A push in betting is a result that lands exactly on the line you bet, so the bet neither wins nor loses and the sportsbook gives the stake back. As an illustration, take a team favored by 3 points, written -3: if it wins by exactly 3, a bet on either side of that spread is a push.
The sportsbooks’ own rules call it a refund or a void. FanDuel’s house rules for spreads and totals say that “where the index (value) of the market is a whole number, bets are void and will be refunded where the score lands on that number.” Caesars puts it this way for football: “Unless a price is quoted for a tie, any market where the result is a tie will be void.”
What does push mean in betting, bet by bet
Whether a bet can push depends on two things: whether the line is a whole number, and whether the market offers a price on the tie itself.
| Bet | Can it push? | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Point spread on a whole number, such as -3 | Yes | Stake refunded if the favorite wins by exactly 3 (FanDuel; Caesars) |
| Over/under on a whole number, such as 44 | Yes | Stake refunded if the teams score exactly 44 (FanDuel) |
| Any spread or total with a half point, such as -3.5 or 44.5 | No | Scores are whole numbers, so the result is always above or below the line |
| Pick’em spread (0) | Yes | Refunded only if the game ends level (FanDuel; Caesars) |
| NFL moneyline | Yes, rarely | FanDuel: “In the event of a tie after overtime, all money line wagers will be refunded” |
| NHL moneyline | No | Overtime and the shootout count (FanDuel) |
| Soccer three-way moneyline (home, draw, away) | No | The draw is a result of its own, settled after 90 minutes plus stoppage time (Caesars) |
| Draw no bet | Yes, by design | FanDuel: “bets are void if the game ends in a tie after normal time” |
A push on a single bet, the straight bet most people place, is the simple case: Caesars says that when a selection is void, “for straight wagers the money wagered will be returned.”
What does a push mean in a parlay or teaser?
In a parlay, a pushed leg drops out and the bet is paid on the legs left. Caesars: “In the event of a selection becoming ‘Void’ or ‘Push’ the number of selections in the parlay is reduced by the number of voids or pushes.” FanDuel says a voided leg turns a three-leg bet into a two-leg one and that “the wager odds will be re-calculated using the remaining legs.”
Here is the arithmetic, as an illustration with three legs at -110 each and $100 staked:
- All three win: the price is 1.9091 three times over, 6.9579, so $100 returns $695.79, a profit of $595.79.
- One leg pushes and the other two win: the price is 1.9091 twice, 3.6446, so $100 returns $364.46, a profit of $264.46.
- Two legs push and one wins: the bet is paid as a single -110 bet, $190.91 back.
A teaser is where the two books differ. FanDuel voids a two-team teaser outright and refunds it when one leg pushes; a bigger teaser stays live with the payout “recalculated removing the voided or push legs.” Caesars says a teaser “reduced to one live leg (due to a push, void, etc.)” is paid, if that leg wins, “at the correct straight wager teaser price.”
What does 3 way no push mean?
It means the tie has its own price, so no result hands the stake back. Caesars’ rule for a two-way market is that a tie is void “unless odds are quoted for the tie”; a three-way market quotes them.
FanDuel’s soccer rules show a three-way spread: Team A (-1), Draw (-1) and Team B (+1). If Team A wins by exactly one goal, the bet on Draw (-1) wins and the other two lose. The one-goal margin that would push a two-way -1 line becomes an outcome someone backed.
How often does a push happen in sports betting?
It depends on how often the score lands on the number. In the 2025 NFL regular season, 41 of 272 games were decided by exactly 3 points (15.1%) and 26 by exactly 7 (9.6%), from the nflverse game records our alternate spread guide uses.
The same records list 390 games from 2016 to 2025, regular season and playoffs, with a 3-point favorite. In 38 of them, 9.7%, the favorite won by exactly 3, a push at -3. Ties are rarer: 10 of the 2,761 games in those ten seasons ended level, the only results that push an NFL moneyline.
A half point removes the push altogether. At -3.5 a favorite that wins by 3 loses the bet, and at -2.5 the same result wins it; there is no score in between.