Home of football statistics and historyDraw No Bet, usually shortened to DNB, is a football betting market that removes the draw from the equation. You back one team to win, and if the match ends level, your stake is refunded in full.
It sits between a straight win bet and the safety of covering more outcomes. That is why it appeals to bettors who like a team but worry about a stalemate.
The trade-off is in the price. Because the draw risk is taken off the table, the odds on Draw No Bet are shorter than backing the same team in the standard market.
Understanding how that refund works, and how the price is derived from the regular three-way odds, is the key to knowing when DNB is the smarter choice. This guide walks through both with football examples.
What Draw No Bet Actually Means
In a normal football match there are three results to bet on, a home win, a draw, or an away win. This is the 1X2 market, and a bet on either team loses if the game is drawn.
Draw No Bet reduces those three outcomes to two that matter for your stake. You pick a team to win, and the draw becomes a neutral result rather than a losing one.
If your team wins, you collect at the DNB odds. If your team loses, the bet loses as normal. If the match is drawn, neither side has won, so your stake comes back to you untouched.
That stake refund is the whole point of the market. You are effectively insured against the one outcome that frustrates a straight win bet, the score finishing level.
How the Refund Works in Practice
The simplest way to see DNB is through a worked example. Say you back Arsenal to beat Chelsea on Draw No Bet with a £20 stake.
If Arsenal win, your bet is settled at the DNB odds and you collect. If Chelsea win, you lose the £20, exactly as you would on any losing bet.
But if the match finishes one apiece or goalless, the draw clause kicks in. Your £20 is returned in full, and you are left exactly where you started, neither up nor down.
Where DNB Sits Between Other Markets
It helps to place DNB next to its neighbours. A straight win bet pays more but loses on a draw, while a Double Chance bet covers the draw as a winning result but pays less again.
Draw No Bet lands in the middle. You do not profit from a draw the way Double Chance can, but you do not lose your stake either, so the risk profile is gentler than a plain win bet without giving up as much value as covering two outcomes.
Why the Odds Are Shorter Than a Standard Win Bet
The price is where Draw No Bet earns its keep, and it is worth understanding why DNB odds are always lower than the same team in the 1X2 market. The reason is simple. You are removing a real risk, so you pay for that protection in the form of a shorter price.
A quick example shows the effect. Imagine Arsenal are priced at 2.00 to win, the draw is 3.50, and a Chelsea win is 4.00. The fair Draw No Bet price on Arsenal is found by ignoring the draw and sharing the stake across the two remaining outcomes, which lands at roughly 1.55.
So the same Arsenal selection drops from 2.00 in the standard market to about 1.55 on Draw No Bet. That difference is the price of removing the draw, and it widens as the draw becomes more likely.
In the standard market, part of the odds reflects the chance the game ends in a draw and your bet loses. Strip that risk away with DNB and the bookmaker shortens the price accordingly, because there are fewer ways for your stake to be lost.
Draw No Bet is one of many markets offered on a typical match, alongside the standard win, totals and handicap lines. It is, for instance, one of the betting options listed for football fixtures on Supabet, a sportsbook and casino reviewed by casino.org, which gives a sense of how it sits in a normal market lineup.
The takeaway is that the shorter price is the cost of the draw insurance, not a worse deal in itself.
A Quick Way to Estimate the DNB Price
You do not need the exact formula to sanity-check a DNB price, but a rough sense helps. The closer two teams are, the higher the draw probability, so the more the DNB price shortens compared with the straight win.
For a heavy favourite playing a weak side, the draw is unlikely, so the DNB odds sit only slightly below the win price. For two evenly matched teams, where a draw is a real possibility, the gap between the win odds and the DNB odds widens noticeably.
It is worth knowing that Draw No Bet is mathematically the same as an Asian Handicap of zero. Backing a team on a level handicap means a draw voids the bet and refunds the stake, which is exactly the DNB outcome. If a market does not list DNB directly, the zero handicap line produces an identical result.
When Draw No Bet Is the Smarter Choice
DNB is not always the right call, but there are clear situations where it makes sense. Knowing them helps you decide between DNB and a straight win bet.
Consider Draw No Bet in these scenarios:
- You fancy a team to win but the fixture looks tight and a draw feels plausible.
- A strong side is away from home, where draws are more common than at home.
- A cup tie or derby where caution from both teams raises the chance of a stalemate.
- You want a steadier return across many bets rather than the bigger swings of straight win betting.
- A key attacker is missing, so the team is still favoured but less likely to break a deadlock.
In each case you are accepting a shorter price in exchange for protection against the draw. If you are confident a team will win comfortably, the straight market usually offers better value, since you are paying for insurance you may not need.
When to Stick With the Standard Market
The flip side is just as important. When a dominant team faces a clearly weaker opponent, the draw is so unlikely that the DNB discount rarely justifies itself.
In those matches the straight win price is only marginally longer than the DNB price, yet it pays out on the result you genuinely expect. Paying for draw insurance on a game you are confident about quietly erodes the value of the bet over time.
Picture a runaway league leader at home to a struggling promoted side. The draw might be priced around 6.00, a clear sign the market sees it as remote. With the draw that unlikely, the DNB price barely improves on the straight win, so the insurance adds almost nothing while shaving your potential return. In a fixture like that, the standard win bet is usually the better value.
Frequently Asked Questions About Draw No Bet
What Happens to My Bet if the Match Is Drawn?
Your stake is refunded in full. You do not win anything, but you do not lose anything either, so the bet is effectively void and your balance returns to where it started before kick-off.
Is Draw No Bet the Same as Double Chance?
No. Double Chance pays out as a win if your team draws or wins, whereas Draw No Bet only refunds the stake on a draw. Double Chance therefore offers a winning return on the draw, but at shorter odds than DNB for the same selection.
Does Draw No Bet Cover Extra Time or Just 90 Minutes?
In most cases DNB settles on the result after normal time, including stoppage time, not extra time or penalties. It is always worth checking the specific market rules, since cup competitions can be handled differently.
Why Is the Draw No Bet Price Lower Than the Win Price?
Because the draw risk has been removed. You can no longer lose your stake to a drawn match, so the bookmaker shortens the odds to reflect the smaller number of ways the bet can lose.
What to Keep in Mind About Draw No Bet
Draw No Bet is a straightforward way to back a team while taking the draw out of play. Win and you collect at the DNB odds, lose and the bet loses as usual, draw and your stake comes back. The shorter price is simply the cost of removing that draw risk.
The market works best in tight matches where a stalemate is a genuine possibility, and less well when a strong favourite should win comfortably.
Read against the standard win and Double Chance markets, it is one more tool for matching the bet to how you read the game. As with any form of betting, decide your approach in advance, and if you ever want support, national gambling helplines and free, confidential services are available.
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