Draw no bet (DNB): what it is and how it works
Draw no bet (DNB) is a bet on one team to win in which a draw refunds your stake: £100 on DNB 1 at 1.90 pays £190 if the home side wins and gives the whole £100 back if the match is drawn. The draw cover is not free, though. You pay for it up front, in lower odds and in the bookmaker's margin, which on a DNB built from 1X2 prices of 2.20 / 3.40 / 3.50 grows from 3.44% to 4.87%. We explain how DNB settles, why it is the same bet as Asian handicap 0, how to work out its odds from 1X2 prices and how to use it in calculators.
Key takeaways
- A draw on DNB is neutral: £100 on DNB 1 comes back as £100, so the draw cover is paid for in lower odds, not at settlement.
- In risk, DNB 1 sits between 1 and 1X, so its odds are lower than on a straight win and higher than on double chance.
- With 2.20 on the home side and 3.40 on the draw, a ready-made DNB 1 beats the two-bet construction when it is priced above 1.55.
- Built from 1X2 prices of 2.20 / 3.40 / 3.50, draw no bet carries a 4.87% margin, against 3.44% on the 1X2 market itself.
- A DNB 1 and DNB 2 pair is not a surebet: a draw refunds both stakes, so on that result you can only break even.
What is draw no bet?
Draw no bet is a bet in which you pick the winner of a match and a draw is neither a win nor a loss: the bookmaker refunds the stake. Bookmakers list the market as Draw No Bet or simply DNB, and on Asian handicap lists the same bet appears as the 0 line.
There are only two selections:
DNB 1: home win, draw = refund,DNB 2: away win, draw = refund.
The bet settles on the result after regular time (90 minutes plus stoppage time). Extra time and penalties usually do not count, but it is always worth checking the bookmaker's rules.
How DNB settles
| Result | DNB 1 | DNB 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Home win (e.g. 2-1) | Win | Loss |
| Draw (e.g. 1-1, 0-0) | Refund | Refund |
| Away win (e.g. 0-2) | Loss | Win |
The number of goals does not matter. A 1-0 win and a 5-0 win settle DNB 1 in exactly the same way.
A worked example
You stake £100 on DNB 1 at odds of 1.90.
| Result | Payout | Profit or loss |
|---|---|---|
| Home win | 100 × 1.90 = £190 | +£90 |
| Draw | £100 (stake refunded) | £0 |
| Away win | £0 | −£100 |
The key point: a refund on a draw is neutral. The full stake comes back, so the draw costs you nothing at settlement. The cover is priced in instead: DNB odds are lower than the odds on a straight win, and the bookmaker's margin is built into them as into any other market (how it works out in numbers is in the section on DNB odds below). How often the cover comes into play depends on the match: a draw comes up in 26% of league matches, in 30% of evenly matched games with few goals and in 17% when there is a clear favourite and plenty of goals (more in our piece on football draw statistics).
DNB and other markets
DNB is Asian handicap 0
DNB 1 settles exactly like AH 1 (0), and DNB 2 like AH 2 (0). A 0 handicap gives neither side a head start, so a draw after the handicap is a refund: the same mechanism. If a bookmaker lists both, or two bookmakers price them differently, they are one bet, so take the higher price. You can read more about the 0, −0.25 and +0.25 lines in our guide to the Asian handicap and check any line in the Asian handicap calculator.
For comparison:
AH 1 (−0.25): on a draw you lose half the stake and the other half comes back,AH 1 (0)=DNB 1: on a draw a full refund,AH 1 (+0.25): on a draw half the stake wins and the other half comes back.
DNB between 1X2 and double chance
In terms of risk, DNB sits between two markets:
1from the 1X2 market: a draw is a loss, the highest odds,DNB 1: a draw is a refund, odds in between,1Xfrom the double chance market: a draw is a win, the lowest odds.
How to work out DNB odds from 1X2 odds
You can build DNB yourself from two bets, one on the team to win and one on the draw, sized so that a winning draw bet returns the whole stake. The odds of that construction are:
DNB 1 odds = home odds × (draw odds − 1) / draw odds
Example: the 1X2 odds are 2.20 / 3.40 / 3.50. DNB 1 from this construction comes out at 2.20 × 2.40 / 3.40 ≈ 1.55. With a total stake of £100, 100 / 3.40 ≈ £29.41 goes on the draw and £70.59 on the home side. A home win pays 70.59 × 2.20 ≈ £155.30, a draw returns £100. If a bookmaker offers DNB 1 above 1.55, the ready-made DNB market is better value than building it yourself, and the other way round.
The same construction shows what happens to the margin. The 1X2 prices add up to 1/2.20 + 1/3.40 + 1/3.50 = 1.0344, a 3.44% margin. Built the same way, DNB 2 comes out at 3.50 × 2.40 / 3.40 ≈ 2.47, and the exact DNB prices add up to 1/1.5529 + 1/2.4706 = 1.0487, a 4.87% margin. Turning the draw into a refund does not take the margin out of the price: the whole 1X2 margin stays and is carried by the two results that still pay, so the DNB margin is the 1X2 margin divided by (1 − 1/draw odds): 3.44% / (1 − 1/3.40) = 4.87%. The lower the draw odds, the more the margin grows. How the margin is built into odds is explained in how bookmakers make money.
DNB in the surebet calculator
In the surebet calculator you will find the market in the "Draw no bet" group as DNB 1 and DNB 2. The calculator treats DNB 1 and AH 1 (0) as the same bet, because they settle identically on every result.
Typical two-bet combinations with DNB:
DNB 1+X2: a home win lands on DNB, a draw gives a refund on DNB and a win on X2, an away win lands on X2,DNB 2+1X: the mirror image,DNB 1+AH 2 (+0.25),AH 2 (+0.75),AH 2 (+1)and further positive lines for the away side.
The DNB 1 + DNB 2 combination is not a surebet: on a draw both bets refund the stake, so at best you break even on that result.
With two bets and no refunds, the surebet condition is a sum of inverse odds below 1. The calculator handles refunds and stake rounding itself and shows in a table how much is left on each result of the match. What a surebet is and why such gaps between bookmakers appear is explained in what arbitrage betting is.
DNB in the dutching calculator
In the "From bet list" mode of the dutching calculator you can pick DNB 1 or DNB 2 next to other selections from the same match, for example correct scores. Because DNB has a refund, the payout is not the same on every result: the "Settlement by score" table shows the draw scenario separately, with DNB returning the stake.
When DNB makes sense and when it does not
DNB can be a sensible choice when you think the favourite is unlikely to lose but a draw is a real possibility. You pay for that with lower odds than on a straight "1", and with a margin that, on a DNB built from 1X2 prices, is larger than on the 1X2 market itself. That is why the price matters more than the market: compare a bookmaker's DNB with its Asian handicap 0 line and with the two-bet construction, and take the highest. There is no guarantee in any of it: DNB only changes how the risk is spread, and the bookmaker's margin is built into the odds just as in other markets. Only stake amounts you can afford to lose, and treat betting as entertainment.
In other sports
In ice hockey draw no bet also settles on regular time: on a draw after 60 minutes you get a refund. That is a different bet from the match winner market with overtime and the shootout, which plays on after a draw and always produces a winner. In sports without a draw, such as tennis, DNB makes no sense, because there is always a match winner. There a refund comes only from a retirement or a walkover, which we cover in our piece on tennis retirements and walkovers.
FAQ
What is draw no bet?
Draw no bet (DNB) is a bet on one team to win in which a draw refunds the stake. A win for your team wins the bet, and a win for the opponent loses it.
What does DNB mean at a bookmaker?
DNB stands for Draw No Bet. DNB 1 is a bet on the home side and DNB 2 on the away side: on a draw the bookmaker refunds the stake.
Is draw no bet the same as Asian handicap 0?
Yes. DNB 1 settles exactly like AH 1 (0), and DNB 2 like AH 2 (0): a draw gives a refund, and any win for your team wins the bet.
Do I get my whole stake back if a DNB bet ends in a draw?
Yes. A draw settles the bet as a refund, so £100 staked means £100 back. In an accumulator the refunded leg is usually counted at odds of 1.00 and the rest of the slip stays live.
What is the difference between draw no bet and double chance?
In double chance 1X a draw is a win, while in DNB 1 a draw only gives a refund. That is why the odds on 1X are lower than on DNB 1.
Can you make a surebet with draw no bet?
Yes, for example DNB 1 with X2, or DNB 1 with a positive Asian handicap on the away side, if the odds at different bookmakers are high enough. Check the combination in the surebet calculator before you bet: it shows what is left on every result.