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What Does No Action Mean In Sports Betting and Wagering?

by Doc's Sports - 10/11/2014

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There are very few things in this world worse than making plans with someone, getting excited about going out and then having them cancel on you at the last possible minute. This happens to everyone and in sports betting the same thing happens but in a different context. Imagine this – you get the rundown of the night’s action and find a game that really sticks out to you. You dig a little deeper and start loving the opportunity. You can’t contain your excitement and place your bet. You get yourself ready to watch the action unfold only to find out its raining and the game just got cancelled and moved to tomorrow. Your bet is now graded “no action” and you have no idea what that even means. Talk about a major disappointment. 

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What Does No Action Mean?

When you hear the term “no action” in sports betting, it refers to a bet that is deemed to be invalid after it is made. There are several reasons why sportsbooks deem a bet to have no action, but the betting public is usually completely oblivious to them and often left scratching their head as to why they got their money back. 

How Does No Action Affect Bettors?

When your bet is deemed “no action”, sportsbooks view the bet like it was never made. To put it as simply as possible – you get your money back without penalty. Every single sportsbook has different rules regarding would cause “no action” in each sport.

The problem with the dreaded “no action’ is that it’s not something that can be predicted on a regular basis. They are more of a sudden event and as handicappers we have to accept it and move on. There is no way to adjust your strategy or decision-making process leading up to placing a bet. However, I do recommend checking the weather report before hand just to be on the safe side.

Thankfully, sportsbooks do not charge a penalty for “no action” bets. They return the money instead of keeping a portion of it or rolling it over into the reschedule game. If this was the case, then bettors would need to be very cautious of a potential injury or rain out prior to placing their wagers.

Reasons for No Action

The easiest example to understand would be related to a very common issue in baseball – the rain delay. If a baseball game is rained out before it actually starts, or if the rain halts the game before four and a half innings have been played, the majority of sportsbooks would deem this a “no action” situation, thus refunding money back to those who bet on the game. However, there can be confusion for bettors if a game is immediately rescheduled for the next day as part of a double-header. Some bettors think that since the game will be played within 24 hours, their bets carry over to that game. This is absolutely not the case. Once a bet is deemed no action, all bets are off and you immediately get your money back. Nothing is stopping you from placing the same wager again the following day if you like it so much.

Another example of this would be in tennis when a player retires due to injury. The majority of sportsbook have a rule that states if a player retires before the first set is complete, all bets will be considered no action and money will be refunded (even if your player is up 5-0 and serving for the set).

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