Void, Push and Dead Heat: Three Ways a Bet Refuses to Behave Normally

Most betting tickets have a clean ending: win or lose.

Then a match is abandoned, a points total lands exactly on the line or three golfers tie for fourth place. The ticket enters the administrative department.

Void, push and dead heat all change settlement, but they do not always change it in the same way.

What is a void bet?

A void bet is cancelled for settlement purposes. The stake on a single is normally returned.

Common reasons include:

• An event is abandoned
• A participant does not start
• A market was posted with a material error
• A player-prop participant does not meet the required participation rule
• The sportsbook’s published rules say the market has no valid result

In an accumulator, a void selection is usually settled at decimal odds of 1.00. The remaining legs continue.

A four-leg accumulator with one void leg effectively becomes a three-leg accumulator.

What is a push?

A push occurs when the result lands exactly on the betting line.

You bet over 2 goals in a football match. Exactly 2 goals are scored.

On a standard whole-number total, the bet pushes and the stake is returned.

The same can happen with point spreads. If you back a team -3 and it wins by exactly 3, neither side beats the line.

In many accumulators, a push is treated like a void leg at 1.00.

The word is more common in North American betting. The settlement effect is often similar to a void, but always check the sport and operator rules.

What is a dead heat?

A dead heat occurs when two or more competitors tie for a winning or placing position and cannot be separated under the market rules.

The sportsbook may divide your stake by the number of tied selections, then apply the original odds to the reduced stake.

You bet €20 on a golfer at 10.00 to finish in the top five. Two players tie for the final qualifying place.

Under a two-way dead heat:

• Half the stake wins at 10.00
• Half the stake loses

€10 × 10.00 = €100 total return

Without the dead heat, the return would have been €200.

A three-way dead heat would usually apply one third of the stake. Bookmaker explanations commonly describe this stake-division method. [1]

Why rules differ

Betting markets are contracts defined by their settlement wording.

“Team to qualify” may include extra time and penalties. “Match result” may stop after 90 minutes. A player total may require the player to start, appear or record a specific amount of action.

The sporting result and the betting result are related, but they are not identical twins.

Licensed operators should publish the circumstances in which bets are void and the source used to determine outcomes. [2] The rules in place for the bet should govern settlement rather than a later contradictory change. [3]

What happens in an accumulator?

Suppose your decimal selections are:

• 1.80
• 2.00
• 1.70
• 2.20

Combined odds:

1.80 × 2.00 × 1.70 × 2.20 = 13.46

If the 2.00 leg is void, it becomes 1.00:

1.80 × 1.00 × 1.70 × 2.20 = 6.73

Your bet remains active, but the potential return is cut in half.

Dead-heat deductions can be more complicated because only part of the stake on one leg may win. The final settlement depends on the operator’s rules.

The phrase that causes most disputes

“Did not participate” sounds clear until a player sits on the bench, appears for one minute or starts but leaves injured.

Different props may require different levels of participation. A first goalscorer bet, player shots bet and match appearance market can settle differently from the same event.

Read the market rule before betting obscure props. IBAS regularly warns that settlement conventions differ between operators and markets. [4]

My verdict

A void is a cancellation. A push is a line that lands exactly. A dead heat divides the stake among tied outcomes.

That is the easy part.

The hard part is knowing what your bookmaker counts as a valid event. The rules are not exciting, but neither is discovering that the goal you celebrated happened two minutes outside the market’s definition.