On a Draw No Bet, you pick a team. If it wins, you win. If it loses, you lose. If the match ends in a draw, your stake is refunded. It usually settles the same way as an Asian Handicap of 0, though the exact rules depend on the operator.
How does Draw No Bet work?
You pick a team. If it wins, your bet wins. If it loses, your bet loses. If it's a draw, you get your stake back.
The draw doesn't vanish from the match. It just vanishes from your bet slip. No win, no loss, your stake comes back untouched. Goalless or high-scoring, it makes no difference. A level scoreline is all it takes.
Settlement, outcome by outcome
| Result | Settlement |
|---|---|
| Home win | Won |
| Draw | Refunded |
| Away win | Lost |
Backing the away side instead? Same logic, the other way round. They win, you win. A draw is refunded. A home win, and the bet's lost. Which team is favourite doesn't change the mechanism at all. Only the price on each side reflects that.
Draw No Bet or Double Chance?
Both markets deal with the draw, just in different ways: Double Chance covers it, Draw No Bet hands your stake back.
| Double Chance 1X | DNB home | |
|---|---|---|
| Home win | Won | Won |
| Draw | Won | Refund |
| Home loss | Lost | Lost |
| Odds | Usually lower | Usually higher |
On a draw, Double Chance 1X pays out. Draw No Bet just gives you your money back. It covers one outcome fewer, which is why its odds usually sit higher than the matching Double Chance. Less cover, a bigger price.
Its close cousin, the Asian Handicap 0
When it comes to settlement, Draw No Bet often works exactly like an Asian Handicap of 0. Your selection wins, the bet wins. A draw is refunded. A defeat loses.
The exact rules and the name on the screen still vary from one operator to another. For the full workings of the Asian Handicap and a detailed comparison with Draw No Bet, head to the Asian Handicap page.
A worked example, settled to the penny
Take a Premier League match (fictional example): Draw No Bet on the home side at odds of 1.65, with £20 staked.
| Result | Settlement | Return |
|---|---|---|
| Home win | Won | £33.00 |
| Draw | Refunded | £20.00 |
| Away win | Lost | £0.00 |
Home win? You get £33.00 back (£20 × 1.65), so £13.00 net profit. Draw? Your £20 comes back, no more and no less. Away win? The whole stake's gone.
Extra time and abandoned matches
Draw No Bet generally only looks at regulation time, stoppage time included, and that holds in cup ties too. Level after 90 minutes? Your stake is refunded. It doesn't matter if one side then wins in extra time or on penalties. Unless the operator says otherwise, those phases don't count for this market.
I gave this rule its own section because it's the least intuitive one on the page. A team can lift the trophy after a shootout and your Draw No Bet on them still just comes back as a refund.
What if the match is abandoned? If it's stopped before full time and not replayed the same day, bets are generally void and stakes returned, whatever the score when play stopped. Don't confuse that with a whole-number Asian Handicap line. There, a refund can be part of the market's normal settlement. Here, it's an exceptional cancellation, triggered only because the match never reached full time.
Margin and implied probability
To turn Draw No Bet odds into a probability, it's the same sum as anywhere else: 1 divided by the odds. Odds of 1.65 give roughly 60.6%, just as they would on a 1X2 or handicap market. The conversion is walked through on the implied probability page.
Add up the implied probabilities of the market's two outcomes and you'll usually get more than 100%. That excess is the bookmaker's margin, worked out in detail on the bookmaker margin page. It comes on top of the draw refund. Draw No Bet is an odds market like any other, not free insurance from the operator. To compare it fairly with a straight win bet on the same team, weigh the lower odds it usually carries against the cover the refund gives you.
Put it into practice
Apply this guide to real odds.
See a market reading
A real match with its odds, movements and 0-100 signal.
Open the demoMargin calculator
Measure a bookmaker's margin on any market.
Calculate the marginDig into the market
Odds movements are only part of the story. Here are the next topics to read.
Types of sports bets
Market, selection, line, odds: the main families of bets.
See the guideDouble Chance: 1X, 12, X2
Two outcomes covered in one selection, and no refund.
See Double Chance1X2 betting: understanding the 1, X and 2 odds
The three-way market that Double Chance and Draw No Bet both come from.
See 1X2Implied probability
Turning odds into a probability, and what that number actually tells you.
Understand the conversionFrequently asked questions
What is Draw No Bet?
It's a market where you pick a team to win the match. If it wins, your bet wins. If it loses, your bet loses. And if the match is drawn, you get your stake back.
What happens on a draw?
Your stake is usually refunded in full. You don't win anything and you don't lose anything. The bet is simply cancelled out, as if you'd never placed it.
How is it different from Double Chance?
Double Chance covers two of the three outcomes in a single selection, and wins if either one happens. Draw No Bet only covers one outcome. In return, a draw gives you your stake back rather than costing you it.
Is Draw No Bet the same as Asian Handicap 0?
It usually settles the same way. Your team wins, the bet wins. A draw is refunded. A defeat loses. The exact rules and the market's name can still differ from one operator to the next.
Are Draw No Bet odds higher than Double Chance odds?
Usually, yes. Draw No Bet only covers one outcome instead of two, even with the refund on a draw. The exact price always depends on the market and the operator.
Sources and method
This page draws on standard Draw No Bet vocabulary, the settlement rules published by Betfair (a licensed operator), the UK Gambling Commission's definitions and BeGambleAware's support resources.
- Set out the three ways the market settles, refund on a draw included, with a worked example taken all the way to settlement.
- Compare the market with Double Chance and the Asian Handicap 0, cover the edge cases (extra time, abandoned matches), then link it to margin and implied probability.
- Betfair, Exchange general rulessupport.betfair.com
- Betfair, charges and commissionbetfair.com
- UK Gambling Commission, definitions of terms
- BeGambleAware