What is a Three-Way Moneyline?

Betting on games with a draw in regulation as a frequent outcome can be a bit tricky, but can also provide a chance to place a wager on a team that the normal two-way money line would be too pricey. Every sport offers these sorts of wagers, but the ones we are going to focus on are soccer and hockey.

The three-way moneyline allows for you to get less juice on the favorites, with a caveat that if the match ends level at the end of regulation, there is no push, but rather the bet loses. This is because a two-way moneyline does not provide an option of a draw, so any result other than the two options provided winning does not trigger a result, but instead a push. The three options for the three-way moneyline are normally presented as 1, X, and 2. 1 represents the home team, X represents the draw, and 2 represents the away team. In neutral site games, these remain the same, as there is still a team assigned as home and away.

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Hockey

Betting on the NHL is probably the most straightforward of any other sport, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t present challenges of its own. Often referred to as the “60-minute line”, the three-way moneyline presents the options of home team (1), away team (2), and draw at the end of regulation (X). A hockey game has three twenty-minute periods of play that make up regulation time, which is followed up by overtime if necessary. This is where the “60-minute line” came from, as three twenty-minute periods are sixty minutes of regulation in total, so this would mean the winner after sixty minutes is the winner of the bet, and if it is level, then the draw hits.

Soccer

In soccer, it is a similar concept, but it is executed differently. Even though the options of home team (1), away team (2), and draw at the end of regulation (X) remain the same, there is a place on their standings for a draw, which get a team one point instead of three. This is the only sport where a tie is something that can actually benefit a team. So, in order to get a two-way moneyline in soccer, the term is “Draw-No Bet”, which is pretty self-explanatory, if the game ends in a draw, then it is a push. The draw is way more present in soccer than any other sport, and sometimes teams head into a game trying to not lose, rather than to win. In a 2-2 match, the X bet would hit and both teams would get a point in the standings.

In the Champion’s League, things are slightly different, as there is a group stage and then there are elimination rounds to determine the year’s best team. During the group phase, it is the same, but in the elimination rounds, it changes to a similar layout to hockey. The three-way moneyline bets are graded after the 90 minutes of regulation, even though there is extra time played to determine which team will advance. These matches provide Draw-No Bet options, as well as “To Advance” betting options, which means that it is an alternate two-way moneyline that cannot push because in all soccer competitions like this someone must advance.

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Josh Weil is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Josh, check out his archive and follow him @Josh_Weil.