Asian Handicap

An Asian handicap is all about giving an advantage to one of the teams, in order to make betting more exciting. It can be one of the trickiest markets to understand, so here is a short but sweet guide to help you out:

Full Goal Markets

Full Goal markets are very logical. Let’s say you place a bet on Arsenal to win with a -2 goal Handicap. In this case you need to deduct two goals from Arsenal’s score:

  • Arsenal wins by 3 or more goals –> after you deduct two goals from the Arsenal score the result is still that Arsenal wins –> Your bet wins
  • Arsenal wins by 2 goals –> after adjusting for the -2 Handicap the result is a draw –> In this case your stake is refunded
  • In all other results –> after the Handicap of -2 is applied, the result is that Arsenal loses –> Your bet loses

As you can see, for the purpose of correcting your bet, the score is adjusted according to the Handicap that you have chosen for Arsenal.

Half Goal markets

Half Goal are also logical, but there is no draw possibility. Let’s say you place a bet for Arsenal to win with a -1.5 goal Handicap:

  • Arsenal wins by 2 or more goals –> after you deduct 1.5 goals from the Arsenal score the result is still that Arsenal wins –> Your bet wins
  • In all other results –> after the Handicap of -1.5 is applied, the result is that Arsenal loses -> Your bet loses

Yay! So far so good… Now we get to the part of Asian Handicap that requires some extra concentration. So take a deep breath and hold on to your hat!

Quarter Goal markets

This is still very logical, but instead of one simple bet slip, there are two bet slips created in the background. Let’s say you place a bet for Arsenal to win by -1.75 goals with a stake of 10 Euros. In the background you actually have two 5 Euro bet slips. One that has a -2 Handicap on it that will be settled according to the above Full Goal example and another 5 Euro bet slip with a -1.5 Handicap on it that will be settled according to the above Half Goal example. (This is because (2 + 1.5) / 2 = 1.75):

  • Arsenal wins by 3 or more goals –> after the Handicap of -2 goals is appliedon the first bet slip the result is still that Arsenal wins –> This bet slip wins.On the second bet slipafter the Handicap of -1.5 goals is applied the result is still that Arsenal wins –> Also this bet slip wins. Your bet fully wins.
  • Arsenal wins by 2 goals –> after the Handicap of -2 goals is applied on the first bet slipthe result is a draw –> For this bet slip, your 5 euro stake is refunded. On the second bet slip after the Handicap of -1.5 goals is applied the result is that Arsenal wins –> This bet slip wins. To conclude, half of the bet is won and half of the stake is refunded.
  • In all other results –> on the first bet slipafter the Handicap of -2 goals is applied the result is that Arsenal loses –> This part of the bet loses. On the second bet slip after the Handicap of -1.5 goals is applied the result is Arsenal loses –> This part of the bet loses. The conclusion is that the bet fully loses.

In Live betting Asian Handicaps it is exactly the same except for the fact that goals that have been scored before the bet is placed do not count. If you place a live Asian Handicap bet when a match stands at for example 2-1 then from the point of view of the bet slip, the score at the point of placing the bet is 0-0.