Draw no bet explained: your stake back if the match is drawn
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How a draw no bet market settles, how its price relates to the 1X2 odds & what the refund on a draw costs in return.
What draw no bet means
Draw no bet is a football market in which you back one team to win & the draw is taken out as a losing result. Paddy Power describes it as “a football bet where you back a team to win and get your stake back if the match ends level”.
Paddy Power sets out three outcomes. If your team wins, the bet is paid at the draw no bet price. If the match is drawn, the stake is refunded. If your team loses, the stake is lost.
Smarkets puts the draw the same way: “your stake will be returned meaning you neither win or lose.” It says the market “removes the option of a draw from a bet” & lets bettors back either a home or an away win.
Why the draw matters
In a standard three-way market, which offers a home win, a draw or an away win, a bet on either team loses if the match is drawn. Smarkets points this out as the contrast with draw no bet, where the same draw returns the stake.
Smarkets says many bettors undervalue how often matches are drawn. Looking back at five Premier League seasons, from 2012/13 to 2016/17, it reports that “on average 25% of all games ended in a draw”.
On that figure, roughly one match in four over those seasons would have produced a refund on a draw no bet rather than a result either way.
The same bet as Asian handicap 0
Asian handicap is a form of football betting in which teams are given a goal handicap so that a stronger team must win by more goals for a bet on it to win, according to Wikipedia. Its lines run in whole, half & quarter goals.
The level line, shown as 0, gives neither team a head start. Smarkets says that on this market a draw returns the stake, “effectively achieving the same outcome as Draw No Bet”.
Unibet’s guide says the same of Asian Handicap 0: a win wins, & on a draw the money comes back, “similar to if you were betting on ‘Draw no bet'”. Wikipedia’s handicap table settles the 0 line identically: win, “Stake refund” on a draw, & lose.
Smarkets notes one practical difference. A draw no bet position can also be built by combining prices from two different bookmakers or betting exchanges, which it says the level Asian handicap does not offer.
How the price comes from the 1X2 odds
The 1X2 market is the match result market: 1 is a home win, X a draw & 2 an away win. Smarkets gives a formula for turning those decimal odds into draw no bet odds.
For the home side it reads: “Home Draw No Bet odds = (1- (1/1X2 draw odds)) * 1X2 home odds”. The away version swaps in the away odds.
Smarkets works this through for Liverpool against Hoffenheim in a Champions League qualifier, with 1X2 prices of 1.68 for Liverpool, 4.4 for the draw & 5.6 for Hoffenheim. Liverpool’s draw no bet odds come out as (1 – 1/4.4) x 1.68 = 1.30.
Smarkets explains that the formula reflects spreading a stake across the win & the draw so the draw returns the money. For a £200 total it puts £45.45 on the draw (200 divided by 4.4) & £154.55 on Liverpool.
On an exchange, Smarkets adds, commission has to be factored into the odds at the staking stage.
Worked example: £10 on Newcastle
Paddy Power uses Newcastle United at home to Bournemouth in the Premier League. Newcastle are “the 2.15 favourites to win” in the match bet, but the draw no bet involves “an odds cut to 1.57”.
On a £10 stake, Paddy Power sets out the three results. If Newcastle win, “Return = £10 × 1.57 = £15.70 (£5.70 profit)”.
If the match is drawn, the bet is void & the £10 stake is refunded in full, with no profit & no loss. If Bournemouth win, the bet loses & returns nothing, a £10 loss.
What the cover costs
The refund on a draw is paid for through the price. Paddy Power says “DNBs carry slightly shorter odds” than the match result, because the draw becomes a void outcome rather than a losing one. In the Newcastle example, that is 1.57 against 2.15.
Smarkets says the same: removing the draw means draw no bet odds “will be lower than that on the three-way market”.
Smarkets’ Liverpool example also compares two draw no bet prices. The market on offer had Liverpool at 1.28, so £200 would win £56. The price built from the 1X2 odds was about 1.30, & the split stakes would win £59.64.
Smarkets calls that “a 6.5% increase in profit” from building the position yourself. In its figures the self-built version shows a £0.02 loss on a draw, with £154.53 returned.
Draw no bet vs double chance
Double chance is a market that covers two of the three match results with one stake, for example home win or draw. Paddy Power says draw no bet is “Not the same as Double Chance, which pays out on a draw rather than refunding”.
In Paddy Power’s words, draw no bet “only backs one team to win, with your stake refunded if the match is drawn”. With double chance, a draw is a winning result. Paddy Power says double chance odds are “much smaller” because there are two ways to win.
When bettors use it
Smarkets lists three uses. These are to back an outsider “with the security of the draw”, to protect a stake where a draw looks reasonably likely, & to “Trade a big favourite in-play when they are losing”. Smarkets also describes draw no bet as a low-margin two-way market that it says is becoming increasingly popular.
Paddy Power says the market is designed to reduce risk when betting on football. It describes a trade-off between shorter odds & a higher chance of winning or getting the stake back.
Paddy Power says draw no bet is “a popular addition to football accumulators”. Paddy Power’s guide says the firm “voids DNB selections within an accumulator, rather than the entire multiple”, treating the drawn match as a non-runner.
Its example is a £5 accumulator on three games: Liverpool to beat Ipswich draw no bet at 1.17, Newcastle to beat Bournemouth at 2.15 & Brentford to beat Sunderland at 3.80. If Liverpool draw, Paddy Power says, the bet pays at adjusted odds of 8.17, a £40.85 return.
That rule is described for Paddy Power. The sources do not say how other operators settle drawn draw no bet legs.
Questions
What happens to a draw no bet if the match is drawn?
The stake is returned. Smarkets says that on a draw “your stake will be returned meaning you neither win or lose”.
Does draw no bet count extra time?
Paddy Power says its draw no bet markets settle on the result at 90 minutes plus injury time & do not apply in extra time.
Why are draw no bet odds shorter than match result odds?
Paddy Power says the draw is removed as a losing outcome & becomes a void one, so the market has two results instead of three. In its Newcastle example the price falls from 2.15 to 1.57.
Is draw no bet the same as Asian handicap 0?
They settle the same way. Smarkets, Unibet & Wikipedia’s handicap table all show the 0 line winning on a win, refunding on a draw & losing on a defeat.
Is draw no bet the same as double chance?
No. Paddy Power says double chance pays out on a draw, while draw no bet refunds the stake on a draw.
Sources
Sources checked 30 October 2026. Information only. 18+.
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