not all teasers are created equal. Sharp football bettors have long known that teasing through key numbers (3 and 7 in NFL spreads) on two-team teasers can actually be a viable strategy. For instance, teasing a 7.5-point favorite down to -1.5 and a 7.5-point favorite in another game down to -1.5 (or similar combos with underdogs from +1.5 to +7.5) at standard teaser odds (-120 or so) can yield close to break-even or even positive expected value. In this case, the teaser isn’t a sucker bet – it’s a calculated play that takes advantage of how NFL scoring works (winning by 3 or 7 are very common margins). Some experts argue these specific “Wong teasers” (named after the analyst who popularized them) “are no longer sucker bets” if done right . Caveat: Outside of these scenarios, teasers can still be suckers. So unless you deeply understand this strategy, it’s safer to avoid most teasers – but it’s good to know that there are a couple of narrow lanes where they might make sense.
Correlated Parlays (When Allowed): Parlays are usually bad, yes. But if the outcomes in a parlay are correlated (related to each other), and if the sportsbook for some reason hasn’t accounted for that, a parlay can have great value. For example, suppose you think a football game will be a low-scoring defensive battle. Betting the underdog and the under (total points) in the same game is somewhat correlated (if it’s low-scoring, an underdog has a better shot). If a sportsbook lets you parlay those and doesn’t reduce the payout for the correlation, that parlay might actually give you better odds than it should. Similarly, some bettors look for situations like a basketball team and the under, or a quarterback’s over yards and his receiver’s over yards – outcomes that feed into each other. Important: Many sportsbooks restrict obvious correlated parlays (they know the trick), especially within the same game. But occasionally promos or oversights let you do it. If done smartly, these aren’t sucker bets at all – they’re exploiting an edge. This is a more advanced tactic, though, and not something casual bettors should try without understanding the math.
Promotions That Eliminate the Edge: Once in a while, a sportsbook promotion genuinely tilts a bad bet into a decent one. For example, if a book offers “No Vig” on certain parlays for a night (meaning they pay true odds), or a 100% refund (insurance) if one leg of your parlay loses, those promos can negate the usual house edge or at least soften it. Or say a sportsbook gives a big odds boost that actually moves a bet from negative EV to positive EV (it happens, albeit rarely – often boosts just reduce the edge a bit , but not all the way). If you spot a promo where mathematically the player actually has the advantage (or at least a fair coin flip situation), then even a normally “sucker” bet becomes reasonable. Example: A book might boost a heavy favorite from -500 to +100 for a max small bet – that’s actually a great bet (free +100 on something likely to win). Or they might have a special parlay payout for a popular event that is intentionally generous to attract customers. Advice: Always read the fine print of promos and do the math. If it’s truly in your favor or breaks even, go for it. If it just sounds good but remains in the house’s favor, skip it.
For Entertainment (Small Stakes): Finally, there’s nothing wrong with taking a flyer for fun once in a while – as long as you’re fully aware it’s likely a losing proposition. If you’re treating sports betting as a hobby and can afford a small loss for the price of some excitement, an occasional moonshot isn’t the end of the world. For instance, maybe you and your friends each throw $5 on a crazy parlay on a lark, with the understanding that it’s probably not hitting. Or you put a $10 bet on your long-suffering hometown team to win the title at 100-1, just to dream a little. These are acceptable as entertainment expenses. The key is your mindset: you’re essentially paying for some fun, like buying a movie ticket or a lottery ticket. What you want to avoid is making sucker bets a significant portion of your wagering or chasing losses with them. Think of them as dessert – a small treat now and then, not the main course of your betting diet.

In a nutshell: Sucker bets are named that for a reason – most of the time you want to stay far away if your goal is to make money.

But in a few special cases – a mispriced line, a smartly used promo, a rare correlation quirk, or just a conscious entertainment flutter – taking a long shot can be okay.

The important thing is to know the difference. If you’re going to deviate from the safe path, do it with eyes open and a clear plan (or purely for fun with money you’re willing to lose).

Conclusion: Bet Smart and Stay Savvy

Sports betting is exciting, and it’s meant to be enjoyable. Avoiding sucker bets doesn’t mean you can’t have fun – it just means you’re betting with your brain instead of only your gut. By sticking to wagers where you have a reasonable edge or at least fair odds, you give yourself a much better chance to profit (or at least stretch your entertainment dollar further).

Remember, every flashy bet the sportsbook dangles in front of you is there because it benefits them. Your job as a savvy bettor is to tell the difference between a sucker bet and a smart bet. The more you practice looking at odds critically, the more you’ll spot the bad bets before you make them.

In the end, the goal is to have fun without being the sucker. Leave the sucker bets to others, and you’ll be ahead of the game.

Good luck, and happy betting – may all your wagers be sharp (and may you roast marshmallows with your money only for fun, not out of frustration)!

What Is a Sucker Bet in Sports Betting? (Definition & Examples)