Double chance explained in one line: you back two of the three possible results in a match, so you have a wider net to land in. A football game can only end three ways, home win, draw, or away win, and a normal single bet asks you to pick one of them. Double chance lets you cover two at once. The trade-off is the odds, which drop because you are more likely to win. This guide walks through the three combinations, a full worked example with real numbers, and how the market sits next to standard match betting. It is one of the gentler entries on the most popular sports betting markets, and a sensible place to start if you want fewer outright losses.
Quick answer
Double chance is a bet that covers two of the three match outcomes on one ticket. There are three options: 1X (home win or draw), X2 (draw or away win), and 12 (home win or away win, no draw). Because two outcomes win for you, the odds are shorter than a single pick. You win more often, but each win pays less.
How double chance betting works
A standard match result market, often called 1X2, has three prices. The 1 is the home win, the X is the draw, and the 2 is the away win. Double chance simply staples two of those together into a single selection. You are still betting on the 90-minute result, you are just buying a bigger slice of it.
Because you cover two results instead of one, your chance of winning goes up, and the price comes down to match. That is the whole deal. There is no free lunch here. You are paying for safety with lower odds, and over time the maths balances out, which is easier to see once you know how betting odds translate into probability, since that is exactly what shifts when you fold two outcomes into one price. The same logic sits behind every shorter price you see on this market. If you want to understand the three-way base this is built on, our explainer on how 1X2 markets work covers the standard version that double chance bolts onto.
The three double chance combinations
There are exactly three ways to pair up the outcomes, and the labels follow the 1X2 symbols. Read 1 as home, X as draw, and 2 as away.
| Bet | Covers | You win if | Only losing result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1X | Home win or draw | The home team wins or the match is drawn | Away win |
| X2 | Draw or away win | The match is drawn or the away team wins | Home win |
| 12 | Home win or away win | Either team wins | Draw |
The first two, 1X and X2, are the ones most people use, because they protect a fancied team against a draw. The 12 option is different. It backs both teams to win and only loses on a draw, which makes it the pick for matches where you expect goals and a clear result but cannot split the two sides.
A worked example: 1X on a home favourite
Say Liverpool host Brighton at home. The standard 1X2 prices look like this:
| Outcome | Symbol | Odds |
|---|---|---|
| Liverpool win | 1 | 1.50 |
| Draw | X | 4.20 |
| Brighton win | 2 | 6.50 |
A straight bet on Liverpool to win at 1.50 loses if they only draw. Double chance fixes that. Backing 1X means you win whether Liverpool win or draw, and you only lose if Brighton win outright. The bookmaker prices that combined chance at around 1.22.
Now compare a 10 stake on each approach.
| Your bet | Odds | You win if | Returns on 10 | Profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool to win (1) | 1.50 | Liverpool win | 15.00 | 5.00 |
| Double chance 1X | 1.22 | Liverpool win or draw | 12.20 | 2.20 |
If the game finishes 2-0 to Liverpool, both bets win, but the single pays more. If it finishes 1-1, the single bet loses your 10 and the 1X bet quietly returns 12.20. You are trading a chunk of the upside for cover against the draw. Whether that is worth it depends on how likely you think the draw is, and how much you dislike losing.
The odds trade-off
The shorter price is the entire point of double chance, so it helps to see why it lands where it does. Roughly speaking, the double chance odds reflect the combined probability of the two outcomes you have covered. Add the implied chances of a home win and a draw, and the price sits a little below what a fair combination would pay, with the bookmaker’s margin baked in. That gap is the same built-in edge described in our guide to the bookmaker margin and overround, and it never disappears just because you cover more outcomes.
That has two practical effects. First, on a strong favourite, the 1X price can drop very low, sometimes 1.10 or shorter, because the only way you lose is an upset. At those odds you are risking a lot to win a little. Second, the market is most useful in genuinely tight matches, where the draw is a real threat and a single pick feels exposed. On Campeonbet the double chance markets list the three combinations together under one heading, so you can compare 1X, X2 and 12 side by side before you commit.
When double chance makes sense
This is a control market, not a value market. It will not turn a bad read into a good one, but it can smooth out the variance when you are fairly confident in a side without being sure they will close the deal. A few situations where it earns its place:
- A strong home team that tends to draw rather than lose, where 1X covers the stumble.
- A cup tie or relegation scrap where a draw is a live, even likely, result.
- An away underdog you rate to avoid defeat, where X2 banks the draw or the shock win.
- A match between two attacking sides you expect to produce a winner, where 12 ducks the draw.
The honest caveat is that nobody can sell you a sure thing here, and anyone who claims to is wrong. Double chance lowers how often you lose, not whether the bookmaker holds an edge. Used on the right games it is a tidy way to stay in more bets, but stacked blindly on short-priced favourites it just nibbles your bankroll with thin returns. If you are weighing when to lean on a strong side versus chase a longer price, our look at backing favourites against underdogs frames the same decision from the other direction.
Double chance versus 1X2 and draw no bet
Double chance is easiest to understand against its two closest neighbours. All three are built on the same home, draw, away framework, but they handle the draw differently.
| Market | What you back | How the draw is treated | Risk and reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1X2 | One outcome only | The draw is a full outcome you can win or lose on | Highest odds, highest miss rate |
| Double chance | Two outcomes | The draw is covered (1X, X2) or excluded (12) | Lower odds, fewer losses |
| Draw no bet | One team to win | The draw voids the bet and refunds your stake | Middle ground, stake protected |
The contrast with the draw no bet market is worth a closer look, because the two are often confused. With 1X you keep your stake working whether the team wins or draws, and you get paid on the draw. With draw no bet, a draw simply hands your stake back, win or lose nothing. So 1X pays out on a draw at short odds, while draw no bet refunds on a draw at slightly longer odds. Neither is better in the abstract. Pick 1X if you are happy to be paid for the draw at a lower price, and draw no bet if you only really want cover against it.
Against plain match betting, the difference is just how many outcomes you cover. Single 1X2 picks pay the most and miss the most. Double chance is the steadier sibling.
If a match’s result feels too close to call, you can also sidestep the winner question entirely. Markets like over/under goal totals let you bet on how the game unfolds rather than who takes the three points, which sometimes reads cleaner than a result bet. Another route is to forget the scoreline altogether and back whether both teams find the net. That is the idea behind the goals/no goals market, which can read cleaner still when you trust two attacks more than you trust either result.
For an unbalanced fixture, a handicap on the favourite is the natural counterpart to double chance, since it pushes for value on the strong side instead of buying safety.
Frequently asked questions
Is double chance a good bet for beginners? It is one of the friendliest markets to start with, because the logic is simple and you lose less often than on single picks. Just keep an eye on the odds. On heavy favourites the 1X price can be so short that a single loss wipes out several wins, so it suits closer games more than runaway mismatches.
What is the difference between 1X and X2? They mirror each other. 1X covers the home win or the draw and only loses if the away team wins. X2 covers the away win or the draw and only loses if the home team wins. You pick the one that matches the side you fancy not to lose.
Why are double chance odds so low? Because you are covering two of the three possible results, so you win far more often than with a single pick. The price reflects that higher chance. The bookmaker also adds its margin, which is why two double chance bets covering everything except the draw will still not guarantee a profit.
Can I use double chance on an accumulator? Yes. Many bettors add double chance legs to a multi to make each selection more likely to land, which raises the odds of the whole acca coming in. The catch is that short legs add very little to the combined price, so a long string of 1.15 selections builds slowly. Our guide to parlays and accumulators goes deeper on how those legs multiply together.
Does double chance settle on 90 minutes? Yes, like standard match result betting, it settles on the result after 90 minutes plus stoppage time. Extra time and penalties do not count unless the market explicitly says so, which is rare. Always check the bet name in a knockout tie.
Conclusion
Double chance is the market for when you are confident in a direction but wary of the draw. Back 1X or X2 to cover a team against a stalemate, or take 12 when you expect a winner but cannot call which side. You win more often than on a single pick, you just accept shorter odds for the privilege. If you are mapping out the basics, our beginner betting guide shows where this market fits among the rest of the menu.
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