Calvin Ridley Made the Same Error Many Bettors Do

In news that came out of nowhere today, Calvin Ridley has been suspended for at least the 2022 NFL season for betting on games.

As someone who works in the sports betting industry, but is also a die-hard Falcons fan, this news caused some mixed emotions.

Was I disappointed that Ridley has been asking for a trade this offseason? Yes.

Was I upset to find out that he's going to be suspended? Absolutely.

Does it suck to find out he was dumb enough to bet on NFL games? Sure.

But you know what hurt me the most? He was betting on parlays.

Parlays Are Never a Profitable Betting Strategy

From an outside perspective, maybe if Ridley was going to use inside info to win a ton of money betting on the NFL, I could at least respect the hustle. But that idea went out the window when Andrew Siciliano reported that Ridley was betting on parlays, which all bettors know is a losing strategy.

Sure, hitting a big multi-leg parlay for a big pay day is electric, but there's an unlimited amount of resources out there that prove betting on parlays is a losing strategy longterm, even if you get hot for a stretch or two.

Take this study done by Yahoo, for example.

New Jersey Sportsbooks Profits from Sports Betting:

• Basketball $75,282,173
• Baseball $53,555,836
• Football $38,600,964
• Other $105,343,521
• Parlays $335,232,531

That's right, sportsbooks made more money on parlays than every other sport's individual bets combined.

Need more proof? Here are their handle percentages based on each sport:

• Basketball 3.9%
• Baseball 4.2%
• Football 3.2%
• Other 5.3%
• Parlays 17.1%

Sportsbooks LOVE when you bet parlays. It's a shame that Calvin Ridley didn't even take an educated approach to his betting that led to him being suspended by the NFL.

But hey, at least he doesn't have a gambling problem.