What is a push in betting? Refunds, parlays & tied games

By Barry Healy EditorPublished: 29 October 2026, 14:18 EDT7 min read

Last reviewed 29 Oct 2026 · Editorial policy

An empty racecourse at dusk, a pale track curving under a fading orange sky, with a single still wooden rail in the foreground and no people anywhere.

A plain explainer of how a tied result against the line is graded, what happens to the stake, & how pushes change parlays, teasers, props & Asian handicaps.

What a push is

A push is the betting term for a result that lands exactly on the line, so neither the bettor nor the sportsbook wins. BetMGM’s explainer describes it as “a tie between you and the sportsbook”, meaning “there’s no winner or loser.”

BetMGM’s example uses a point spread, the margin a favourite must win by for a bet on it to win. The Cincinnati Bengals are 6-point favourites over the Pittsburgh Steelers, so a Bengals bet needs a win by at least seven points, while a Steelers bet wins if Pittsburgh wins or loses by five or fewer.

The remaining result is the push. In BetMGM’s words, “If the Bengals win by exactly six points, your bet is a push, and the sportsbook refunds your stake.” The stake is the amount wagered.

Whole-number lines & the refund

A push needs a line that a final score can match exactly, which means a whole number such as 6. BetMGM’s guide to tied NFL games uses the Chiefs at -6 against the Chargers: a 34-28 win “is a Chiefs moneyline win”, but on the spread it counts as a “tie”.

A moneyline is a bet on which team wins the game outright, with no points added or taken away. The spread bet in the Chiefs example pushes, & BetMGM says this “returns the exact amount of money that was initially bet.”

House rules describe the same outcome as “no action”, meaning the bet is settled as neither a win nor a loss. The football rules of the Gila River Sports Book state that “in the event of a wagering tie, the straight wager is considered ‘no action’ and wager will be cancelled.” A straight wager is a single bet rather than a combination of bets.

Why books use half points

According to Wikipedia’s entry on spread betting, spreads are “frequently, though not always, specified in half-point fractions to eliminate the possibility of a tie, known as a push.” The entry’s own push example uses a spread of 4 points, where a final score of Underdog 9, Favorite 13 is a push because “9 + 4 = 13”.

The same entry explains why books care. In a push “no money is won or lost”, but the book is “forced to refund every bet”, & once the cost of overheads is counted it has lost money by taking bets on the event.

Wikipedia adds that sportsbooks “are generally permitted to state ‘ties win’ or ‘ties lose’ to avoid the necessity of refunding every bet.” Where a book does this, a result exactly on the line is graded under that stated rule rather than refunded.

Pushes are not spread evenly across all lines. BetMGM says that in NFL betting “a push is most common when dealing with major key numbers like three, seven, or 10.”

Moneylines & tied games

“Generally speaking, a tie in an NFL game results in a voided moneyline bet,” according to BetMGM’s guide to tied NFL games. In its example of a standard two-way market, with the Chiefs at -240 & the Chargers at +200, a tie means every bettor’s original stake is refunded.

BetMGM’s push explainer gives the same answer: if an NFL game “ends in a tie after overtime, your moneyline bet pushes, and the sportsbook refunds the stake.”

A three-way market is different, because the tie is one of the outcomes on offer. BetMGM’s example prices the Chiefs at -225, the Chargers at +180 & a tie at +4000; if the game is tied, both the Chiefs & Chargers bets “would both be graded as losers.”

NFL ties are uncommon but do happen. Al Jazeera reported on 29 September 2025 that the Dallas Cowboys & Green Bay Packers finished 40-40 after Brandon Aubrey & Brandon McManus “traded short field goals in overtime”, the NFL’s first tie since 2022 & “the second-highest scoring tie in NFL history”.

Parlays: the leg drops & the odds fall

A parlay, also called an accumulator, is a single bet that links two or more wagers, & Wikipedia’s parlay entry notes that if any of them loses, “the entire parlay loses.” A push is treated differently: “the parlay reverts to a lower number of wagers with the payout odds reducing accordingly.”

BetMGM’s push explainer says the pushed bets “are disregarded” & the odds “are recalculated without the pushed bet(s).” Its example is a +777 parlay built from Bengals -6, Seahawks -150, Eagles -225 & Packers -2.5.

If all four legs win, that parlay “would pay $438.71 on a $50 bet (including stake).” If the Bengals win by exactly six & the other three legs win, the odds become +359 & “the new three-leg parlay would pay $229.80 on a $50 bet.”

BetMGM’s guide to tied NFL games gives a second example. A three-leg parlay at about +282, where a winning $100 bet returns roughly $282 in profit plus the $100 stake, becomes “a two-leg, +155 parlay” when one leg is graded no action, “as if that leg never existed at all.”

The Gila River Sports Book’s football rules state the same principle more briefly: “Parlays reduce to the next lowest number of teams.”

Teasers: moving the line

A teaser, as Wikipedia’s spread betting entry defines it, is a bet that moves the spread in the bettor’s favour by a set margin, which in American football “is often six points”. With a 3.5-point line, a teaser on the underdog takes 9.5 points, & a teaser on the favourite takes 2.5 points instead of having to give the 3.5.

In return, the payout is less than even money or the bettor must combine more than one event & all must win, which Wikipedia says makes a teaser “very similar to a parlay”.

Wikipedia also notes that at some establishments a “reverse teaser” exists, which “alters the spread against the gambler, who gets paid at more than evens if the bet wins.”

Props & player markets

Proposition bets, or props, are wagers on specific events within a game, such as a player’s passing yards. The Gila River Sports Book’s football rules show how one book handles ties & related questions in these markets.

Its general rule grades any tied straight wager as no action & cancels it. For props, “unless stated otherwise, overtime does count for settlement of wagers.”

For player props, players “must be listed as active by the official league source for bets to have action”, & wagers “will be cancelled where the player(s) are listed as inactive.” Quarterback markets are an exception: they “require that the players in question must be starters for bets to have action.”

The same rules say passing yardage props are settled on gross passing yards. For a prop such as a player recording a sack, half sacks are counted, but the player must reach at least one full sack for “Yes” to win.

Asian handicap: the same idea in football

Wikipedia’s Asian handicap entry describes it as a form of football betting in which the stronger team must win by more goals for a bet on it to win. It cuts the possible outcomes from three, home win, draw or away win, to two by removing the draw.

Lines in half-goal steps cannot push, because “no one can score a half-goal.” With a whole-number line, the adjusted score can be level, which Wikipedia says “is not a draw, but a push”, & “all bettors have their original wagers returned.”

Its results table shows a handicap of 0 refunding the stake if the match is drawn, & a favourite at -1 refunding the stake if it wins by exactly one goal.

Quarter-goal lines split the stake between the two nearest lines, so a $1,000 bet at 1¾ is roughly $500 at 1½ & $500 at 2. In Wikipedia’s example of $100 on Everton −1.75 at odds of 2.29, with Everton winning by exactly two goals, the entry lists “$50 is refunded (H −2.0)” & “$50 wins at 2.29 (H −1.5)”, “For a total return of $164.50, or a $64.50 profit.”

Questions

Does a push count as a loss?

No. BetMGM describes a push as a tie between the bettor & the sportsbook with no winner or loser, & says the stake is refunded. Wikipedia’s spread betting entry says no money is won or lost.

What happens if one leg of a parlay pushes?

The pushed leg is removed & the parlay is repriced on the remaining legs. In BetMGM’s example, a four-leg +777 parlay paying $438.71 on $50 became a three-leg +359 parlay paying $229.80.

What happens to a moneyline bet if an NFL game ends in a tie?

BetMGM says a tie generally voids a two-way NFL moneyline bet & the stake is refunded. In a three-way market, where the tie can be backed, both team sides are graded as losers.

Which lines cannot push?

Wikipedia says spreads set in half points eliminate the possibility of a push, as no team can win by half a point. For Asian handicap football betting, Wikipedia’s entry says half-goal lines cannot push because “no one can score a half-goal”, but its Everton example shows a −1.75 quarter-goal line refunding $50 of a $100 stake when Everton win by exactly two goals.

Does overtime count for NFL prop bets?

Under the Gila River Sports Book’s football rules, overtime counts for settling proposition bets unless stated otherwise. Other books publish their own house rules.

Sources

Sources checked 29 October 2026. Information only. 18+.

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