How a dead heat pays: the stake-reduction rule with numbers

In a dead heat, the stake is reduced in proportion to the places you share, and the reduced stake is paid at full odds. A 20 bet at +1000 with two tied for first becomes a 10 bet at +1000, which returns 110. The other 10 is lost. The same bet without a tie returns 220.

The dead heat calculator works the reduced stake and the return for any tie.

The rule

Fraction paid = places available among the tied ÷ number tied (never above 1). Return = stake × fraction × decimal price. The part of the stake not paid, stake × (1 − fraction), is lost. If nobody else ties, the fraction is 1 and the bet pays in full.

Why the stake is cut, not the price

The price reflects the chance of the selection being the winner. When two share the win, it is half a winner. Paying full odds on a full stake would pay twice for one result, so settlement treats your bet as two bets of half the stake, one of which wins and one of which loses. Cutting the stake keeps the total paid on a market consistent with what the market priced.

The bet is not a push

A push returns the whole stake. A dead heat returns part of the stake's value as a win and loses the rest. At even money (decimal 2.00) a two-way dead heat returns half the stake at double, which is the stake back: 10 × 2.00 = 20 on a 20 bet. At longer prices you get more than the stake back, and at shorter ones less. At 1.50, a two-way dead heat returns 10 × 1.50 = 15 on a 20 stake, a loss of 5 despite sharing a win. The comparison with a push and a void is in its own article.

Where it applies

• Races decided by a photo finish with no separation.
• Markets that settle on a ranking, such as a golfer finishing in the first five or ten, or a leading scorer in a league.
• Markets on which player has the most of something, when two have equal totals.

Not every market uses the rule. Some pay all tied selections in full, some void a tie, and golf outright markets often settle on the result of a playoff when one is held. The market's own rules decide, and they vary between operators, so check them before relying on a dead-heat figure.

In a parlay

The same fraction applies to one leg of a parlay. The leg's decimal price is multiplied by the fraction before it multiplies into the ticket. A three-leg parlay at 2.00, 3.00 and 2.00 normally returns 12 per unit. If the 3.00 leg is a two-way dead heat, its multiplier becomes 3.00 ÷ 2 = 1.50 and the ticket returns 2.00 × 1.50 × 2.00 = 6.00 per unit. Compare that with the push treatment in the push article, where the leg would simply drop out.

A tie at the edge of the paying places is the case people find hardest, and it is worked in the cutoff article.

Work yours. Put in the stake, the price, the places and the number tied in the dead heat calculator.