Asian Handicaps are one of the most famous bets that people make in Football in South East and East Asian markets. Handicaps are made to provide more options for sports bettors and in betting, it’s done to award the underdog as it’s called with a lead.
What is an Asian Handicap
In an Asian Handicap both teams have around the same chance to win due to competitive market being formed. Rather than selecting 3 outcomes (Team 1 win, Draw, Team 2 Win), you get to choose whether the favourite team will cover the Handicap or whether the underdog will cover the Handicap. Asian Handicaps are far less risky than European Handicaps or 3 way betting make which offers bettors far more value.
Asian Handicaps roots are from Asia, but it has become increasingly more popular in Europe recently. It may take time to get used to all the different symbols but once you get it really becomes worth it. Asian Handicaps provide you 50% chance of winning unlike 3 way betting which is 33% due to the fact that draw gets removed. With Asian Handicap betting you can even win when your team losses as for example if you were to place a +2 Handicap on a team and they lose 2-1 you would win.
The Handicap gets decided on the level of different between teams. If the teams are quite even then you would get a 0.25 Handicap for example, but if the level of teams are far more different then you may get a 2.25 Handicap. The higher the difference in level of team the more likely it will result in a higher Handicap.
The favourite teams has to surpass the given Handicap to win. So for example if a favourite team get a -2.5 Handicap then they have to win by 3 or more goals otherwise it’s a loss if they were to win by 2 or less goals or not win at all. Same goes for the underdog for example if they get a +2.5 Handicap you’d be a winner if they were to win/draw or lose by no more than 2 goals. The Handicap for the favourite is written as a minus (-) while the Handicap for the underdog is written as a plus (+). Pinnacle tends to provide the best odds for Handicaps.
Types of Asian Handicap
AH 0.0 or Draw No Bet
This Handicap occurs when the chances of both teams to win the match are about even. If there was a tie to occur then you would be getting your money back. You would win if your backed team were to win and you would lose if your team were to lose the game. This Handicap is pretty much you betting without draw being an option as it refunds money in a case of a draw.
Alternative Asian Handicap Symbols: DNB, level 0, Asian handicap -0, Asian handicap 0:0, Asian handicap 0 or simply 0
AH -0.25/+0.25
If you back a team with a -0.25 Handicap you would win money if that selected team were to win the game. If there was a draw then you’d lose but only lose 50% of the money placed with the other half returned to your account. If you back the underdog with a +0.25 Handicap then it’s pretty much the same except if they were not to lose you’d win, if they were to lose you’d lose and if there’s a draw, half the money is lost and half returned.
Alternative Asian Handicap Symbols: -1/4 +1/4 or -0&-0,5 +0&+0,5 or 0,25:0 0:0,25
AH -0.5/+0.5
This is a very simple Handicap to understand. A favourite team has to win by 1 or more goal is you were to back -0.5 and the Underdog has to make sure not to lose if you were to back a +0.5 Handicap. There is no outcome that gets you money back in this Handicap. The +0.5 Handicap is the same as double chance for example “draw or away win”. There could be a difference between AH +0.5 and double chance in odds which is because bookies place a higher overround on 3 way betting in order to cover the higher number of outcomes.
Alternative Asian Handicap Symbols: -1/2 +1/2 or 0,5:0 0:0,5
AH -0.75/+0.75
This is a bet in the middle of 0.5 and 1 Handicaps so pretty much you’d be placing half stake on 0.5 and half stake on 1 Handicap. If you back a -0.75 Handicap then you’d win the full bet if your team were to win by 2 or more goals. If your backed team were to win by 1 goal then in that case you win half of your estimated returns. If your team were to lose/draw on a -0.75 Handicap then that’d be a loss. As an underdog if you were to back a +0.75 Handicap then you’d lose half the money staked if your team were to lose by 1 goal, you’d lose the whole stake if your team were to lose by 2 or more goals. You’d win if your team were to Draw/Lose with whatever result.
Alternative Asian handicap symbols: -3/4 +3/4 or -0,5,-1 +0,5,+1 or 0,75:0 0:0,75
AH -1/+1
In this Handicap if you back the -1 then your team has to win by 2 goals to win. If your team were to win by 1 goal then the bet would be voided and the whole stake would return back to your account. Same goes for backing the Underdog +1 as if that underdog were to lose by 2+ goals you’d lose money, if they were to lose by 1 goal then money returns and you’d win if that team were to draw/win. This is a pretty safe way of backing the underdogs as they’d have to lose by multiple goals for you to lose. Same goes for the favourites as if they failed to win by multiple goals but were to win you’d get your money back too.
Alternative Asian Handicap symbols: 1:0 0:1
AH -1.25/+1.25
Your stake would get split into two bets (-1.5 AH and -1 AH). The principle of this Handicap is exactly the same as -0.25/+0.25 except now there’s an extra goal added so in this case if you were to back -1.25 Handicap you would win your bet if your team were to win by 2 or more goals. You’d lose half of your money if your team were to win by 1 goal and you’d lose the whole stake if your team were to lose/draw after backing -1.25 AH. Same applies for the +1.25 Handicap as you’d win if your team were to win/draw, half money would be lose if your team were to lose by 1 goal half of your stake would be given back and you’d lose if your team were to lose by 2 or more goals.
Alternative Asian Handicap symbols: 1,25:0 0:1,25 or -1.0,-1.5 +1.0,+1.5
AH -1.5/+1.5
This is a simple bet to understand. -1.5 Handicap means your team has to win by 2 or more goals, if they were to lose/draw or win by just 1 goal then that’s a lost. By backing a +1.5 Handicap you’d win if your team were to win/draw or lose by no more than 1 goal. If they were to lose by 2+ then you’d lose backing a +1.5 Handicap.
Alternative Asian Handicap symbols: 1,5:0 0:1,5
AH: -1.75/+1.75
This is basically the same as -0.75/+0.75 Handicap except you add another goal. Half of you stake is on a -1.5 and half on -2.0 when backing this Handicap. -1.75 Handicap would result in winning the full stake if your team were to win by 3+ goals, if they were to win by 2 goals it’d be half winnings and if that team were to win by 1 goal or not win at all then that’d be a lost. Backing the underdog +1.75 Handicap would result in winning if that team were to win/draw or lose by 1 goal. You’d lose half the money if that team were to lose by exactly 2 goals and you’d lose the whole stake if that team were to lose by 3+ goals.
Alternative Asian Handicap symbols: 1,75:0 0:1,75 or -1.5,-2.0 +1.5,+2.0
The written Handicaps in this article are the most common Handicaps that you will see in Football. The Handicaps can be even higher especially when two national teams meet in qualifying games like England vs San Marino where the different in class is so high that the Handicaps can rise all the way to 4.5 or even higher. The principle will continue to remain the same for the Handicaps so in case of a 4.25 Handicap, it’d be the same as 1.25 except there would be 3 more goals needed.
There are 5 different types of pay outs in Asian Handicaps
Win: Win the full estimated returns from the stake.
Half Win: you win half of the estimated returns, and half would return to your account.
Push: All staked money would return to your account.
Half Lost: Half of your stake would be lost, half would return to your account from the stake.
Lost: All of your staked money would be lost. No returns.
