Three-Way Moneyline vs. Two-Way Moneyline: What’s the Difference?
A three-way moneyline gives you three prices on one game: the home side wins, the away side wins, or it ends level. A two-way moneyline gives you one winner and no third option, either because the sport almost never ties or because the book hands your stake back if it does. That extra outcome changes the price more than most bettors expect, and we can put a number on it. Across the 2.1 million odds snapshots we archived in August 2026, the six US-regulated sportsbooks we track held a median of 6.63% on three-way MLS soccer lines and 3.96% on two-way MLB moneylines. Same books, same month, same 24-hour window before kickoff.
That gap is the whole story. Below is what each market actually is, which sports use which, what the draw is really worth, and when paying for the third outcome makes sense.
What Is a Three-Way Moneyline?
A three-way moneyline is a single bet on one of three possible results: Team A wins, Team B wins, or the game finishes tied. Only one of the three can cash, so you have one way to win and two ways to lose. Sportsbooks list it under several names depending on the sport, including Match Betting, Win-Draw-Win, Match Result (Regulation Time), and the 60-Minute Line in hockey, but the structure is identical every time.
The critical detail is when it settles. According to DraftKings’ house rules as filed with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, three-way markets are graded at the conclusion of regulation time, and regulation is defined by the sport’s governing body: 90 minutes plus injury time in soccer, three 20-minute periods in hockey. Anything after that (extra time, overtime, a shootout) does not count unless the book explicitly says so.
Because the draw absorbs a real slice of the probability, both teams price longer than they would on a two-way line. A side that would be -230 in a market with no draw might sit at -135 on the three-way. You are not getting a better team cheaper. You are getting a narrower bet.
What Is a Two-Way Moneyline?
A two-way moneyline is a bet on which of two sides wins, with no draw priced at all. The same DraftKings rulebook defines the Money Line as a two-way market that is inclusive of overtime, which is why a standard NHL, NBA, or NFL moneyline pays out on a team that wins in the extra period. This is the market most American bettors mean when they say “moneyline,” and our full moneyline guide covers how to read and price it.
Here is where it gets confusing: “two-way” describes two different products depending on the sport.
- Sports that cannot realistically tie (MLB, NBA, NFL, and the standard NHL line): the two-way moneyline is just the win-or-lose market. Overtime decides it, and overtime counts.
- Sports where a draw is a real result (soccer, boxing, MMA): the two-way alternative is a separate market called Draw No Bet or Tie No Bet, where a draw refunds your stake instead of losing it.
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The Refund Is Not Free
A Draw No Bet ticket looks like a safer version of the same wager, and in a sense it is. But the book prices that refund in, so your winner pays substantially less. We work out exactly how much less further down, using a real price from a real game.
Which Sports Use a Three-Way Line?
Soccer and hockey are the two sports where a three-way moneyline is standard, for the same reason: both produce ties in regulation often enough that a two-outcome market would misprice the game. Everything else is a special case.
- Soccer: the default. Every soccer moneyline you see at a US book is a three-way line unless it is explicitly labeled otherwise. In our August 2026 archive, all 59,914 MLS moneyline quotes we captured from the regulated panel carried a draw price.
- Hockey: offered alongside the standard line, usually branded the 60-Minute Line or Regulation Time. The standard NHL moneyline stays two-way and includes overtime and the shootout. The 2026-27 NHL season opens September 29, 2026, so these markets return with it.
- Boxing and MMA: technically available, rarely at US books. More on this below.
- NFL: ties exist but are vanishingly rare, so the two-way line is the only market that matters.
- MLB, NBA, tennis: no meaningful draw, so no three-way market.
What Does the Extra Outcome Cost?
Three-way lines cost roughly 2.7 percentage points more in hold than a two-way baseball moneyline, which is about 67% more margin on the same dollar. We measured this from our own odds archive rather than taking the industry’s word for it. The panel is the six US-regulated books we track (BetMGM, BetRivers, Caesars, DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics), the window is the 24 hours before each event, and the month is August 2026. Hold is the share of every dollar wagered that the book keeps once both or all three sides are priced, calculated the same way across every row.
| Market | Outcomes priced | Median hold | Quotes measured |
|---|---|---|---|
| MLS soccer (three-way) | 3 | 6.63% | 59,914 |
| Boxing (two-way) | 2 | 5.62% | 31,628 |
| Tennis (two-way) | 2 | 5.15% | 591,762 |
| WNBA (two-way) | 2 | 4.36% | 69,863 |
| NFL (two-way) | 2 | 4.26% | 47,513 |
| UFC (two-way) | 2 | 4.11% | 58,251 |
| MLB (two-way) | 2 | 3.96% | 337,808 |
Every two-way market on that list clusters between 3.96% and 5.62%. The three-way market sits alone at the top. If the term “hold” is new to you, it is the modern way of describing the vig, and our betting glossary defines it alongside the rest of the vocabulary.
One caveat worth stating plainly: this is an MLS measurement taken at US books, not a universal claim about soccer betting everywhere. European books competing on Premier League prices often run tighter three-way lines than what we captured here.
Do All Sportsbooks Charge the Same for a Three-Way Line?
No, and the spread between them is wide. On the same MLS matches in the same month, the cheapest book in our panel held 5.39% and the most expensive held 7.53%, a gap of more than two full percentage points. Every single book charged more on its three-way soccer line than on its own two-way baseball line, which tells you the premium is structural rather than one operator being greedy.
| Sportsbook | MLS three-way | MLB two-way | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| DraftKings | 7.53% | 4.28% | +3.25 pts |
| BetMGM | 6.96% | 4.43% | +2.53 pts |
| BetRivers | 6.77% | 3.89% | +2.88 pts |
| FanDuel | 6.42% | 2.12% | +4.30 pts |
| Caesars | 6.01% | 2.08% | +3.93 pts |
| Fanatics | 5.39% | 4.35% | +1.04 pts |
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Line Shopping Matters Twice as Much Here
On a two-way baseball moneyline, the difference between the best and worst book in our panel was small enough to shrug at. On the same soccer matches, it was 2.14 percentage points. If you bet soccer regularly and only ever open one app, that spread is the most expensive habit in your account.
Is the Draw Worth Betting?
The draw is priced about right, which is the opposite of what most betting guides imply. Strip the margin out of every MLS three-way quote in our August 2026 sample and the market’s median implied chance of a draw was 24.1%, with the middle 80% of quotes landing between 20.5% and 26.4%. The actual 2026 MLS regular season has produced 81 draws in 329 matches, or 24.6%, per the league standings through August 30.
Half a percentage point of difference across a full season is not an edge. It is the market doing its job. The popular framing that “nobody bets the draw, so it must be good value” does not survive contact with the numbers: the books know exactly how often soccer matches finish level, and they price it accordingly.
The typical MLS draw sat at +290 across our sample. That price implies about a one-in-four shot before vig, and one in four is roughly what you get. If you want to know what any of these numbers pay, our odds calculator converts American prices to implied probability and back.
What Is Draw No Bet, and What Does It Cost?
Draw No Bet is the two-way version of a three-way market: you back a team, a draw refunds your stake, and a loss is still a loss. DraftKings’ filed rules describe it as a bet on either the home or away team where the stakes are returned if the game contains no winner. The protection is real, and so is the price you pay for it.
Here is an actual line from our archive. On August 30, 2026, DraftKings priced FC Cincinnati at Nashville SC as follows:
- Nashville SC to win: -135
- Draw: +320
- FC Cincinnati to win: +300
Those three prices imply 57.4%, 23.8%, and 25.0%, which sums to 106.3%. That extra 6.3 cents on the dollar is the book’s margin, and it works out to a 5.89% hold on this particular game. Take the draw out and redistribute its probability across the two teams, and Nashville’s true two-way chance is 69.7%. That is a fair Draw No Bet price of about -230.
Now the tradeoff in dollars. A $100 bet on Nashville at -135 on the three-way line wins $74.07, but a draw wipes it out. The same $100 on Nashville at a fair Draw No Bet price of -230 wins about $43, and a draw gives you your $100 back. You are surrendering roughly $31 of profit to convert one losing outcome into a refund. Whether that is a good deal depends entirely on how likely you think the draw is, which brings us back to the section above: the market already has that number, and it is usually right.
Double Chance is the third variation you will see on soccer boards. It lets you cover two of the three outcomes at once (home or draw, away or draw, or either team to win), and like the rest of these markets it settles at the end of regulation.
Does Overtime Count on a Three-Way Moneyline?
No. Three-way moneylines settle on regulation time only, and this single rule accounts for most of the angry support tickets these markets generate. A knockout soccer match that finishes 1-1 after 90 minutes and is won 3-1 in extra time still grades as a draw on the three-way line. An NHL team that trails after 60 minutes and wins in overtime still loses your 60-Minute Line bet, while the draw cashes.
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Check the Market Label in Knockout Rounds
Group-stage soccer cannot go to extra time, so the distinction rarely bites. Knockout matches, cup finals, and playoff hockey are where bettors get caught: your team can literally win the game and you can still lose the ticket. If the market is labeled Regulation, Regular Time, 90 Minutes, or 60-Minute Line, extra time is excluded.
Can You Bet the Draw in Boxing or MMA?
Rarely, at least at US-regulated books. Combat sports can end in a draw, but American operators overwhelmingly price fights as two-way markets and void the bet if the judges turn in a draw. Across our entire August 2026 archive, exactly one of the six regulated books (BetRivers) ever posted a boxing draw price, and it did so on a single fight at +1800. The draw quotes we captured on boxing and UFC came almost entirely from non-US operators such as 1xBet, Betfair, Unibet, PMU, and 888sport.
The settlement difference matters a great deal here. Under DraftKings’ filed boxing rules, a declared draw voids all bets and refunds wagers, except where a three-way moneyline was offered. If a draw price was on the board and you backed a fighter, a draw is a loss rather than a refund. So the presence of a third option quietly removes the safety net you would otherwise have had.
Which Line Should You Bet?
Bet the three-way line when you have a genuine read on the game finishing level or on a favorite winning inside regulation, and bet the two-way version when your opinion is simply “this team is better.” The two markets answer different questions, and the price difference is the cost of the extra precision.
- Take the three-way if you want the longer price on a favorite and you are confident the game will not be tight, or if the draw itself is your actual opinion.
- Take Draw No Bet when you like a team but the matchup screams low-scoring stalemate, and you would rather cut your variance than maximize your payout.
- Take the standard two-way line in hockey when you just want the better team to win the game, however long that takes.
- Shop it either way. A 2.14-point spread between books on the same soccer match is a bigger factor than most of the handicapping that goes into picking a side.
One last piece of context. The three-way premium is the price of a market with an extra outcome, not a trick, and it is comparable to what you pay for other specialized bets. If you are weighing a moneyline against laying points instead, our point spread guide walks through when each one makes sense, and the odds and lines primer covers converting any of these prices into the probability behind them.
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Frequently Asked Questions
The questions below come up constantly once bettors start moving between soccer, hockey, and the US major sports, where the same word means different things.
If I bet a three-way moneyline and my team wins in extra time, do I win?
No. Three-way moneylines settle on regulation only, so a match tied after 90 minutes plus stoppage time grades as a draw no matter what happens in extra time or a penalty shootout. Your team can win the match and you still lose the bet. The same applies to hockey: a 60-Minute Line bet ignores overtime and the shootout entirely.
Why do the odds look so much better on a three-way line?
Because the draw is taking a share of the probability, roughly a quarter of it in soccer. A team that would be around -230 in a two-outcome market can sit near -135 on a three-way line, but you now lose on any tied result rather than just on a defeat. The longer price is not extra value, it is a narrower bet.
Is betting the draw a good idea if nobody else does it?
The evidence says it is priced fairly rather than overlooked. Across our August 2026 sample the market implied a 24.1 percent chance of an MLS draw once the margin was removed, and the 2026 MLS season has actually produced draws in 24.6 percent of matches. That is the market being accurate, not a soft spot to attack.
What happens to my bet if a boxing match or UFC fight ends in a draw?
At most US sportsbooks the bet is voided and your stake is refunded, because the fight was priced as a two-way market. The exception is when the book offered a three-way moneyline with a draw price on the board. In that case a draw is a winning bet only for people who backed it, and everyone on a fighter loses.
Is Draw No Bet the same thing as a two-way moneyline?
It is the soccer equivalent, yes. Draw No Bet gives you two options instead of three and refunds your stake if the game ends level. The difference from a US-style two-way moneyline is that a standard moneyline in hockey or basketball includes overtime and simply plays until somebody wins, while Draw No Bet hands your money back.
Which sportsbook has the best three-way soccer prices?
In our August 2026 measurement Fanatics held the least on MLS three-way lines at 5.39 percent and DraftKings held the most at 7.53 percent, with the other four books in between. That gap moves around from month to month and from league to league, so treat it as a reason to compare two or three apps before you bet rather than a permanent ranking.
