What Is a Push in Sports Betting?
A push is a bet that lands exactly on the line, returning your stake with no win or loss. Here is when pushes happen, why half-lines remove them, and how the model adjusts EV for the push risk on whole numbers.
A push is a bet that lands exactly on the line. The result ties the number, so neither side wins and your stake is returned. No profit, no loss.
When pushes happen
Pushes only occur on whole-number lines. A total of 220 in a game that finishes 110-110 pushes. A spread of -7 in a game decided by exactly 7 pushes. Money lines never push (someone wins the game), and half-point lines (2.5, 7.5, 220.5) cannot push, because a score can never land on a half.
Books often offer both a whole number and a half-point version of a line. The half-point trades a little price for the certainty of no push, which can be worth it on numbers games commonly land on (3 and 7 in football, for example).
How the model treats pushes
When the model evaluates a whole-number line, it accounts for the chance of a push and adjusts the expected value accordingly, because a pushed bet returns your stake rather than winning it. Where a half-point line is available, the model prefers it, since removing the push possibility makes the EV cleaner to estimate.