Dead Heat Rules Explained: How Tied Bets Are Paid Out

A dead heat happens when two or more selections tie for a position that your bet depends on. Under the dead heat rule, your stake is divided by the number of selections that tie, and only that fraction of the stake is paid at the full odds. The rest of the stake is lost. It is a reduction, not a loss: you still get a payout, just a smaller one than you expected.

The basic rule for a win bet

Say two horses cross the line together in a photo finish and the judge cannot separate them. The result is declared as a dead heat for first. A bet on either horse is treated as though half of your stake was on a winner and the other half was on a loser.

This is an illustration, not a quote from any bookmaker. You place £10 on a horse at 5/1 and it dead-heats for first with one other runner.

• Half your stake, £5, is settled as a winner at 5/1: £25 winnings plus the £5 stake returned.
• The other £5 is lost.
• Total returned: £30, against £60 had it won outright.

If three selections tie, you get one third of your stake working at the full odds. With four tied, a quarter, and so on.

Each-way bets and dead heats

Each-way bets are two bets, a win part and a place part, so the dead heat rule is applied to each separately. The key question for the place part is how many tied runners are competing for the places that are left.

Take a race paying three places. Your each-way selection dead-heats for first.

• Win part: stake is halved, as above.
• Place part: both tied runners are inside the places, so the place stake is paid in full at the place terms.

Now suppose your horse ties for third with another runner and there is only one place left.

• Win part: loses.
• Place part: two runners share one place, so half the place stake is paid at the place odds and half is lost.

So the question is always the same: how many runners are tied, and how many paying places do they share? If the tied runners fill the available places with room to spare, nothing is cut. If they overflow the places, the stake is scaled by places available divided by runners tied. For more on how the place terms work, see our guide to each-way betting.

Golf and other sports

Dead heats are most noticeable in golf, where ties are common. In an outright winner market, a tie for first after a play-off is usually settled by the play-off winner, depending on the operator's terms, but in markets such as top 5 or top 10 finishes the dead heat rule normally applies if players tie across the cut-off.

Illustration: you back a golfer in a top 5 market. He finishes tied fourth with two other players, which means three players are sharing the fourth and fifth places, so two places are available for three players. Your stake is scaled by 2/3: two thirds of your stake is paid at the full odds and one third is lost. At £30 stake and odds of 3/1, the paid part is £20 at 3/1 = £60 winnings plus £20 stake = £80, and £10 is lost.

The same logic can apply in darts, snooker, and any market where a position can be shared. For markets such as most goals or top scorer in football, ties are also settled under dead heat rules, although some operators void or refund in particular cases. These are covered in the operator's terms.

Things worth knowing

• Settlement result: bets are generally settled on the official result, which for racing can be the stewards' or judge's declaration. If the result is changed after an enquiry, check how the operator handles a changed result.
• Accumulators: in a multiple, a dead heat reduces only the leg affected, so the returns of that leg are scaled and carried into the next. See accumulator bets.
• Tote and exchange: the tote has its own dividend rules, and on a betting exchange the market rules decide, so do not assume they match the bookmaker's.
• Promotions: some operators advertise dead heat protection or special refunds on certain events. These are set by the operator, so read the terms.

What to do

1. Before you place a bet, find the "dead heat" or "tie" wording in the operator's betting rules.
2. Work out the likely payout in the worst case. A tied bet is never settled at the full odds on the full stake.
3. If a result looks wrong, check your settled bet history and compare it with the official result.
4. If a payout still looks off after that, contact customer support and quote your bet number.

Remember that nothing here changes the odds of any outcome, and no bet is guaranteed. Help is available from our responsible gambling page. 18+ only.