Three NBA game-total legs, each priced just a hair off the standard -110, combine into a ticket that pays $681.39 on a $100 wager. Before you decide whether that's a good deal, it's worth walking through every digit of the math and understanding exactly where the house is taking its cut. If you're brand new to multi-leg betting, How Parlays Work: Legs, Multiplied Odds, and All-or-Nothing Payouts gives you the conceptual foundation you'll need first.

What does this specific three-leg NBA totals parlay look like?

The ticket has three legs, each wagering on whether a game's combined score goes over or under a set number: Leg 1 is priced at -115, Leg 2 at -110, and Leg 3 at -110. Those are slight favorites — closer to a coin flip than anything exotic. According to SportsBoom's worked example, those three legs combined produce +581 in American odds, and a $100 stake returns $681.39 in total payout, meaning $581.39 in net profit if all three legs hit.

That number is enticing on its face, but it requires three independent outcomes to all land correctly. Miss even one leg and the entire ticket is dead — $0 back, no partial credit. That all-or-nothing structure is the single most important mechanical fact about parlays, and it's why parlays account for over 70% of online sportsbooks' revenue.

How do you convert those American odds to get the payout?

The arithmetic starts by converting each leg from American odds to decimal format. For a negative line, the formula is: decimal = 1 + (100 ÷ |American odds|). So -115 becomes 1 + (100 ÷ 115) = 1.8696; -110 becomes 1 + (100 ÷ 110) = 1.9091, twice for the two identical legs. You then multiply all three decimals together: 1.8696 × 1.9091 × 1.9091 ≈ 6.8139. Multiply that combined decimal by your $100 stake and you get $681.39. Subtract your original $100 and the net profit is $581.39, which converts back to roughly +581 in American odds — matching the SportsBoom figure exactly. For a deeper dive into that conversion process, see How to Calculate Parlay Odds: American to Decimal Conversion Step by Step.

Why does the house edge matter so much here?

Each leg at -110 or -115 already contains a built-in vig — the sportsbook's commission baked into the price. When you multiply three vigged odds together rather than adding them, the house edge compounds rather than simply stacks. The average house edge on parlays runs approximately 24%, compared to roughly 4.5% on single-game bets. That gap is not a rounding error; it's a structural feature of how parlay math works, and it means the long-run expected return on this ticket type is significantly negative. For a fuller accounting of that math, Why Parlays Lose So Often: 24% Vig and the All-or-Nothing Rule is worth reading before you build your next ticket.

How does this compare to a standard three-team spread parlay?

If all three legs were priced at exactly -110 rather than one at -115, the payout would be marginally higher because the combined decimal product would be slightly larger. The 3-Team Parlay Example: How a $100 Bet at -110 Returns ~$696 walks through that baseline case. The difference between $681 and $696 on a $100 wager might seem trivial, but across hundreds of tickets it reflects the compounding effect of even a five-cent line difference on a single leg.

Does this ticket trigger a W-2G tax form?

Possibly. The IRS requires a W-2G when sports-betting winnings are $600 or more and the payout is at least 300 times the amount wagered. A $100 bet paying $681.39 clears the $600 threshold but falls short of the 300× multiplier (which would require $30,000 on a $100 stake), so no automatic W-2G is issued here. That said, all gambling winnings are taxable federal income regardless of whether a form is issued, and some states impose additional state income tax. Keep records of every ticket.

What state restrictions apply to this kind of wager?

Legal parlay wagering is only available where a state has authorized sports betting. As of 2024, more than 30 states plus Washington D.C. have done so following the Supreme Court's 2018 PASPA repeal. Delaware was notably early — the Delaware Lottery offered legal parlay wagering as far back as 2009, nearly a decade before full sports betting was authorized there in July 2018. By contrast, states like Mississippi and Montana permit only retail sports betting, meaning online parlay tickets placed from those states are not legal. California has not legalized sports betting at all. Always verify your state's current status before depositing.

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