Asian Handicap Betting – Best Football Betting Tutorial
Like the beautiful game itself, football betting has also changed over the last few years. Although not everybody agrees on the efficiency of new rules and technologies in football, we think it’s fair to say that the sportsbooks innovations are pretty wicked. One of the most important introductions in the 90’s was the addition of Asian handicaps. And they’re more popular than ever as Asian handicap betting markets are perfect for diverse punters looking for more options than the traditional 1X2 stakes.
Asian handicap bets are often seen as difficult, but once you get the basic idea, you will have a complete new perspective for football betting. We’ll explain what Asian handicap betting is and what their benefits are. We’ll also give you a handy overview of some of the most common Asian handicap values. This will give you a broader understanding of this betting system. Asian handicaps might sound a bit limiting, but they’ve opened up sports betting!
About Asian handicap betting
What is an Asian handicap? Let’s say not all sport teams are equally balanced making a match between a top team and an underdog rather predictable and therefore a lot less fruitful. Just imagine Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City playing a random League Two-team and it’s pretty obvious which team is most likely to win. In some football matches there’s a very big difference between the two opponents, leading to completely different odds for each of both teams. Here at Bet Builder BT, we offer a different kind of Bets. These odds are based on a range of dispositional and situational factors like:
- Historical performance.
- Latest results.
- Table standing.
- Financial power.
- Home ground advantage.
- Squad form: suspensions or injuries.
Both punters and bookies take the above factors into account and interpret them to evaluate each team’s relative chances of success. As discussed previously in our [guide How to search for high value football bets?] these chances are subsequently represented in odds and their implied probabilities. Depending on how these odds and probabilities are perceived, the difference in strength can turn out to be too significant to make a bet interesting. In case of big differences this would give the punter very low value to bet on the favourite as the ROI would be minimal. The idea of lowering the odds is to make obvious wins less interesting.
Asian handicaps mean no ties
With the introduction of Asian handicap bets, the bias of winning chances has been erased, simply by levelling the relative strength and removing the possibility of a tie. We will dive into the concept of Asian handicaps later on, but the main idea in Asian handicap betting is to give each team either a positive or negative handicap — depending on who is considered the favourite (-) or underdog (+). Asian handicaps have therefore led to more attractive odds.
The story behind Asian handicap betting
What is an Asian handicap? As the name of this betting system already suggests, Asian handicap betting originated in Asia. Although it was launched in the ‘90’s, Asian handicaps gained a lot of popularity in the ‘00’s. Handicap bets can be seen as a spread betting which are found in handicaps ranging from 0.25 goal to a few goals. Asian handicap betting also reduces 3 original bets (win, draw, loss) to 2, completely wiping out the outcome of a draw. This way there are 2 betting options left that have about 50% chance of winning each.
A rather loose translation
The somewhat awkward definition ‘Asian handicap’ was introduced by the British journalist and gambling expert Joe Saumarez Smith back in November 1998. At the time Saumarez Smith was asked by an Indonesian bookie called Joe Phan to give him a proper translation that would fit the term ‘Hang Cheng betting’, which was more and more used by bookmakers in Asia. Without thinking about it too much, Samuarez Smith came up with the definition of Asian Handicap. Until the day of today this rather loose translation is still used.
What is Asian handicap: how does it work?
It’s kind of funny if you think about it, but there aren’t a lot of sports with games that end up in draws as much as football games tend to do. Some sports, that is, a lot of sports, don’t even offer draws. In traditional football betting, ties are considered as one of the possible outcomes of a bet, just like in the game itself. Clearly, betting on a win or loss automatically results in a loss when two teams draw. Asian handicaps, however, eliminate the chance of a draw by introducing a handicap that forces the bet to have a winner. This way, each side has a 50% chance of winning, like in most other sports.
Draws? Technically called a push
This handicap is given before the match has started and is shown in points or goals. A goal disadvantage is given to the side that is considered stronger and more likely to win, while a head start is handed out to the less favoured side. The main idea is to make the chances of both teams as equilibrated as possible, giving each team about 50% chance of winning. Since there is never a fully balanced bet, you will still see slight differences, for instance: 1.95 for Liverpool to 2.00 for Manchester City. An Asian handicap begins with 0.25 goal and can move up as high as 2.5 or 3, with the highest results needing quite some goals to become true. With whole numbers, the handicap could lead to a draw, technically called a push instead of a draw. In the event of a push you will have your original wagers returned.
Asian handicap betting overview
All the numbers and + and – symbols may turn out a bit overwhelming and we have therefore summed up the most common outcomes in the table you can find below. The plus signs in the Game result columns indicate ‘or above’. For instance, 1+ means, by at least 1 goal.
Asian handicap betting overview |
|||||
| Handicap bet | Game result | Bet result | Handicap bet | Game result | Bet result |
| 0 | Win | Win | |||
| Tie | Refund of stake | ||||
| Lose | Lose | ||||
| -0.25 | Win | Win | +0.25 | Win | Win |
| Tie | Lose half | Tie | Win half | ||
| Lose | Lose | Lose | Lose | ||
| -0.50 | Win | Win | +0.50 | Win | Win |
| Tie | Lose | Tie | Win | ||
| Lose | Lose | Lose | Lose | ||
| -0.75 | Win by 2+ | Win | +0.75 | Win | Win |
| Win by 1 | Win half | Tie | Win | ||
| Tie | Lose | Lose by 1 | Win half | ||
| Lose | Lose | Lose by 2+ | Lose | ||
| -1.00 | Win by 2+ | Win | +1.00 | Win | Win |
| Win by 1 | Stake refund | Tie | Win | ||
| Tie | Lose | Lose by 1 | Refund of stake | ||
| Lose | Lose | Lose by 2+ | Lose | ||
Bookies that offer Asian handicap bets
Most bookies offer handicap bets and most of them will offer Asian handicap bets as well. Before you place your bet at a bookmaker you will need to make sure you’re wagering on an Asian handicap bet and not a European handicap bet (read more about the difference between Asian handicap bets and handicap bets). We also advise you to stick to the reputable bookmakers that hold a licence of the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), offer a reliable service, and if possible — have a welcome bonus for new customers. If you want to easen things up you can always check out our 3 favourite UK bookmakers of 2021:
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