Asian Handicap Betting was popularised in the Far East and is a gambling method used to place bets via spread betting on football matches. Asian Handicap Betting sees each football team given a pre-match handicap.
This handicap is determined by the team’s percentage chances of winning in relation to that of the opposition. Typically, Asian Handicap Betting sees football teams separated by a ‘half goal’ pre-match handicap. By differentiating the teams with a handicap pre-match – Asian Handicap Betting eliminates the outcome of a draw. Handicaps can range from one quarter goal to many goals depending on the football match in question.
When two of the world’s very best football teams are pitted against each other the handicaps for each team are typically quite low. This is because the expected outcome of the game itself is for the match to be separated by very few goals.
In contrast, a top division team verses a lower division team will often see a 0.5 or 1.5 goal handicap given to the lower division team. The theory being that the lower division team will require a 1 or 2 goal head start pre-match in order to ‘win’ the game after 90 minutes. Any Asian Handicap Betting that is undertaken on this match must take this pre-match handicap into consideration before placing any bets.
By simplifying the game to either a home or away win provides the bettor with a near 50% chance of success in predicting the outcome of the Asian Handicap Bet.
Asian Handicap Betting therefore forces the result to become either a home or away win. What makes Asian Handicap Betting so unique is that you can end up backing a team that loses the football match itself yet your bet wins due to the inability of the opposition to win by a greater margin than the pre-match handicap. Asian Handicap Betting can therefore offer excellent value and better odds for the typical football punter.
Asian Handicap Betting Example
Manchester United play Barcelona in the European Cup Final and Manchester United are considered the slight underdogs. Because of this, Manchester United receives a 0.5 goal pre-match handicap (equivalent to a 0.5 goal head start) – Barcelona receives a -0.5 goal pre-match handicap. Barcelona therefore wins the game by one goal or more for your Asian Handicap Bet to win. A draw or a Manchester United win means that any Asian Handicap Bet on Barcelona pre-match has lost. Because of the occasion and the teams relative strengths verses each other you will therefore be betting on the Asian Handicap for either a Manchester United win or a Barcelona win as the draw has been eliminated due to the pre-match handicaps.
Conversely, in football matches where the two team’s relative strengths aren’t considered close then the weaker team is often given a greater pre-match handicap – sometimes a +2.5 or +3.5 handicap. This would mean that to win a bet on the Asian Handicap the stronger team must win by 3 or 4 goals respectively.
An example Asian Handicap Bet
