Asian Handicaps

In some sports, such as football, a draw is a commonplace occurence. Asian handicap betting eliminates the draw outcome by using the American ’spread’ system. A handicap situation indicates the strength of one team over another, thus giving the weaker team a lead. The team that is favoured will have a negative handicap, theoretically equalising its chances of winning with the other team, thus bringing the chances of success for the weaker team closer to 50%.

Asian handicaps use whole, half and quarter goals. The smallest possible handicap would be one quarter goal, conversely bookmakers rarely offer handicaps of more than three or four goals. Handicaps are based on what the bookmakers believe will create parity between the two teams.

To apply a handicap and determine the winning bet, simply subtract the handicap from the winning teams score.

 

Example

Manchester United (-1.5) vs Aston Villa

If Manchester United win 1 – 0, then 1 – 1.5 = -0.5, thus Aston Villa will have been judged to have won the bet.

 

If Manchester United win 3 – 1, then 3 – 1.5 = 1.5. This is bigger than the 1 goal scored by Aston Villa, hence Manchester United have won this bet.

 

By using whole goal handicaps bookmakers can allow a draw to happen. In bookmaking terms this is called a push. In a push, neither team wins and bets are refunded.

 

Some bookmakers occasionally offer quarter goal handicaps. This is a unique situation where a bet is divided into two distinct bets, thus allowing different outcomes for each half of a wager.

 

If a bookmaker offers an asian handicap of 0.25, this means that the wager is split into a wager with a 0 handicap and a wager with a 0.5 handicap. This can be written as:

Fulham (-0.25) vs Sunderland      or      Fulham (0, -0.5) vs Sunderland

Should you bet on Fulham, there are three possible outcomes for this bet

If Fulham win, half the bet (Fulham 0) is a winner and half your bet (Fulham -0.5) is a winner.

If Fulham draw, half your bet (Fulham 0) is returned and half your bet (Fulham -0.5) is lost.

If Sunderland win, both wagers are lost.

 

Quarter odds can be given as 0.25, 0.75, 1.25 etc. This means that handicaps of 0 & 0.5, 0.5 & 1, 1 & 1.5 respectively are given.