Exploring the Rise and Impact of Bet Builder Strategies in Sports Betting

By: Chrysty Miles, Guest Contributor
June 24, 2024

One of the characteristics of modern sports betting is the competition between sportsbooks. On the bettors’ side, this leads to aspects like improved promotions as betting platforms vie for your attention, but it can also lead to innovations, including more varied betting options. Recently, sportsbooks have been really pushing the concept of the “bet builder”, perhaps more commonly referred to as same-game parlays in US sports betting.

Same-game parlays aren’t exactly new, but their scope has been widened in recent years, and it can be argued that they have changed both the strategic and social side of betting. Elaboration on both aspects will be provided later, but it’s enough to say that bet builders have really caught on in terms of popularity. And they represent the most significant shift in the sector since the advent of live betting online became popularized.

What is a bet builder?

A bet builder is a multi-leg parlay on the same event. So, using soccer as an example, a bet builder might consist of legs like Team A winning, Team A scoring 2+ goals, Player X scoring the first goal, and Team B earning the most corners in the game.

Bet builder odds calculation

It is not strictly a parlay/accumulator because the odds calculation is based on correlated outcomes. In the example above, if you bet on Team A to score 2+ goals, the likelihood that they win (another leg of the bet builder) is, of course, increased, so the calculation of the odds takes that into account.

Bet builder advantages

There are numerous aspects that make bet builders attractive. First of all, there is the opportunity for customization of your bet. It adds an element of gamification to betting. There’s also the allure of getting higher odds for an individual event.

Bet builders on social media

One of the key reasons for the rise in popularity of bet builders is their presence on social media. Tipsters will provide advice, particularly for big games, and the bets will be backed by their followers. One of the reasons for this phenomenon is that many bet builder strategies now follow statistics-based strategies. Tipsters will calculate stats for outcomes, particularly props bets, such as corners, fouls, yellow cards, and so on.

Bet builder disadvantages

Is there room for criticism of bet builders? Generally, there is sometimes a sense that bettors are making things too complex. Indeed, this is touched upon in the Adam Sandler movie Uncut Gems. Sandler’s character, Howard Ratner, places an elaborate bet builder on the Boston Celtics. The bet ends up winning, but the point is clearly made about over-complicating things. That can be the downfall of some bet builder strategies.

Bet builder strategies

What, then, are the best ways to use bet builders? Most experts advise sticking to stats-based legs. So, for example, betting on quantifiable props is better than picking random elements in the game. For soccer, that means betting on corners, fouls, discipline, and player shots on target, but staying away from more random outcomes like the team to take the first corner or the crossbar to be hit during the game. Like all betting strategies, the best bet builders are based on data.

The future of bet builders

The concept of bet builders/same-leg parlays is not exactly new, but what is recent is the capability of the sportsbooks to instantly calculate elaborate bets. That bodes well for the future, and new concepts like bet builders across multiple games and sports are already emerging. Could in-game bet builders be seen soon? It seems likely.