Asian Handicap Betting: What It Means & How It Works

Asian handicap betting, so named as it originated in Indonesia, has become increasingly popular in Britain during this century. Essentially, it is a weight-bearing market that allows punters to even out the odds between badly matched opponents in a lot of cases and it typically eliminates the draw from play.

What is Asian Handicap Betting?

As with standard handicap betting, the idea is to balance out the odds in an uneven match-up by applying a handicap one way or the other, thus giving a notional alteration to the scoreline solely for betting purposes.

What is an Asian handicap compared to a regular handicap, you might ask? Asian handicaps let you bet on whole goal handicaps, half goal handicaps and quarter goal handicaps. In doing so, you can split your stake across two outcomes as a betting strategy, something akin to backing a horse each-way in a race.

How Asian Handicap Betting Works: The Basics

In handicap betting, the core concept is to give one team a virtual lead over the other, only for the purpose of betting with bookmakers. Asian handicap lines can be slightly different to normal handicaps, and are explained in more detail below.

Unlike normal handicaps, Asian handicaps introduce the notion of a 'push', whereby certain outcomes see the bet refunded to the punter, rather than lost.

Half-Goal Handicaps (e.g., +0.5, -0.5): These Asian handicap lines completely eliminate the possibility of a draw, as a team can't score half a goal. A team with a -0.5 handicap must win the match for the bet to be successful. A team with a +0.5 handicap wins the bet if they win or draw.

Whole-Goal Handicaps (e.g., +1, -1): With these Asian handicap lines, the possibility of a 'push' (the stake being returned) is introduced. If the handicap-adjusted final score is a draw, the stake is refunded to the punter. For example, if you back a team with a -1 handicap and they win by exactly one goal, the result is a draw for betting purposes, and your stake is returned.

Understanding Quarter-Goal (Split) Handicaps

This final piece of the jigsaw is perhaps where the Asian handicap market could become confusing to novice bettors.

The quarter-goal exists to effectively give you a half win when draws occur, by winning/losing half the stake in certain scenarios. It's like an insurance bet, of sorts. A bet on a -0.75 handicap is a split bet on the -0.5 and -1.0 handicaps, which some punters view an 'each-way' type bet.

For example, for a £10 bet on a -0.75 line:

Why is Asian Handicap Betting So Popular?

Asian Handicap betting eliminates the draw, and often offers better value (with lower bookmaker margins), and provides more interesting betting opportunities in seemingly one-sided football matches. It has become a preferred market for both professional and serious recreational bettors alike.