Draw No Bet Explained: Odds, AH 0 and Fair Price

Draw no bet (DNB) is a two-way football bet: you are paid if your team wins, you get the stake back if the match is a draw, and you lose if the other team wins. It is the same settlement as Asian handicap 0. You can build the price from a 1X2 book: stake part on the win and part on the draw so a draw returns exactly the win stake. If the draw is a separate outcome that makes a team bet lose, you are on a 3-way moneyline instead.

Pinnacle's own worked example (Aston Villa v Chelsea, 1X2 7.790 / 4.300 / 1.518, read 7 November 2026) converts to a synthetic Villa DNB of 5.978 and a Chelsea DNB of 1.165. Strip the 1.97% 1X2 margin with the multiplicative method and the fair DNB prices are 6.132 and 1.195. The hedge using vigged 1X2 prices is shorter than fair. That gap is the point of this page.

Definition. Draw no bet: a two-outcome market on which team wins the match. A draw is a push (stake returned). It is not double chance (win or draw, which pays on two of three 1X2 results and never refunds).

Key takeaways

• DNB = Asian handicap 0: win pays, draw refunds, loss loses.
• From a 1X2, stake S = total × (draw odds − 1) / draw odds on the team, the rest on the draw. Effective DNB odds = team odds × (draw odds − 1) / draw odds.
• Villa 7.790 with draw 4.300 → S = £76.74 of £100 on Villa, DNB 5.978. Fair DNB after multiplicative de-vig: 6.132.
• Compare a book's DNB (or AH 0) with that fair number, not with the raw 1X2.
• DNB does not remove the favourite-longshot shape; it only removes the draw as a losing result.

How does draw no bet settle?

Ninety minutes plus stoppage time, same as a usual match 1X2. Extra time and penalties do not count unless the market says they do.

On a 100 stake at 1.90 DNB: a win returns 190 (net +90); a draw returns 100 (net 0); a loss returns 0 (net −100). Variance is lower than the 1X2 because the draw is no longer a full loss. Expected value still depends only on the price versus the fair price.

Is draw no bet the same as Asian handicap 0?

Yes, in effect. Pinnacle's handicap primer treats a level (0) handicap as a refund when the scores are level after the handicap — the same push. Quarter lines such as −0.25 are half on 0 (this market) and half on −0.5. If a book quotes both DNB and AH 0, the prices should match; if they do not, that is a line to check, not a different bet.

Double chance is the other neighbour: home-or-draw pays on two 1X2 outcomes and never refunds. Pinnacle's double-chance article builds that hedge from 1X2 as well; it is a different payoff and a different fair price. This page does not cover it. A European (3-way) handicap is the opposite case: an exact margin is a separate "handicap draw" outcome and nothing is refunded; see European handicap vs Asian handicap.

How do you turn a 1X2 into draw no bet odds?

Pinnacle's method (“Using the 1X2 market to produce Draw No Bet odds”, read 7 November 2026):

You want £100 of risk. Stake S on the team at its 1X2 odds, and 100 − S on the draw, choosing S so that a draw pays back exactly S:

S = 100 × (draw odds − 1) / draw odds

S depends only on the draw. The team odds drop out of the hedge.

If the team wins, profit = team odds × S − 100. Divide the total return by 100 to get decimal DNB odds:

DNB odds = team odds × (draw odds − 1) / draw odds

Worked example (Pinnacle's figures)

Aston Villa 7.790, draw 4.300, Chelsea 1.518. Other books' DNB on Villa: 4.90 and 5.50 (same article).

1/7.790 + 1/4.300 + 1/1.518 − 1 = 1.97% margin.

For £100 of risk on Villa DNB:

• S on Villa = 100 × 3.300 / 4.300 = £76.74
• On the draw = £23.26
• Draw: (4.300 − 1) × 23.26 = £76.74, which offsets the lost Villa stake. Net 0.
• Villa wins: (7.790 − 1) × 76.74 − 23.26 = £497.84 net. Decimal DNB = 1 + 4.9784 = 5.978.
• Check: 7.790 × 3.300 / 4.300 = 5.978.

Chelsea DNB the same way: 1.518 × 3.300 / 4.300 = 1.165.

Pinnacle's article notes that £497.84 on £100 is 9% more than the 5.50 DNB (£450) and 21% more than 4.90 (£390). Those 4.90 / 5.50 figures are the article's, not a live book we re-scraped.

Fair DNB from the same 1X2

The hedge above uses vigged 1X2 prices, so the synthetic DNB still contains margin. Remove it first (multiplicative: divide each implied probability by 1.0197):

Draw no bet ignores the draw, so fair DNB odds = 1 / (p_team / (p_team + p_other)) = (p_team + p_other) / p_team, which is 1 + p_other / p_team:

The synthetic prices are shorter than fair. If a book puts Villa DNB up at 6.20, that is longer than both; at 5.50 it is shorter than the synthetic, let alone fair. The devig calculator does the probability step; devig methods covers Power and Shin when you do not want a proportional strip.

The same conversion works after a drop: rebuild DNB from the current 1X2, then compare with the DNB or AH 0 your book still has up.

When does the DNB line move?

Whenever the 1X2 win probabilities move, holding the draw roughly fixed. A draw-shortening move (fewer goals) can leave DNB almost unchanged while the 1X2 favourite shortens, because some of that probability came out of the draw. Check both markets. Football dropping odds covers 1X2, Asian handicap and totals together.

DNB on a heavy favourite is an odds-on two-way. It still sits inside the favourite-longshot shape: a 1.16 DNB is not “safe”; it is a high-probability price with a small payout.

How Pinnacle Terminal handles this

Football Asian handicap 0 and the 1X2 sit on the same event in Pinnacle Terminal. Each pre-match move is graded 0–10 (Big move, Sharp drop of about 20% or more from the recent high, Limit-backed, Downtrend, Rebound, Standard). Live in-play football drops are shown and filtered, without a grade. Every line has a fair price (Power by default), so you can compare a DNB or AH 0 at your book with Pinnacle's fair two-way on the same match. The terminal does not accept bets and is not affiliated with Pinnacle. Product: Pinnacle dropping odds. Plans: pricing.

FAQ

What does draw no bet mean?

You bet a team to win. If they win, you are paid at the DNB odds. If the match is a draw, the stake is returned. If they lose, the bet loses.

Is draw no bet the same as Asian handicap 0?

Yes, in settlement. Some books list them on different screens; the push on a draw is the same.

How do I calculate draw no bet odds from 1X2?

DNB odds = team odds × (draw odds − 1) / draw odds. That is the vigged synthetic. For a fair number, de-vig the 1X2 first, drop the draw, and use 1 + p_other / p_team.

Is draw no bet better value than the 1X2?

Only if its price is long of its fair price. Removing the draw cuts variance; it does not create edge. Compare DNB with DNB, not with the 1X2 favourite.

Does extra time count on draw no bet?

Not in a usual 90-minute market. Cup ties can be listed separately; read the market name.

Sources

• Pinnacle, “Using the 1X2 market to produce Draw No Bet odds”, Betting Resources (read 7 November 2026): Villa 7.790, draw 4.300, Chelsea 1.518; S = £76.744; net £497.84; other-book DNB 4.90 and 5.50; S = total × (draw − 1) / draw.
• Pinnacle, “What is handicap soccer betting?” (read 7 November 2026): level handicap refunds when the scores are level.
• Synthetic DNB 5.978 / 1.165, 1.97% 1X2 margin, multiplicative fair DNB 6.132 / 1.195: our arithmetic from those 1X2 prices, 7 November 2026.
• Settlement table for AH 0: Asian handicap explained (Pinnacle soccer rules, read 1 November 2026).

Try it

Watch Pinnacle's 1X2 and Asian handicap 0 on the same match, with a fair price on each line and every pre-match move graded 0–10: start the Pinnacle Terminal 7-day free trial. Nothing is charged before day 8. Plans: pricing.

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