Teaser Calculator: Break-Even Rate per Leg and Payout

The teaser calculator below turns a teaser price into the number that decides whether the bet is worth making: how often each leg has to win for the ticket to break even. Enter the price your sportsbook quotes, choose the number of legs and add a stake. The results show the break-even rate for the whole ticket, the rate each leg needs, the total return and the profit. It works for NFL, college football and NBA teasers alike, because only the price and the number of legs go into the sum.

How to use the teaser calculator

Fill in three fields:

• Teaser price: the odds on the teaser card for the size and points you have chosen. Any format works, so -120, 1.83 and 5/6 all describe the same price. The calculator opens at -120.
• Number of legs: pick 2 to 6 in the field labelled Selection. The price has to match this number, because sportsbooks quote a different price for each teaser size.
• Stake: a plain number with no currency symbol.

Then read the four results. Ticket break-even is how often the whole teaser must win for you to break even over time. Each leg must win is the rate every leg needs if the legs are equally likely to cover. Total return includes your stake, and profit is the return minus the stake.

The calculator does not ask how many points you are teasing. The points change the price the sportsbook offers and the chance that each leg covers, which is your estimate to make. The break-even rate itself depends only on the price and the number of legs, so a 6-point and a 7-point teaser at the same price need exactly the same rate.

The formulas behind the teaser calculator

The price is first converted to decimal odds. -120 becomes 1 + 100 / 120 = 1.8333, and +160 becomes 1 + 160 / 100 = 2.60. Call the decimal price D and the number of legs n.

• Ticket break-even: 1 / D. At -120 that is 1 / 1.8333 = 54.55%.
• Each leg must win: the ticket break-even raised to the power 1 / n, which is the nth root. For two legs that is the square root of 0.5455, or 73.85%.
• Total return: stake x D.
• Profit: stake x (D - 1).

The root works because a teaser only pays when every leg wins. If the legs are independent, the chance that the ticket wins is the product of the chances of each leg. Two legs that each cover 73.85% of the time win together 0.7385 x 0.7385 = 54.55% of the time, which is exactly the ticket break-even.

Your legs will rarely be equally strong, so treat the per-leg figure as an average. Multiply your own estimate for each leg and compare the product with the ticket break-even. A leg you rate at 78% paired with one you rate at 70% gives 0.78 x 0.70 = 54.6%, a whisker above the 54.55% that a -120 price needs.

Worked examples: two legs at -120 and three legs at +160

Start with the calculator's default: a two-team, 6-point NFL teaser at -120 with a $120 stake. In decimal the price is 1.8333, so the ticket break-even is 1 / 1.8333 = 54.55% and each leg must win the square root of that, 73.85%. If both legs cover, the total return is $120 x 1.8333 = $220.00 and the profit is $100.00.

Now a three-team teaser at +160. The decimal price is 2.60, the ticket break-even is 1 / 2.60 = 38.46%, and the cube root of 0.3846 is 0.7272, so each leg needs 72.72%. A $50 stake returns $50 x 2.60 = $130.00, a profit of $80.00. At these prices the third leg lowers the bar for each leg by about one percentage point, but it also adds a third game that has to go your way.

Set both against a single spread bet at -110, which breaks even at 1 / 1.9091 = 52.38%. Teasing the line has to lift each leg from roughly a coin flip to nearly three wins in four just to stand still.

The figures turn into an expected result once you add your own estimate. If you think each leg of the two-team teaser covers 75% of the time, the ticket wins 0.75 x 0.75 = 56.25% of the time, and a $120 bet is worth 0.5625 x $220 - $120 = +$3.75 on average. At 72% per leg the ticket wins 51.84% of the time and the same bet is worth 0.5184 x $220 - $120 = -$5.95. Three points per leg separate a small edge from a small loss, so the whole calculation rests on how honest your estimate is.

Key numbers 3 and 7 in brief

The calculator tells you the rate each leg needs. Whether a leg can reach it depends on which margins the extra points cover. In the NFL, field goals and touchdowns make 3 and 7 the most common winning margins, so a 6-point move that takes a favourite from -8.5 to -2.5, or an underdog from +1.5 to +7.5, picks up both of them. A favourite moved from -14.5 to -8.5 gains wins by 9 to 14 instead, margins that come up much less often, for the same price.

Basketball has no pair of margins as dominant as 3 and 7 in American football, and basketball teasers usually move the line by 4 to 5 points. The calculator handles them the same way, but the case for the extra points rests on your own reading of each game. Our guide to teaser bets covers key numbers, the Wong teaser pattern and how sportsbooks price teasers in depth, and the NFL betting guide explains why final margins cluster where they do.

What the teaser calculator does not cover

The tool assumes every leg either wins or loses and that the legs do not affect each other. In practice several things can change the result:

• Pushes. A teased leg that lands exactly on its new number is a push, and sportsbooks settle that differently. Some drop the teaser to the next size down, some void a two-team ticket and some state that ties lose. Half-point lines avoid the issue.
• Correlated legs. The per-leg figure treats the legs as independent. A side and a total from the same game are linked, so the break-even rate is only a rough guide, and many books restrict that combination in a teaser.
• Price differences. Teaser prices vary by sportsbook and change over time. The -120 and +160 used here are illustrative, so enter the price you are actually offered.
• Larger teasers. Some cards offer bigger moves at much shorter prices, and these may state that ties lose. The formula still works from the price, but the rules matter more.
• Postponed and cancelled games. Most books void the leg and reduce the teaser size, but check the wording on the card.

The calculator also does not judge whether a teaser is a good bet. It sets the bar, and your view of each leg decides whether you clear it. A ticket that wins often can still lose money if the price asks for more than the legs deliver.

Related guides and a quick check before you bet

The guide to point spread and handicap betting explains the lines a teaser moves, and implied probability covers the conversion behind the break-even rate. A teaser is a parlay with adjusted lines, so the parlay calculator is the tool for comparing it with two alternate spreads at their own prices. If you play several teaser combinations at once, the round robin calculator shows how many tickets that creates. Our guides to the NBA and college football cover the spreads you are most likely to tease outside the NFL.

Before you place a teaser, run through these checks:

• Enter the price from the teaser card for exactly the number of legs you plan to play.
• Write down your own estimate for each leg before you look at the break-even rate, so the number does not anchor you.
• Check that every NFL leg crosses 3 and 7, and drop any leg that crosses neither.
• Read the push, tie and postponement rules on the card.
• Compare the teaser price with the same lines bought as alternate spreads in a parlay.
• Size the stake from your bankroll. The Kelly criterion calculator shows what your estimate implies, and a fraction of it is the cautious choice.

Sports betting is legal only in some US states and countries, so check the law where you live and use a licensed sportsbook. Never raise teaser stakes to win back a loss. Our responsible gambling page lists tools for setting limits and places to get help.