Draw No Bet Explained - What DNB Means in Sports Betting

Draw No Bet, often abbreviated as DNB, is a popular betting market that removes the draw as a losing outcome. It is commonly used in sports such as football and rugby, where matches can end in three possible ways: home win, draw, or away win.

With a Draw No Bet wager, you are betting on one team to win the match. If your selection wins, your bet is successful. If the match ends in a draw, your stake is returned. If your selection loses, the bet loses.

What Is Draw No Bet?

Draw No Bet is a market designed to reduce risk by protecting you against the draw. Instead of betting on the standard match winner market, where a draw would mean losing your stake, DNB refunds your original stake if the game ends level.

Because the draw is removed as a losing outcome, the odds in a Draw No Bet market are lower than in a standard win market.

How Draw No Bet Works

Imagine you back a team to win a football match. In a standard 1X2 market, there are three possible outcomes:

• Your team wins - your bet wins

• The match ends in a draw - your bet loses

• Your team loses - your bet loses

With Draw No Bet, the outcomes are adjusted:

• Your team wins - your bet wins

• The match ends in a draw - your stake is refunded

• Your team loses - your bet loses

Example of a Draw No Bet Bet

Suppose you want to back a team at odds of 2.80 in the standard match winner market. If you place a €100 bet and your team wins, you would receive €280 in total return.

However, if the match ends in a draw, the entire €100 stake would be lost.

Now imagine the same team is available in the Draw No Bet market at odds of 1.95.

• If the team wins, a €100 stake returns €195

• If the match ends in a draw, the €100 stake is refunded

• If the team loses, the €100 stake is lost

This shows how Draw No Bet lowers the potential return but offers additional protection against the draw.

Why Bettors Use Draw No Bet

Draw No Bet is often used when a bettor believes one team has a good chance of winning but wants protection if the match ends level.

It is especially useful in evenly matched games or in situations where a draw is considered a realistic possibility.

Draw No Bet as a Betting Strategy

Some bettors also use Draw No Bet as part of a broader betting strategy. In certain cases, sportsbooks may not offer a DNB market, or the odds available may not be attractive enough.

In these situations, bettors sometimes create their own Draw No Bet position by combining other markets.

The Maths Behind Draw No Bet

A traditional way to recreate a Draw No Bet is by splitting your stake between:

• A bet on your chosen team to win

• A smaller bet on the draw

This way, if the match ends in a draw, the return from the draw bet can cover the original stake.

For example, if you want to stake €100 on a team and the draw odds are available at 3.40, you could calculate how much to place on the draw so that the return equals your original €100 stake. The remaining amount would then be placed on your selected team to win.

This creates a similar effect to a Draw No Bet wager, although the exact payout may differ from the bookmaker’s dedicated DNB market.

Draw No Bet and Asian Handicap 0

Another common alternative to Draw No Bet is Asian Handicap 0, also known as AH 0.

Asian Handicap 0 works in the same way:

• If your team wins, the bet wins

• If the match ends in a draw, the stake is refunded

• If your team loses, the bet loses

In many cases, the odds for Draw No Bet and Asian Handicap 0 are identical or very similar, making them effectively equivalent markets.

Conclusion

Draw No Bet is a simple and useful betting market that removes the draw as a losing outcome. It allows bettors to reduce risk by receiving their stake back if the match ends level, while still backing a team to win.

Although the odds are lower than in a standard match winner market, Draw No Bet can be a valuable option when you want added protection in matches where a draw is a realistic result.