Asian Handicap
Asian Handicap betting is a way of betting on football matches whereby the underdog team receives a points advantage set by the bookmaker and the possibility of a draw is eliminated.
With all football teams and matches, there are three possible outcomes: win, lose, or draw in 90 minutes. Gamblers can, of course, bet on two-way possibilities for which team will ultimately progress in a cup-tie, for example, but before extra time and possibly penalties, there are still three possible outcomes in normal time.
With Asian Handicaps, though, the possibility of a draw is excluded and the team least expected to win is given a theoretical advantage. Most commonly, this advantage is fractional. The bookmakers then usually offer odds of slightly less than even money on either side winning. There are no other possibilities.
When both teams are thought to have an equal chance of winning, this is known as a 0 Asian Handicap. In this case, you win if your selection wins, of course, but in the event of a draw, all bets are voided and stakes returned.
With a 0.5 Asian Handicap, one team is down half a goal and the other up half a goal before kick-off. If your selected team is the -0.5 side, then your selection must win for your bet to be successful. If, on the other hand, you choose the +0.5 team, then you win if that team either wins or draws the match.
Similarly, with a 1 Asian Handicap, one team starts the game handicapped as -1, the other +1. If you select the -1 team, then your team needs to win by two clear goals or more for your bet to be successful. If your -1 selected team wins by one goal, then this would be a draw under the Asian Handicap system and your stake would be refunded (the bet effectively voided). If you choose to bet on the other +1 team, then your bet is successful if that team wins or draw. If this team loses by a single goal margin, then once again your stake is refunded.
With a 1.5 Asian Handicap, if you back the team handicapped as -1.5, your bet wins if that team wins two goals or more – whilst if you bet on the team with the +1.5 goal start, you’ll win if that team either draws or wins. But in this case, you would also win if that team lost by just a one-goal margin.
