What is win draw win (1X2) betting?
Win draw win is the oldest and most widely bet football market. Bookmakers list it as 1X2, and every fixture on a coupon carries one. If you only ever place one type of football bet, it is almost certainly this one.
What 1, X and 2 mean
The three selections map onto the three possible results of a football match. 1 is a home win. X is a draw. 2 is an away win. You are backing exactly one of them, and only that one outcome pays.
The shorthand comes from the fixed-odds coupons printed before online betting existed, and it stuck. A bookmaker showing Arsenal 1.75 / Draw 3.60 / Chelsea 4.20 is quoting 1, X and 2 in that order — home team first, always.
When the bet settles
Win draw win settles on 90 minutes plus stoppage time. Extra time and penalties do not count. This catches people out in cup competitions: if a knockout tie is level after 90 minutes and your team goes on to win in extra time, your 1X2 bet still settles as a draw and loses.
That is the single most important rule in the market, and it is why the draw is worth more attention in cup football than in a league season.
How the odds are priced
Odds are a probability with the bookmaker's margin added. Decimal odds of 2.00 imply a 50% chance; 4.00 implies 25%. Add up the implied probabilities of all three selections and you will get something above 100% — usually between 103% and 108%. That overround is the bookmaker's built-in edge.
A useful habit is to convert before you bet. Divide 100 by the decimal odds to get the implied percentage. If you think a home side wins more often than the number the price implies, that is a bet worth making. If you do not, the fact that they are 'the better team' is irrelevant — you are being asked to pay too much for the outcome.
Why the draw is the hardest selection
Roughly one in four matches in Europe's major leagues ends level, and draw odds for an evenly matched fixture usually sit between 3.20 and 3.60. Despite that, the draw is the most consistently mispriced outcome in football betting.
The reason is structural: most models calculate a home win probability and an away win probability, then treat the draw as whatever is left over. Predicting it directly — by looking for well-organised sides, low-scoring fixtures, closely matched opponents and late-season matches where a point suits both teams — is a different exercise, and a more profitable one.
Where win draw win goes wrong
The common mistake is backing short-priced favourites in accumulators. A 1.20 shot has an implied 83% chance, so it loses about one time in six. String five of them together and the accumulator loses more often than it wins, even though every individual selection looked safe.
The other is ignoring team news. A confirmed absence in a key position moves a 1X2 price more than almost any other factor, and prices move fast once line-ups are published an hour before kick-off.
Frequently asked questions
- Does win draw win include extra time?
- No. The market settles on the result after 90 minutes plus stoppage time. A cup tie decided in extra time or on penalties still settles as a draw for 1X2 purposes.
- What is the difference between 1X2 and double chance?
- 1X2 covers one of the three results. Double chance covers two of them at once — home or draw, away or draw, or home or away — at shorter odds.
- Is win draw win the same as match result?
- Yes. Match result, full-time result, 1X2 and win draw win are all names for the same market.