Dead Heat Rules in Sports Betting: What It Is & Payouts Explained

In sports betting, most of us expect clear winners and losers.

But what happens if there’s a tie for first or a tie for a key finishing position?

This is where dead heat rules come into play. A dead heat in betting refers to a scenario where two or more competitors are tied for a winning position in an event.

Unlike a typical game ending in a draw (which usually results in a push/refund), a dead heat involves splitting the win because your selection wasn’t the sole winner.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explain what a dead heat means, why bookmakers use dead heat rules, how payouts are calculated (with examples), and how it impacts various sports and bet types. We’ll also give you tips to understand dead heat terms before you bet and highlight some real-world examples of dead heats in sports betting.

What Does “Dead Heat” Mean in Betting?

A dead heat is essentially a tie in an event where a clear winner was expected.

In betting terms, it means two or more selections are joint winners (or tied for a placing) and cannot be separated even by tiebreakers or photo finishes.

For example, if two horses hit the finish line at the same time or if multiple golfers tie for a top finishing position, that’s a dead heat. In such cases, dead heat rules are used to settle the bets.

Importantly, dead heats don’t apply to games where a tie/draw is an offered outcome (like a football or soccer match that ends in a draw). Those cases are handled as pushes or by specific rules. Dead heats are mostly about races and contests for winning positions or statistical leads.

Under dead heat rules, part of your bet wins and part of it loses. If your pick is involved in a dead heat, you still get a payout, but not the full amount you’d get if your pick had sole possession of the win.

Essentially, your payout is divided by the number of tied winners. A two-way tie (two winners) means you receive roughly half of the originally expected win, a three-way tie means about one-third, and so on.

We’ll dive into the exact math in a moment, but the key idea is that the winnings are shared among all the tied winners.

Why Do Sportsbooks Have Dead Heat Rules?

Dead heat rules exist to ensure fair and balanced payouts when multiple competitors tie for a winning position. Imagine if a sportsbook paid out full winnings to everyone in a tie — they’d end up paying out far more than was wagered, which isn’t sustainable.

By applying dead heat rules, the total payout is effectively split among the winners, keeping things fair for all bettors and the bookmaker. In other words, dead heat rules prevent scenarios where a book would have to pay multiple “first-place” payouts on a single market.

It also makes sense from the bettor’s perspective: you did pick a winner, but you’re sharing the honors with others, so you only get a share of the prize.

Another reason these rules exist is to handle the ambiguity in competitions where ties are possible. In many sports or bet types, there is no built-in tiebreaker for certain outcomes (for instance, most golf tournaments don’t break ties for 5th or 10th place — those players simply share the position).

Dead heat terms in the betting rules let everyone know ahead of time how ties will be settled. Without dead heat rules, it would be unclear how to settle bets whenever there’s a tie for a top position.

This way, both the bettor and the book know that if a tie happens, the payout will be adjusted accordingly, rather than voiding the bet or causing disputes.

Sports and Events Prone to Dead Heats

While modern photo-finish technology has made ties in some sports extremely uncommon, they can still occur. Dead heats remain a factor in various sports, especially those with large fields or measured results. Here are some sports and betting scenarios where dead heats are most common:

Horse Racing (and Greyhound Racing): Horse races are the classic example of dead heats. If two horses cross the line together and even the photo finish can’t separate them, they’re declared joint winners. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen – even in major races. For instance, in 2018 two horses (Glorious Empire and Channel Maker) finished in a dead heat for the win in a graded stakes race. Dead heats can also occur for minor placings (e.g. a tie for second). The same principle applies to greyhound races. Whenever there’s a tie in a race for a win or place, the dead heat rule will determine payouts. (Fun fact: Dead heats were more frequent in the old days; technology and better finish-line cameras have reduced their frequency, but they’re still not impossible!)
Golf Tournaments: Golf is notorious for dead heats because tournaments often end with multiple players tied for various positions. While a playoff will determine a single tournament champion if there’s a tie for first, ties for other places aren’t broken. It’s routine to see several golfers tie for 2nd, 5th, 10th, etc. For example, it’s not unusual to have four players tie for fifth place in a PGA Tour event. In betting markets like “Top 5 Finish” or “Top 10 Finish,” all those tied players technically have achieved that placement – which triggers dead heat rules. A dead heat in golf betting means your bet “wins,” but only part of it, since your golfer shared the position with others. Even in single-round bets like first-round leader, ties are very common (often multiple players share the lead after day one). Golf bettors need to expect that tied finishing positions = reduced payouts due to dead heats.
Olympic and Track & Field Events: In races measured by time (track sprints, swimming, speed skating, etc.), dead heats can occur when athletes record identical times. It’s rare at the very top level, but it has happened – famously, the Women’s 100m freestyle swimming final at the 2016 Olympics saw a dead heat for the gold medal, with two swimmers exactly tied for first. In such cases, both athletes are considered winners (multiple gold medals awarded). For bets on the “outright winner” of an event like that, a dead heat rule would apply – meaning bets on either of the tied winners pay, but at reduced amounts. Similarly, field events can have ties for measured distances or heights. Anytime multiple competitors “tie” for a medal or placing and share that spot, bettors with those winners will split the win per dead heat rules.
Soccer (Football) Top Scorer Props: While team sports games don’t use dead heats (because draws are either a separate bet or a push), prop bets in these sports can involve dead heats. A prime example is betting on a league’s top goal scorer or a tournament’s Golden Boot winner. These are season-long markets where players can end up with the same number of goals. In fact, in the English Premier League 2018-19 season, three players tied for the league’s top scorer with 22 goals each. If you had bet on any of those players, your bet is a winner – but you’re sharing that honor with two others, so dead heat rules apply. All three bets paid out, but at a fraction of the full odds. (The stakes were effectively divided by three for payout purposes.) Many bookmakers explicitly state that top scorer markets will be settled by dead heat rules if there’s a tie (not by secondary stats like assists). So, soccer top scorer, most tournament goals, or even “most home runs” type props in other sports can result in dead heats whenever stats are tied at the top.
Other Sports and Novelty Markets: Dead heats can pop up in any scenario where multiple winners are possible. This could be athletics (say two runners tie for first in a photo finish), Nascar/auto racing (extremely unlikely with timing down to thousandths, but not impossible to tie for a place), or even novelty and award bets. For example, if two contestants tie for first on a reality TV show betting market, or if an award (like MVP voting) ended up in a tie, sportsbooks would apply dead heat rules (assuming no specific tiebreak rule is in place). These instances are rarer, but it’s good to know the rule isn’t limited to the examples above. Any bet where your selection ends up sharing the “win” with others can trigger a dead heat payout.

Common Bet Types Affected by Dead Heats

Dead heat rules can affect a variety of bet types, especially in the contexts we listed above. Here are some of the most common bets and markets where you might encounter dead heat adjustments:

Golf “3-Ball” or Group Matchups: In golf betting, a 3-ball matchup is when you bet on one golfer to outscore two others in a group (often they’re paired together in a round). If two (or all three) players tie for the best score in that group, dead heat rules usually apply. For example, if you bet a player to win a 3-ball and he ties with one other guy for the lowest score, your payout will be cut in half (since your pick “half-won” the bet). The same goes for 2-ball matchups if the sportsbook doesn’t list a tie as a third option – many offer a “tie = no bet” version, but if not, a tie would be settled via dead heat. Always check if your matchup bet is 2-way (push on tie) or 3-way (where a tie is treated as a loss unless you bet the tie outcome). Most 3-balls are inherently 3-way markets, so a tie for best score triggers the dead heat reduction of winnings.
Horse Racing Place/Show Bets: In racing, a “place” bet often means betting on a horse to finish in the top 2 (varies by region), and “show” is top 3. If multiple horses dead-heat for one of those placing positions, your payout is affected. For instance, suppose you bet a horse to win and it dead-heats for the win with one other horse – you’re paid on half your stake at full odds (essentially winning half the amount). If you bet a horse to place (top 2) and three horses tie for second, then effectively two of those three will fill second-place honors (2nd and 3rd both count as “top 2” because 1st is one horse, then a tie for 2nd means two horses share 2nd and 3rd places). In that scenario, your stake might be reduced by the number of tied horses relative to the remaining slots (in this example, two horses tied for one remaining place, so half stake). Any tie in a paying position (win, place, show) in fixed-odds bets will invoke dead heat rules. (In parimutuel betting at racetracks, they handle this by splitting pools, but the end effect to bettors is similar – reduced payout when there’s a tie.)
“Top 5”, “Top 10”, “Top 20” Finishing Position Bets (Golf or NASCAR, etc.): These are very popular golf bets. If you bet a golfer to finish in the top 10, for example, and he ties with others for 10th place (i.e., more than 10 golfers are technically in the top 10 due to the tie), dead heat rules apply. Sportsbooks handle it by proportionally cutting the stake or odds based on how many are tied for those final spots. Say you bet a golfer to finish Top 10 and he finishes in an exact tie for 10th with five other players (a six-way tie for 8th through 13th place). Only three spots (8th, 9th, 10th) were up for grabs in the top 10, and six golfers occupied them, so effectively each of those six is “half” in the top 10 (3 spots / 6 players = 0.5). Your payout would be roughly 50% of what it would have been for a clear top-10 finish. If the odds were long, you’ll still profit, but if the odds were short, it’s possible to get back less than your original stake (more on that in the next section). Top-5 and Top-20 bets work the same way. These markets are frequently subject to dead heats because ties for the last placement happen often – be mentally prepared for that when betting on them.
Prop Bets with Multiple Winners Possible: Beyond traditional sports, any prop bet asking for a statistical leader or an event winner can lead to a dead heat if there’s a tie. We already covered the top goal scorer example in soccer. Other examples: “Top Point Scorer of an NBA All-Star Game” (if two players tie with 20 points each for highest, that’s a dead heat), “Most Home Runs in the Regular Season” (if two players finish tied, bets on either win but share the payout), or even novelty markets like “Will two contestants tie in a hot dog eating contest” (okay, that one might be unlikely!). The key is that if the bet didn’t account for a tie explicitly and one occurs, dead heat rules are the default solution. Always assume that if multiple people qualify as winners for your bet, you won’t get paid as if you alone won – you’ll get a fraction of the payout proportional to how many tied.
Group Winner Bets: In some sports books, especially for golf or motorsports, you can bet on a group of, say, 4–6 competitors where whichever of them performs best wins the bet. If that ends in a tie (e.g., two drivers tie for best finish in their group, or two golfers in the group shoot the same score), then dead heat rules apply to the “group winner” wager. This is similar to the 3-ball matchup scenario, just with potentially more participants. If two of six group members tie for best, a bet on either will pay half; if three tie, it pays one-third, etc. Always check the fine print, but unless the bookmaker specifies some tiebreak (which is uncommon), assume a tie in group bets will be settled as a dead heat.

In short, any bet where your selection isn’t an outright unique winner can be subject to dead heat payouts. It spans a lot of bet types: multi-way matchups, finishing position bets, statistical leader props, etc. Knowing which of your bets have this possibility helps you manage expectations when the results come in.

How Do Dead Heat Payouts Work? (Calculating Dead Heat Reductions)

Now to the nuts and bolts: How exactly are payouts calculated when a dead heat occurs? The concept is straightforward even if it initially seems confusing. There are two equivalent ways sportsbooks do the math (either by adjusting your stake or adjusting the odds), but the end result is that you get paid only for the portion of the bet that effectively “won.”

General rule: Your stake (or winnings) is divided by the number of tied winners. In a dead heat, you essentially win a fraction of your bet and the rest is considered lost. One common description is: “one part of your bet is treated as a winner, and the other part as a loser”. If there are 2 winners tied, half your bet wins (half loses); if 3 winners tied, one-third of your bet wins (two-thirds loses), etc..

Many sportsbooks implement this by dividing the stake by the number of tied competitors and then settling the bet at full odds with that reduced stake. Others might divide the odds instead (especially in decimal odds format) – mathematically it comes out very similar. Let’s walk through a couple of examples to make this clear:

Dead Heat Example (Two-Way Tie): Suppose you bet $100 on a horse at 5/1 odds (decimal 6.0) to win a race. If your horse wins outright, you’d get $100 × 5 = $500 profit, plus your $100 stake back = $600 return. Now imagine your horse dead-heats for first with one other horse (a 2-way tie for win). Under dead heat rules, you only get credit for half of your bet winning. One way to calculate it: divide your $100 stake by 2 (because two horses tied) = $50. That $50 is treated as the winning stake at 5/1 odds. $50 at 5/1 pays $250 profit, and you get the $50 stake back, totaling $300 returned. Essentially, you got half of the full win. (Another $300 of potential payout “lost” because your horse only half-won.) Bookies often phrase it as “paid half the stake at full odds” – in this case, half the stake ($50) at 5/1 yields $300 total. Notice you still made a profit ($200 profit net, since you bet $100 and got $300), but it’s half of what it would have been for a sole win.
Dead Heat Example (Three-Way Tie): Now let’s say you bet $30 on a golfer to finish Top 5 at +600 odds. He manages to tie with two other golfers for 5th place – a three-way tie for that last Top-5 spot. Since three players tied for that position, only one-third of your bet is considered a winner. Using the stake method: $30 ÷ 3 = $10. So effectively you have a $10 bet at +600 that wins, and the other $20 is a loss. Your payout from the $10 at +600 would be $10 × 6.0 = $60 (including stake), or $50 profit. So you’d get $60 back on your $30 bet. Another way to see it: originally a win would have returned $30 × 6.0 = $180 (with profit $150). Because it was a three-way tie, you get one-third of that $180, which is $60. This matches the calculation. (Some books might instead cut the odds: +600 divided by 3 = +200 (decimal 3.0 to 1.5), and then $30 at +200 also returns $60. Same result either way.)
Note: If the odds were shorter, it’s possible to get back less than your stake. For instance, consider a heavy favorite scenario: you bet $50 at -125 (1.8 decimal) in a 3-ball golf matchup, and two players tie for best score. Using dead heat, your odds would be halved (because two tied) to 0.9 decimal, meaning your $50 returns just $45. You’d lose $5 from your original stake. This can happen whenever the original odds are below even-money and a dead heat cuts them further. You haven’t done anything “wrong” – it’s just that splitting the win yields a payout smaller than your full stake. Dead heats can result in a net loss on the bet, even though it wasn’t a full loss, because the reduced odds weren’t enough to cover the stake. Always be aware of that in low-odds situations.
Multiple Tie with Limited Places Example: Let’s illustrate a slightly trickier scenario: You bet $100 on a golfer to finish Top 10 at +200. He finishes in a tie for 10th, but not just with one other person – say five golfers are tied for 10th place (places 8 through 12 are a logjam of ties). Technically, only three spots (8th, 9th, 10th) were available in the Top 10, but six guys filled those spots. That means only 3 out of those 6 tied golfers can “count” fully for top 10 – effectively each is a half-win (3/6 = 0.5). Your $100 stake would be cut by the fraction of winners: in this case, fraction = (number of finishing positions remaining) ÷ (number of tied participants). That’s 3 ÷ 6 = 0.5. So you either treat it as $50 at +200 wins (and $50 lost) or equivalently cut the odds in half to +100 on the full $100. Either way, you’d get $150 back (which is a $50 profit). If the math sounds confusing, don’t worry – the sportsbook does it for you. But do note: in this scenario, +200 odds and that many ties meant you only made $50 profit instead of $200 profit. If the odds were lower, you might have even lost money. In fact, with +200 odds, if five other players tied (making six-way tie for one spot, fraction 1/6), your new odds would be +33 (1.33 decimal) and $100 at that yields ~$133, meaning a $-$(negative) outcome relative to $100 stake (you’d get $33 profit, $133 total return, which is still profit actually – let’s say if odds were +120 instead, a big tie could cause a net loss).

To give a concrete losing example: $100 on Dustin Johnson Top 10 at +200, and he ties with four others for the last spot (five-way tie). If the book cuts stake: $100/5 = $20 at +200 → $60 return ($40 profit) – plus the other $80 of stake lost, net $60 return on $100 bet, a $40 loss. This sounds rough, but it’s a realistic scenario noted by bettors. Some books would cut odds instead: +200/5 = +40 (1.2 decimal) on $100 → $120 return ($20 profit), which yields a profit. Different method, different result! This brings us to an important point:

Sportsbooks may handle the math differently.

The two main approaches are: cutting the stake versus cutting the odds. In a perfect world, they’d yield the same payout, but due to how rounding and “losing stake” is handled, there can be slight differences.

With stake reduction, the book treats only part of your stake as a winner and the rest as a loss (so you effectively lose the portion of stake for the tied outcome that didn’t win). With odds reduction (a method often called “Dead Heat Reduction” by books like DraftKings), your full stake remains on the bet, but the odds are divided by the number of ties.

For example, in a three-way tie scenario: stake-cut method turns your $30 bet into $10 at the original odds; odds-cut method keeps $30 but divides the odds by 3. In theory, $10 at +600 returns $60 vs $30 at +200 returns $90 – here odds-cut seems to pay more.

Indeed, savvy bettors note that having the odds cut is a bit more favorable because you don’t lose part of your stake to a “loss”. Not all books do it the same way, so it’s something to be aware of (we’ll talk about checking house rules shortly).

The good news: the concept is always proportional. You’ll never get more than your full win, and you’ll never lose more than you would if the bet fully lost. You just get a proportional win based on how many tied.

If this still feels a bit abstract, don’t worry. The main takeaway is: when a dead heat happens, don’t expect a full payout. Expect something like “half payout if two tied, one-third payout if three tied,” etc.

Many online calculators can compute dead heat results for you, and sportsbooks will show the settled amount on your ticket. It’s just math happening behind the scenes to divide the prize.

One more note: Dead heat rules do not apply if a tie or draw was an offered outcome of the bet.

For example, if you bet on a soccer match 3-way moneyline (where a draw is one of the betting options), that’s not a dead heat situation – that’s just a draw (and you’d lose if you bet either team).

Dead heats are about unexpected ties in outcomes that normally would have a single winner. So, it won’t turn a team sport draw into a split decision (those are handled by pushes or paying the draw outcome). Dead heats are for those “competitive ranking” bets like races, leaderboards, or stats.

Tips for Bettors: Dealing with Dead Heats and House Rules

Dead heat rules can catch new bettors off guard. There’s nothing worse than thinking you won a nice payout and then seeing a smaller amount due to a tie. Here are some tips to help you understand and plan for dead heats before placing your bets:

Know the House Rules (Stake vs. Odds Cut): Different sportsbooks might handle dead heats slightly differently, so it pays to read the rules section. Check your sportsbook’s terms for “Dead Heat”. Most will describe the rule (often something like “In the event of a tie for first or a placing, wagers will be settled at reduced terms…”). As mentioned, some books explicitly use the “stake divided by number of winners” method, while others like DraftKings describe it as dividing the odds. The end result is similar, but as we saw, odds reduction can yield a higher return in some cases. Ninety-eight percent of the time the rules are the same across books, but dead heats are one area that can differ, so do your homework here. If you can’t find it easily, a quick keyword search in the rules or a Google search like “ dead heat rules” usually brings it up.
Look for “Includes Ties” Market Options: Some sportsbooks have started offering special markets that eliminate dead heat reductions. For example, DraftKings has “Top 5 Finish Including Ties” markets. If you bet that, it means you get paid in full even if your golfer ties for that position. The trade-off? The odds are usually lower on those markets compared to the standard ones, since the book is taking on the tie risk. If you hate the idea of splitting your winnings, see if such an option exists for your bet. It can be a bettor-friendly option in golf, where ties are likely. Just make sure you understand that “incl. ties” odds will be less lucrative than the regular market (because no reduction will occur later). It’s all about how risk-averse you are with ties.
Anticipate Potential Dead Heats: Before placing a bet, consider how likely a tie is. In a huge golf field, the odds of a tie for a top 10 spot are pretty high (ties happen all the time). In a small field or head-to-head, less so. If you’re betting a golfer for a Top 20 at +300, remember that there might be 5 guys tied for the last spot, cutting that payout. If you’re betting a “Most Regular Season Home Runs” future, note if two players could feasibly tie. Being aware of the possibility lets you manage your expectations and perhaps adjust stake size or choose a different market. For instance, if you strongly suspect a tie could happen, you might choose a book that you know handles dead heats more favorably, or opt for a market that voids ties if available.
Use Dead Heat Calculators or Formulas: If you want to know what your potential payout would be in a tie scenario, you can calculate it or use an online tool. The formula: Divide stake by the number of tied winners, then multiply by the original odds (in decimal). Or equivalently, divide your odds by the number of winners, then multiply by stake. Many betting calculators online have a “dead heat” function where you input the number of ties. This can help you see, for example, that a +150 bet might return less than your stake if 3 tie, etc. It’s a good exercise to avoid surprises.
Check if Your Book Uses Official Tiebreakers: Occasionally, for certain prop bets, a book might specify an official tiebreaker rather than a dead heat. For example, some soccer top scorer bets might say “If players tie, dead heat rules apply”, but another might say “Will be settled per the Golden Boot awarded” (and the Golden Boot might have a tiebreak like assists or fewer minutes played). In the latter case, only one winner is declared by the sport’s rules, so your bet would either win or lose normally with no dead heat. It’s important to read the market rules if provided. This is more of a niche concern, but just be aware that not every “tie” in stats will be treated as a dead heat if the contest itself has a tie-breaking procedure that yields one official winner.
Dead Heats in Parlays: If one leg of a parlay (accumulator) is affected by a dead heat, the sportsbook will usually adjust the odds of that leg and then recalculate the parlay odds accordingly. This means your parlay payout might be lower than initially quoted if one leg had a tie. Just as a tip: check your parlay settlement if you notice a lower payout; one of the legs might have been dead-heated and reduced. It’s handled automatically, but good to know why your 5-leg parlay didn’t pay the full amount even though all “won.”
Be Mindful of Rounding and Minimum Payouts: When stakes get divided, you sometimes see funny decimals (e.g., stake $10 divided by 3 = $3.33). Sportsbooks will round off to the nearest cent, so expect slight rounding differences. Also, with free bets or bonus bets, note that if a dead heat reduction would lead to paying less than the wager, some books count that as a loss for the bonus bet (because they can’t return a free bet stake). Just a small detail: if you’re using a promo bet on a market that might dead heat, be aware you could end up with $0 if the tie payout is lower than the stake.

In summary, read the fine print and understand the context of your bet. Dead heats aren’t a trick; they’re a standard practice, but they do add a layer of complexity. By knowing how your sportsbook handles them and by anticipating ties, you can bet with your eyes open.

It can even influence line shopping: if Book A and Book B have the same odds on a top-10, but you know Book A’s dead heat rules are a tad more favorable (odds cutting) than Book B’s (stake cutting), you might lean towards A, especially for bets likely to tie. These little edges can add up over time.

Dead heats add an extra wrinkle to sports betting. They ensure that when multiple contestants share the glory, bettors share the payout.

By understanding what a dead heat is and knowing your sportsbook’s rules, you can approach these situations confidently.

So the next time you see a crazy tie finish, you’ll already know how it affects your bet slip.

And who knows – sometimes a dead heat can feel as good as a win (half a loaf is better than none!), especially if the alternative was your pick falling just short.

Happy betting, and may all your wins be clear-cut (unless you’ve got two horses in a photo finish – then you might root for a dead heat!).

What Is a Dead Heat in Sports Betting?