What happens if you bet a player prop at a sportsbook like DraftKings or FanDuel and that player never sees the court, field, diamond or ice? Depending on the sportsbook, your bet may or may not stand.
There are three primary rules to know about voided props:
- Every sportsbook will cancel your bet if the player is inactive per the league or team's official injury report. That's the case if you bet the over or under.
- Most books require the player to at least appear in the game — whether it's a snap, minute, inning, etc. — for the bet to stand, whether it's an over or under. Some books used to just require the player to be active, per the league's injury report.
- The same rules apply for an injury — if the player is injured during the game, the bets will stand. If they're injured pregame and never play, it will be voided.
A few other things to know.
Differences by sport
Some books treat props differently by sport. At FanDuel and DraftKings, your MLB prop will stand if the player gets a single plate appearance. At BetMGM for MLB, the player must start.
Most books we track require NFL players to play at least one snap for the bets to have action. BetMGM has a unique quirk for quarterbacks; they must start or the bets will be void.
If it's part of a regular parlay…
If your prop is part of a parlay across multiple games, that bet will be removed but the rest of the parlay will still count, just with a smaller payout.
So if you parlay three props that come out to +600 and two win and one pushes, your parlay will just become two legs at about +260.
If it's part of a same game parlay…
Some sportsbooks used to void entire same game parlays if a player didn’t play, largely because of the complexity of recalculating correlated odds.
Today, most major books instead void the affected leg and reprice the parlay. DraftKings is a clear example of this newer approach.
College props can be a mess…
College props aren't a huge market (and they're legal in only a few states). Because college sports have less consistent injury and stat reporting, sportsbooks sometimes have more discretion in grading player props.
However, if a player participates but records no stats, bets are usually settled as a loss for overs and a win for unders.
Voids typically only occur if the player doesn’t play or if official stats are unavailable.
Rules by Sportsbook
All United States sportsbooks are required to post House Rules, which contain these details, but many of them don't detail every specific scenario.
House rules are easiest to find by simply Googling something like "DraftKings house rules" since they can often be hard to find by navigating the websites themselves.
Some books used to require players to be active per the NFL's injury report, but now they mostly say they must play one snap.
| Sportsbook | NFL Rules |
|---|---|
| DraftKings | Must play |
| FanDuel | Must play |
| BetMGM | Must play |
| Caesars | Must play |
1. DraftKings
Rule: Must play one snap
House rule: On any player prop market, player(s) must play at least one snap for bets to have action. If a player is listed as “inactive” or “did not play” for the relevant game, bets on that player/market will be void.
2. FanDuel
Rule: Must play one snap
House rule:For player prop markets, only when a player does not play a snap in that game are the selections voided. All other bets will stand
3. BetMGM
Rule: Must play one snap
House rule: For all player props, unless stated otherwise, the player(s) must play at least one snap for bets to have action. Wagers will be cancelled where player(s) are listed as inactive. For Quarterback markets only, the player(s) must start the game for bets to have action. Passing yardage props are settled as per gross passing yards
4. Caesars
Rule: Must play one snap
House rule:For player proposition bets to be considered “action”, the following criteria must be met:
- Football – player must play
- Baseball – player must start
- Basketball – player must play
- Hockey – player must play
- Soccer – player must start. Additionally, extra time and penalty kick shootout statistics are not included for proposition wagers.
