One creative way to give yourself a bit of an edge when betting on sports is to put together a teaser. Teasers are a form of parlays, in which a bettor will get a more advantageous set of lines for the teams selected, but will not get the same type of payout. A two-team parlay would pay back 2.64 to 1 at most sportsbooks as a standard price and then would be adjusted based on the lines for the individual sides or totals.
Teasers are different. In a teaser, you sacrifice some of the payback in order to get a better line. The industry standard is to allow teasers from 6-13 points on football and 4-10 points on basketball. More often than not, you’re going to see 6, 6.5, and 7 point teasers in football and anywhere from 4-6 points in basketball. These bet types can be very profitable in certain situations, but, as the name suggests, sometimes they can just be a great, big tease.
The way a teaser works is that the bettor will add a certain number of points to the line in order to get a more favorable situation. Let’s say that the Packers are a two-point underdog. Putting a six-point teaser on the Packers would drive that line up to +8. You get +3, +4, +6, and +7, which are all key numbers in the NFL. The Steelers are a six-point favorite. Playing a six-point teaser with the Steelers would drive that number down to a pick ‘em. So, on your two-team teaser, you would have Packers +8 and Steelers PK, when the original lines were +2 and -6.
Sportsbooks offer different payout prices on teasers, much like they do on parlays. There are industry standards that have been set and then sportsbooks deviate a little bit based on their risk profile. Like shopping around for the best standard lines and the best parlay prices, you want to do the same with the teasers market.
Here are some of our preferred sportsbooks for betting teasers: