If you've ever placed a Top 20 finish bet and watched your payout shrink because six players tied for 18th, you already understand why book selection matters as much as player selection. Dead-heat rules are the mechanism that makes that shrinkage happen — and BetMGM is the only major US sportsbook that does not apply them to finishing-position bets, including Top 5, Top 10, and Top 20 markets. That single policy difference can be the gap between a full payout and a fraction of one.
What are dead-heat rules and why do they matter so much in golf?
In a 144-player field, ties on the leaderboard bubble are routine. When five players finish tied for 18th place and you hold a Top 20 bet, most sportsbooks treat each of those five golfers as occupying only one-fifth of a finishing slot. The result: your payout is divided by five, meaning a bet you expected to return $200 profit might return $40 instead. A five-way tie for 20th on a Top 20 bet returns only 1/5 of the expected payout — that's not a edge case, it's a predictable outcome in almost every stroke-play event. Read the full mechanics in our guide to Golf Dead-Heat Rules: How Tied Finishes Slash Your Payout before placing another finishing-position wager.
Most bettors discover dead-heat reductions after the fact, when they see a settlement figure that looks wrong. That post-event surprise is avoidable with one straightforward step: bet Top 10 and Top 20 markets at BetMGM, where dead-heat reductions do not apply to those bet types. Choosing the wrong book for Top 20 bets can reduce payouts substantially — and across a full PGA Tour season's worth of action, that erosion compounds into real money.
How does BetMGM's no-dead-heat policy change your expected payout?
Think through a concrete scenario. You bet $100 on a player at +400 to finish Top 20. He ties four others for 20th place. At a standard sportsbook applying dead-heat rules, your $400 expected profit becomes $80 — one-fifth of the full return. At BetMGM, you collect the full $400. That gap is structural, not a one-time promotional offer, and it applies every time there's a tie on the finishing-position bubble, which in large fields happens more often than not. For a deeper look at how these bets are structured and settled, see How Top 10 and Top 20 Golf Finish Bets Are Settled.
Which other sportsbooks should you consider for golf betting?
BetMGM's dead-heat advantage is specific to finishing-position markets. For outright winner odds, matchup bets, and make/miss-the-cut props, line shopping across DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars, and bet365 still makes sense — the same player can be priced at +2500 on one book and +2800 on another, a difference that matters significantly on long-odds golf bets. Our full breakdown of how each major operator handles golf markets is at Which US Sportsbooks Offer the Best Golf Betting Markets?. If cut-line betting is part of your approach, the settlement rules there also vary by book — details in How to Bet Make/Miss the Cut in Golf on US Sportsbooks.
Is BetMGM available in your state?
BetMGM is licensed in most states where online sports betting is legal, though availability varies. As of end-2024, 38 states plus Washington, D.C. have some form of legal sports betting, but the specific operators permitted differ by jurisdiction — confirm BetMGM is live in your state before depositing. States including California, Texas, and Georgia have no legal online sports betting as of early 2025. Always verify your state's legal status through your state gaming regulator's official site.
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