Draw No Bet Explained: What It Means and How It Works
What draw no bet means, how the draw refund works, and how DNB odds come from the three-way price.
By
Eric Pauly
9 min read
What Draw No Bet Means
Draw no bet is a soccer market that removes the draw from the equation. You back one team to win, and if the match ends level your full stake comes back. There is no draw to bet and a draw is never a loss, which is why bettors reach for it in tight fixtures like a Merseyside derby or a relegation scrap where a stalemate feels live. Before you use it, it pays to know how the market is built and how books set the price.
This guide stays definitional. You will learn what draw no bet means, how the refund settles, where the market shows up, how books derive draw no bet odds from the three-way price, and the tradeoff you accept for that cover. When I pull up a Premier League board, I check the three-way price and the draw no bet line side by side, because the gap between them tells you exactly what the draw cover is costing. If you are still getting comfortable with how soccer odds are priced, read that first.
article Summary
Draw no bet removes the draw from a soccer match. You back one team, you win if they win, you lose if the other team wins, and your stake is refunded if the game ends in a draw. The price is derived from the three-way market with the draw stripped out, so draw no bet odds are shorter than the moneyline. You trade a lower payout for the removal of draw risk.
What Draw No Bet Actually Is
A standard soccer match has three possible results for betting purposes: the home team wins, the away team wins, or the match ends in a draw. That is the three-way market, also called 1X2. Draw no bet takes that structure and deletes the middle outcome. You are left with two selections, one for each team, and the draw becomes a refund rather than a result you can back.
Three Outcomes Become Two
On a three-way moneyline you can lose in two ways: your team loses, or the match draws. Draw no bet cuts that to one. The only outcome that costs you money is the opposing team winning. Everything else either pays you or returns your stake. That single change is the entire point of the market.
Where the Refund Comes In
When the final whistle blows on a level scoreline, the bet is graded as a push. A push means no money changes hands and your stake is returned in full. It is the same mechanic that voids a bet when a game is postponed, applied deliberately to the draw. You do not need to ask for it or hedge for it. The refund is built into the market. That is the difference that matters: on a moneyline a draw is a loss, and on draw no bet a draw is a wash. Nothing else about how you place the bet changes.
How Draw No Bet Works Across Markets
Draw no bet lives anywhere a draw is a real possibility. Soccer is the obvious home because roughly a quarter of matches in most top leagues end level, but the market shows up in other three-way sports too.
Soccer and Other Three-Way Sports
You will see draw no bet on Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Champions League, and international fixtures. It also appears in regulation-time hockey lines, rugby, and cricket, any sport where a tie or draw can end the scoring period. Anywhere the base market is a three-way price, a draw no bet version can be built from it. If you want the full picture of the base market, our guide to three-way handicap betting breaks down how the draw is priced and traded.
The Same Result as an Asian Handicap 0
Draw no bet is functionally identical to backing a team at an Asian handicap of zero, sometimes listed as level ball or AH 0. Both refund the stake on a draw and both pay out on a win. Some books show only one of the two, and the prices are not always the same, so it is worth checking both lines when they are available.
How Draw No Bet Odds Are Derived
Draw no bet odds are not pulled out of thin air. Books build them from the three-way price by removing the draw and rescaling what is left. Once you see the math, it is obvious why the number always lands shorter than the moneyline.
Removing the Draw From the Three-Way Price
Start with a three-way market. Say Newcastle hosts Brentford at +160 for the home win, +240 for the draw, and +175 for the away win. Convert those to implied probabilities, roughly 38 percent home, 29 percent draw, and 36 percent away. To find Newcastle's draw no bet price, you strip out the draw and ask how the home team's chance stacks up against the away team's chance alone. That is 38 divided by the sum of 38 and 36, which lands near 51 percent. A no-vig odds calculator does this rescaling for you in a second if you would rather not run it by hand.
Why the Number Gets Shorter
A 51 percent chance converts back to a price around -105, well short of the +160 you saw on the moneyline. The line moves because you are no longer risking anything on the draw, and the book prices that cover into the odds. When I sanity check a draw no bet quote, I map the implied probability to a rough price band first:
Near 50 percent, a coin flip: about -100 to +100
55 to 60 percent, a moderate favorite: roughly -120 to -150
Past 65 percent, a strong favorite: -190 or shorter
Real prices carry the book's margin on top, so the exact figure varies and comparing books matters. Fast odds comparison tools make that gap easy to spot.
A Worked Draw No Bet Payout Example
Here is a hypothetical to show how the money moves. The numbers are illustrative, not a real bet or result. Imagine Brighton hosting Everton. The three-way moneyline has Brighton at +150, and the draw no bet market lists Brighton at +115. You put 100 on Brighton draw no bet.
Three things can happen, and here is how each one settles:
Brighton wins: you collect 115 in profit, for a 215 return on your 100 stake.
The match ends level, say 1-1 or 0-0: the bet pushes and your 100 stake is refunded in full.
Everton wins: you lose the 100 stake, the same as any losing bet.
Compare that to backing Brighton at +150 on the straight moneyline. There, a draw costs you the entire 100. The draw no bet version pays 115 instead of 150 when Brighton wins, and that 35 gap is the price you pay to turn every draw into a refund rather than a loss.
The Tradeoff: Lower Risk for Lower Odds
Draw no bet is a hedge baked into a single wager, and that protection is not free. You accept a shorter price in exchange for turning one of your two losing outcomes into a refund. Whether the trade is worth it depends on the match and the number, which is the strategy question our draw no bet strategy guide digs into.
What You Give Up
The cost is payout. Every draw no bet ticket pays less than the moneyline on the same team, because the market has removed your draw risk. Over a large sample those shaved prices add up, so draw no bet fits spots where you genuinely fear a level result, like two low-scoring sides grinding out a Serie A midtable fixture, rather than blanket use on every pick.
Comparing the Price Before You Bet
Because draw no bet and Asian handicap 0 are the same bet, and because books margin them differently, the same selection can carry meaningfully different prices across sportsbooks. I run soccer three-way and draw no bet lines through an odds screen before placing anything, and the spread between the best and worst book on the same team is routinely 10 to 20 cents. Pick The Odds lists draw no bet and level-ball prices from dozens of books on one screen, which makes catching the best number quick, and our Pick The Odds review covers how its odds screen handles soccer markets. If you would rather start on your phone, our roundup of line shopping apps covers the mobile options.
Final Thoughts
Draw no bet is a clean, definable market: back a team, get paid if they win, get refunded if the game draws, lose only if the other side wins. The price is the three-way number with the draw removed, which is why it always runs shorter than the moneyline. Know what you are trading, a smaller payout for the removal of draw risk, and check the number across books before you commit. When the same bet is priced better somewhere else, that difference is yours to keep.
Draw No Bet FAQ
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