Super Bowl Sunday is just around the corner and Americans are expected to gamble an estimated $1.39 billion on the big game.

However, traditional betting lines have grown old and boring, and to receive big payouts, bettors need to risk a lot of money. So, increasingly, bettors are turning to same-game parlays — which have longer odds but massive payouts.

Katherine Sayre, a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, took a look at how same-game parlays are driving revenue for sports books. “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal spoke with Sayre about her reporting and the growing popularity of same-game parlays.

Kai Ryssdal: As I set up in the introduction, I’m a horrible gambler. I imagine many in the audience are as well, or maybe they’re not gamblers at all. But what is a parlay bet?

Katherine Sayre: Americans have really taken to this kind of sports betting that, as it turns out, is really profitable for gambling companies. A parlay is where you bet on multiple things happening. Often, it’s multiple things happening within one game. So you might predict how the quarterback, a tight end and a running back are going to perform. All three of those things have to come true in order to win, but the odds are much longer than, say, picking the winner of the Super Bowl this weekend.

Ryssdal: And is the payoff greater since the odds are longer?

Sayre: Exactly. So that’s what makes it so alluring to bettors. The payout is much higher.

Ryssdal: It also, though, as you talk about in this piece, has, not like a socialization of it, but it has made gambling overall kind of more popular?

Sayre: It really has. Parlays have tapped into sports fandom in a way that more traditional bets just haven’t. We’re talking about our favorite players, how they’re going to perform and the narratives on and off the field. And so, when you can turn that into a bet, it’s just a very fun experience. You know?

Ryssdal: It is. Actually, it reminds me of fantasy leagues, right? That’s kind of the analog here.

Sayre: Absolutely, you’re right. It’s an evolution from fantasy that focuses on players and their data.

Ryssdal: Sports books are making hay out of this. It’s obviously more profitable if more people are betting, right?

Sayre: Absolutely. So when you think about a sports book offering a traditional bet on ‘who’s going to win the game’, the company might take 5% to 7% of total bets wagered. With these parlays, they could take 20% or 30% or more.

Ryssdal: We should point out here that gambling is not for everybody, and in fact, for a lot of people, it’s a big problem. I assume the gaming world knows this?

Sayre: Absolutely. Sports betting companies all have certain requirements by regulations, and they will tell you they have so-called “responsible gaming policies” in place.

Ryssdal: In the course of reporting this story, did you make any parlays yourself?

Sayre: We did. At the Wall Street Journal, we placed 209 $1 same-game parlay bets.

Ryssdal: OK — wait — first of all, whose money? Journal’s money or your money?

Sayre: The Journal’s.

Ryssdal: OK. Continue.

Sayre: We didn’t do so well. We won only eight of those bets. So, the gambling companies took almost $114 from us.

Ryssdal: Money in the bank. Did it make you want to keep on going though?

Sayre: It did pique my curiosity to see, if we kept going, could we win? I felt that urge inside of me, but we set our limit.

Ryssdal: Fair enough. It’s not like it’s all nickel and dimes, but as you point out in this piece, some huge number of same-game parlays are like 30 bucks or less. I mean, not quite the dollar that you spent, but you know, people are not waging huge amounts of money here.

Sayre: They’ve come to be seen as a new sort of lottery ticket. The odds are long, you’re going to put a few bucks down and it’s just a lot of fun. Now, there are skeptics out there who call same-game parlays a “sucker bet.” But the bettors I’ve talked to, for the most part, they kind of understand the odds are long, and they’re willing to do it anyway.

Ryssdal: Do you have any money on the game on Sunday or no?

Sayre: I don’t. I’ll just be watching as a reporter.

Ryssdal: Same, same. Same, same.