Asian Handicap: A Betting Guide for the Asian Handicap

There is increasing popularity of the Asian handicap betting on football matches, with many bettors finding it an interesting option for making good money. But what is the Asian Handicap and how does it work?



 Essentially, the Asian Handicap is a way to narrow the possible outcomes on a match from the three (win, draw, loss) to just two (win or loss) by eliminating the draw. By opting for the Asian handicap, a punter forgoes the chance to bet on a draw and just restricts his/her options to a win or a loss.

Boosting your chances with a handicap

In the usual betting scenario, a punter has 3 options of win, draw or loss, meaning the chances of each outcome happening is around 33.5%. But for punters who want to increase their chances of winning bets, minimizing the options to just two outcomes, a win or a loss, is a great way to cut risk while boosting winning chances. This is achieved by exploring the better prices offered in the Asian Handicap betting market. 



A handicap helps to level the playing field for the punter, helping punters to win money by picking favorite teams even when they lose or winning with the underdogs even when the underdogs lose. For instance, while there is usually very little fun making a straight bet on an underdog to pull off a big win, the handicap can allow you to bet on the underdog and win money even if the underdog loses. 


You can apply the handicap on a variety of ways, but generally, you will give one team (often the weaker team) certain points or goals ahead of the match. The points or goals are typically picked by the bookmakers and punters simply select the head-start points or goals they wish to back.

(a)             Full Goal Asian Handicaps

When a team is handicapped in a football match, that team is given a negative goal value before the match begins.  Usually, it is the stronger team that is handicapped by assigning a negative goal value to it before the match begins. On the contrary, the weaker team is typically assigned a positive (plus) goal value to allow it to start the match even with the stronger team.

Let us take the example of Manchester United playing Celta Vigo in the Europa League semi-final. Manchester United is the stronger team in this tie so it can be handicapped to even things out for Celta Vigo. Since Manchester United is the stronger team and is expected to win the match before even a ball is kicked, it is given a deficit (minus value) with the Asian handicap.

There are two ways in which the handicap can be applied:

Scenario 1: Manchester United can be given a negative value such as -1.00 or -2.00 with odds say at 1.70 and 2.00 respectively. The odds mean that a bet on -1.00 for Manchester United implies the team is starting the game when already one-nil down. A punter making such a bet is predicting that Manchester United will overcome the -1.00 handicap and so will have to win the game by two or more goals. In case of the -2.00, the bettor is expecting Manchester United to overcome the handicap by scoring three or more goals. The bet is won when Manchester United overcomes the handicap, such as scoring 3-0, 4-1, 5-2 etc. But if Manchester United fails to overcome the handicap by getting a 1-0 or a 2-0 result (for the -2.00 handicap) the bet is lost as the handicap has not been overcome.

Scenario2: On the contrary, a bettor may opt to place a handicap on Celta Vigo, the weaker team. For example, a handicap on Celta Vigo would be +1.00 or +2.00 to mean that Celta Vigo is allowed to start the match when already 1-0 or 2-0 up respectively according to the Asian Handicap. The bettor wins the bet if Celta Vigo is able to hang on the result and keep some goal advantage. In case of a +1.00 handicap, losing 1-0 to Manchester United makes the result 1-1 in the Asian handicap, so a draw and the bet is lost. But if Celta Vigo manages a 0-0 draw, then the handicap result is 1-0 and the bettor wins the bet. In case of a +2.00 handicap, a Manchester United win of 1-0 means the result on the handicap stays 2-1, Celta Vigo wins (though loses actual match) and the punter wins the bet.

(b)            Level-Ball Asian Handicap

This is essentially a “draw no bet” option in which a zero is placed beside a team’s name when you make a bet. Any betting option with a zero (0), called a level-ball, beside a team means that a win for the team you back at 0 will be a win for your bet while a draw means your stake is refunded. If the team you backed at a "0" loses, you lose the bet. In the Level-Ball handicap, no team is started with a goal advantage and you simply expect a straight win for your pick.

(c)             Half and quarter goals handicap

This handicap does not mean a team will score a half or a quarter goal, but such half and quarter points are only used to cut a “tie” or a “push”.  For example, between 0 and -1.00, you can find -0.25, -0.50 and -0.75 intervals which are used to create a difference between two close bets. Betting a quarter goal means you are splitting your bet (though not in actual practice) by dividing half of your stake on one handicap below the quarter goal and the other half on the next handicap above the quarter goal.

Let’s make this clear by using the Manchester United and Celta Vigo example above. In the above case, a bet on -0.50 goals means betting your stake on the closest two handicaps either side of -0.50, which are -0.25 and -0.75. So if you have a stake of Ksh 100 placed on Celta Vigo for +0.75, the bet essentially puts Ksh 50 (half of your stake) on Celta Vigo +0.50 (half a goal) and Ksh 50 on Celta Vigo +1 (full goal). A +0.50 Asian Handicap on Celta Vigo means Celta have to win or draw for the punter to win the bet, because Celta already started the match with half a goal advantage. A +1.00 Asian Handicap also requires Celta Vigo to win or draw for the bet to succeed, but you may get a stake refund if Celta loses by 1 goal as such a score would make the Asian handicap a score tie. For a +0.75 handicap, falling between +0.50 and +1.00, you will win the bet with a win or a draw for Celta, but will lose half of your stake if Celta loses by 1 goal.


At Sportszu, we wish you good luck.


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