The Glossary of Football Pools Scoring and Dividend Codes

Pools coupons carry their own dense shorthand, built up over decades, and it’s genuinely easier to follow your own results once you know what each symbol and code is actually doing. This is a working reference guide to the terms and markings you’re most likely to encounter.

The traditional points weighting system

Classic pools scoring, still the conceptual basis for most modern products even where presentation has changed, weights outcomes unevenly rather than treating every result the same:

The higher weighting for score draws reflects their relative rarity and the extra research skill traditionally associated with correctly identifying them, compared with a straightforward win selection. Always check the specific points structure published for your exact coupon type, since variations exist across products and operators.

Void symbols and what they represent

Void (V): a fixture excluded from the normal points calculation under the operator’s specific published rules, typically because it didn’t meet the conditions needed for standard settlement.

Postponed, pending adjudication (P/Adj): a fixture that didn’t take place as scheduled and has been or will be assigned a result category by an independent adjudication process rather than an actual played result.

Abandoned (Ab): a match stopped before completion, generally routed to adjudication unless the point of stoppage met specific conditions the operator’s rules recognise as sufficient to stand.

Settlement and dividend abbreviations

• Qualifying points (QP): the minimum points total required that week to be eligible for a dividend in a given tier.
• Dividend declaration: the official published statement of payout amounts per tier once all results for the week are confirmed and settled.
• Unit stake: the base stake amount against which dividend multiples and payouts are calculated, distinct from your total outlay across multiple columns.
• Rollover: an unclaimed dividend fund carried forward into the following week’s pool for that same tier.

A worked illustrative example using the codes together

Imagine, purely as an illustration, a coupon with eight selections where six finished as standard wins or losses (1 point each, totalling 6), one finished as a no-score draw (2 points), and one was postponed and adjudicated as a score draw (3 points). The illustrative running total would be 6 + 2 + 3 = 11 points. Whether that total qualifies for any dividend tier depends entirely on that week’s published qualifying points threshold, which varies depending on how the whole pool of entries performed — there’s no fixed, universal cutoff that applies every single week.

Why point weightings create genuine strategic texture

Because score draws carry more weight than straightforward wins, a coupon that correctly identifies two or three score draws among its selections can outperform a coupon with more total correct outcome calls but fewer score draws specifically. This is exactly why so much pools strategy conversation centres on identifying likely score draws rather than simply picking the “most likely winner” on every fixture — the scoring system itself rewards that particular skill more heavily.

Additional terms worth knowing

Correct score tier: some modern pools-style products offer a separate, higher-value tier for correctly naming the exact scoreline rather than just the broad outcome category, reflecting the much lower probability of nailing an exact score compared with a general win, draw or score-draw call.

Perm: short for permutation, referring to an entry that covers multiple possible combinations of selections from a larger shortlist, rather than committing to one single fixed line. Perms generally cost more per coupon, since you’re effectively buying multiple lines’ worth of coverage, but they reduce the risk of being let down by a single incorrect selection among several otherwise correct ones.

Settlement sheet: the operator’s own official record showing the confirmed result category and points value assigned to every fixture in that week’s pool, used as the definitive reference for resolving any scoring queries.

A quick self-test using the glossary

Try this: next time you’re scoring your own coupon, write down the specific code or term for every non-standard situation you encounter — a postponement, a void marking, a correct-score tier entry — before you look anything up. If you can label every situation correctly from memory, you’ve genuinely absorbed the vocabulary covered here. If you find yourself unsure on a specific term, that’s exactly the gap this glossary is designed to close, and it’s worth bookmarking for the next time a tricky settlement week comes along.

Where to look if a term here isn’t covered

This glossary covers the terms most commonly encountered week to week, but individual operators occasionally use product-specific wording beyond what’s listed here. Their own published rules and help pages remain the definitive source for any term you encounter that isn’t covered by this general reference.

Why the vocabulary has stayed relatively stable over time

Despite enormous changes in how pools is played — from paper coupons collected door to door, to telephone entry, to today’s online accounts — the core scoring vocabulary covered in this glossary has stayed remarkably consistent. Score draws, no-score draws, qualifying points and dividend declarations all mean broadly the same thing today as they did decades ago, even as the delivery mechanism around them has been completely reinvented. That stability is itself a useful signal: the underlying parimutuel scoring logic has proven durable precisely because it’s simple, transparent and easy to communicate to players, regardless of the technology wrapped around it in any given era.

Keeping the glossary in perspective

Knowing these terms makes your own results genuinely easier to follow and helps you understand published dividend declarations without needing to guess at abbreviations. It doesn’t, on its own, improve your chances of actually landing a qualifying total — that still depends on the unpredictable business of real football being played out each weekend. Use this glossary to follow the hobby with more confidence and clarity, keep your stakes within a budget decided in advance, and remember that pools dividends are never guaranteed regardless of how well you understand the scoring system. Players should be 18 or over, and GamCare offers free, confidential support for anyone whose gambling needs attention.