What is a Push in Sports Betting?

Few things in sports can match the same sinking feeling of a tie. That sentiment carries over to sportsbooks, where a push results in a wager that doesn’t win or lose.

Here, we’ll explain how pushes work in sports betting. We’ll also cover how sportsbooks prevent pushes and how you should account for pushes while tracking your wins and losses.

What is a Push?

At its core, a push is the same thing as a tie in sports betting. It can occur in moneyline, spread, and totals wagers, as well as in prop wagers centered around statistical milestones.

When pushes happen, sportsbooks return all stakes to the bettors affected by the push, and wagers are treated as though the bet was never placed.

Here are a few examples of scenarios where pushes may occur:

• A moneyline wager ends in a tie when the score ends in a tie. This is particularly common for soccer matches, but they can also happen while NFL betting.
• Pushes can occur in spread bets when a line lands on a whole number (for example, if the Philadelphia Eagles are seven-point favorites against the Dallas Cowboys and win by exactly seven points.
• They can occur for totals betting when the sportsbook projection is a whole number. If the line for a game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics was O/U 245 and the Celtics won 125-120, the combined score would exactly match the line, resulting in a push.

Note that most sportsbooks will not issue a push for a weather delay. Instead, the bets will be left unsettled until the game resumes or is rescheduled.

How Do Sportsbooks Prevent Pushes?

Since sportsbooks are required to refund all stakes when a push occurs, they frequently go to great lengths to avoid potential push scenarios.

Many times, you may see an over/under line or spread line that ends in “.5” (O/U 212.5 points in an NBA game, Home team -4.5 in a football game, etc.). This half-point is known as the “hook,” and it’s used to guarantee a clear winner to a bet regardless of the outcome.

Sportsbooks will decide whether to include a hook when posting their lines based on their calculations of the expected result. From there, line movement occurs based on betting action, which can lead to hooks being added or removed from the posted total/spread.

How Should I Report A Push While Tracking My Bets?

Bettor In Green always recommends tracking your bets, including the amount wagered, teams/players involved, and the outcome of the wager, so you can adjust your betting strategies as needed. While sportsbook apps and websites will do this for you over the short term (typically 90 days), it’s beneficial to write them down to track over longer periods of time for a larger sample size.

Pushes are virtually guaranteed to occur at some point in your sports betting career. We’d suggest including the wager but recording the bet as a tie without including it in a win-loss record, so you’re still acknowledging the research you put in ahead of time, despite the lack of a true outcome.

The more effort you put into results tracking, betting research, and methodology, the more likely you’ll be able to predict future outcomes correctly. Don’t be discouraged by a push; trust your processes and get ready for the next bet!