Draw no bet meaning: how DNB works

Draw no bet, usually shortened to DNB, is a match result bet with a safety net. You choose a team to win, and if the match ends level, the bookmaker hands your stake back instead of keeping it. You give up part of the price for that protection. This guide explains how home and away DNB settle, how the odds are worked out, and when the bet is worth considering.

The three outcomes of a DNB bet

Say you back the home team, draw no bet, with a stake of 100.

• The home team wins: you are paid at the DNB odds. At 1.50 you get back 150.
• The match is drawn: the bet is void and you get your 100 back.
• The away team wins: you lose the 100.

That is the whole bet. Only the score after 90 minutes plus stoppage time counts; extra time and penalties are ignored, as in the normal match result market.

Home draw no bet and away draw no bet

Betting apps show the market in different ways: "Draw no bet: Home / Away", "1 DNB / 2 DNB", or the two team names under a DNB heading. Home draw no bet backs the hosts, away draw no bet backs the visitors. The rule is the same for both: a draw returns the stake.

Away DNB is popular for a decent visiting side at a ground where it is hard to win. If the away team is good enough to win but you fear a draw, DNB keeps the draw from costing you money.

How DNB odds compare with the other result bets

Take a match the model rates 50% home win, 28% draw and 22% away win. Fair odds are 1 ÷ probability, so here is what each bet on the home side is worth at a fair price:

Bet	Wins on	Draw	Fair odds
Home win (1)	home win	loses	2.00
Home draw no bet	home win	stake back	1.44
Double chance 1X	home win or draw	wins	1.28

Each step down the table gives you more protection against the draw and a shorter price. DNB sits in the middle: better paid than double chance, safer than the straight win.

Working out fair DNB odds yourself

Because a draw is refunded, it drops out of the sum. The chance that matters is the team's win probability compared with the two results that are not a draw:

DNB probability = win chance ÷ (win chance + loss chance)

In the example: 50 ÷ (50 + 22) = 69.4%, and 1 ÷ 0.694 gives fair odds of 1.44. For the away side: 22 ÷ 72 = 30.6%, fair odds about 3.27.

You can do the same from bookmaker prices. If the home win is 2.00 and the draw 3.40, a DNB on the home team should pay about 2.00 × (1 − 1 ÷ 3.40) = 1.41. The logic: put part of your stake on the draw so that a draw returns exactly your total stake, and the rest on the home win. If the DNB price in the app is clearly lower than this figure, the bookmaker is taking a bigger margin on DNB than on the result market.

The table of today's matches on our home page lists the home, draw and away chances for the day's matches, and league pages such as Premier League predictions show them for the week's fixtures. That is all you need to run the formula. We do not publish separate DNB tips; the straight result tips are on 1X2 tips.

When draw no bet makes sense

DNB earns its place when the draw is a real danger but you still think one side is the better bet.

• A slight favourite in a tight match. If the model rates a home win at 45% and the draw at 30%, a straight bet loses on more than half the outcomes. DNB removes the draw from the losing side.
• An away team you rate. Visiting sides draw often enough that the refund is worth paying for.
• Low-scoring leagues and matches. The fewer goals expected, the likelier 0-0 and 1-1 become, and the more the refund matters. The draw predictions page shows where the model sees a real chance of an X.

When it adds little

Against a heavy favourite, DNB protects you from an outcome that rarely happens, and you pay for that protection anyway. Suppose a team is rated 75% to win, 17% to draw and 8% to lose. Its win is worth 1.33 at fair odds; DNB works out at 75 ÷ 83 = 90.4%, about 1.11. The price falls sharply for a refund you will seldom use, and at 1.11 a single loss wipes out about nine wins.

For outsiders the opposite problem appears. An underdog's DNB price is still long, but its chance of winning without the draw is small, so you mostly lose the stake or get it back.

Draw no bet and Asian handicap 0

In Asian handicap markets, draw no bet goes by another name: handicap 0, sometimes written 0.0 or "level ball". The team starts with no advantage, a win pays, a draw refunds and a defeat loses. If your app lists both markets, compare the two prices and take the better one; they are the same bet. The wider family of handicaps, with half and quarter lines, is covered in handicap betting explained.

Draw no bet in an accumulator

A DNB leg in a multi works like a single until the match is drawn. Then, with most bookmakers, the leg counts as odds of 1.00 and the slip carries on with the remaining legs. If you had three legs at 1.50, 1.60 and 1.45 and the second one is drawn, your total falls from 3.48 to 2.18. Bookmakers' rules can differ on details, so read the settlement rules in your app before building a DNB multi. The accumulator calculator shows the effect quickly: remove the drawn leg and see the new return.

Common mistakes with DNB

• Treating DNB as a win on a draw. It is not; you only get your money back. Over a season, those refunds earn nothing.
• Ignoring the price. A refund is valuable only if it does not cost too much. Compare the DNB odds with the fair figure from the formula above.
• Mixing up DNB and double chance. Double chance pays on the draw; DNB refunds. Check which one you are actually placing.
• Forgetting the 90 minutes. A cup tie drawn after 90 minutes and won in extra time is still a draw for DNB.

Where it fits on PitchMaths

The match result numbers on this site come from a Dixon–Coles model of scores, blended half and half with the bookmaker's margin-free price where odds are in our data. The method is set out on how our predictions are made. For a ready-made bet that covers the draw, see double chance predictions.

You must be 18+ to bet. A refunded stake is not a win, and any bet can lose.