Asian Handicap meaning

Asian handicap betting is a form of spread betting that coined it’s name in Indonesia and is extensively used in football. Handicap means that one team is virtually given a lead over the other team prior to placing the bet. The initial purpose of asian handicaps was to eliminate the chance of a draw in a match, narrowing down the outcome to two markets, win or lose.

The are two signs used in Asian Handicap (+) and (-). Since the underdog team is given a handicap advantage, it is represented by (+) where as the minus symbol (-) is assigned to the team with a handicap disadvantage.

As asian handicap evolved over time, it became a more useful strategy for cautious single market betting as the market of 0.0 allows a chance to win or refund stake if draw or an accumulator with similar safer odds. There are many handicap betting options, which of these are called “Asian Lines” or “Lines” in betting sites. We will cover the most used Asian handicap lines in football and their outcomes depending on the team result along with relevant examples.

Asian handicap 0.0 (AH 0.0)

Market example: If Liverpool Full time result odds are @1.80 and Tottenham odds are @2.10, you will get Asian Lines on Liverpool AH 0.0 at odds range of 1.37 to 1.45.

You are staking on Liverpool on the 0.0 Asian handicap football betting market.

• If Liverpool wins, the bet wins
• If a draw occurs, the betting stake is refunded
• If Liverpool loses, the bet is lost

In most betting websites, you will notice there is a football market “Draw No Bet” or “DNB” that works exactly the same to this AH 0.0 market, however most times, the odds of AH 0.0 will be slightly more than DNB.

Asian handicap 0.25 (AH 0.25)

In many websites you will see AH 0.0, -0.5 instead of just -0.25 and similarly AH 0.0, +0.5 instead of just +0.25

The game starts with a score of 0 : 0.25 (1/4 goal handicap). The underdog team has a quarter goal lead before kick-off or bet placed in play.

Market example: If Liverpool Full time result odds are @1.80 and Tottenham odds are @2.10, you will get Asian Lines on Liverpool AH -0.25 at odds range of 1.55 to 1.62.

You are staking $100 on Liverpool on the -0.25 Asian handicap football betting market.

• If Liverpool wins, the bet wins
• If the result is draw, you lose half of the stake ($50), and the other half ($50) is refunded back to you
• If Liverpool loses, the bet is lost

You are staking $100 on Tottenham on the +0.25 Asian handicap football betting market.

• If Tottenham wins, the bet wins
• If a draw occurs, you get the half stake back ($50) and win the other half ($50) at 2.10 odds. You are still in profit
• If Liverpool wins, the bet is lost

Asian handicap 0.5 (AH 0.5)

In this case, the match starts with a score of 0 : 0.5 (half goal handicaps). The underdog team has the advantage of half a goal before kick-off or bet placed in play.

Market example: If Liverpool Full time result odds are @1.80 and Tottenham odds are @2.10, you will get Asian Lines on Liverpool AH -0.5 at odds range of 1.81 to 1.85 (Odds of Asian Handicap are usually higher then normal Full Time Lines)

You are staking on Liverpool on the -0.5 Asian handicap football betting market.

• If Liverpool wins, the bet wins
• If the result is draw, the bet is lost
• If Liverpool loses, the bet is lost

You are staking on Tottenham on the +0.5 Asian handicap football betting market.

• If Tottenham wins, the bet wins
• If a draw occurs, the bet wins
• If Liverpool wins, the bet is lost

Asian handicap 0.75 (AH 0.75)

In many websites you will see AH -0.5, -1.0 instead of just -0.75 and similarly AH 0.5, +1.0 instead of just +0.75

Here the match starts with a score of 0 : 0.75 (3/4 goal handicap). The underdog team has a head start of a quarter goal before kick-off or bet placed in play.

Market example: If Liverpool Full time result odds are @1.80 and Tottenham odds are @2.10 and you are staking $100 on Liverpool on the -0.75 Asian handicap football betting market.

• If Liverpool wins the game by two or more goals, the bet wins
• If Liverpool wins by one goal (1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and so), you get back half of your stake ($50) and win the other half ($50 × 1.80), you are in profit
• If Liverpool loses or the game ends in a draw, the bet is lost

You are staking $100 on Tottenham on the +0.75 Asian handicap football betting market.

• If Tottenham wins or draws the game, the bet wins
• If Liverpool wins by one goal difference (1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and so), you lose half of your stake ($50), and the other half ($50) is refunded to you.
• If Liverpool wins by a two or more goal difference (2-0, 3-1, 4-2 and so), the bet is lost

Asian handicap 1.00 (AH 1.0)

In this scenario, the match starts with a score of 0:1. The underdog team has a head start of one goal (handicap 0 : 1) before kick-off or bet placed in play.

Market example: If Liverpool Full time result odds are @1.80 and Tottenham odds are @2.10 and you are staking $100 on Liverpool on the -1.0 Asian handicap football betting market.

• If Liverpool wins the game by two or more goals, the bet wins
• If Liverpool wins by one goal (1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and so), you get back your stake ($100)
• If Liverpool loses or the game ends in a draw, the bet is lost

You are staking $100 on Tottenham on the +1.0 Asian handicap football betting market.

• If Tottenham wins or draws the game, the bet wins
• If Liverpool wins by one goal difference (1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and so), you get back your stake ($100)
• If Liverpool wins by a two or more goal difference (2-0, 3-1, 4-2 and so), the bet is lost

Asian handicap 1.5 (AH 1.5)

In this scenario, the match starts with the 0 : 1.5 line (handicap 1.5) before kick-off or bet placed in play. This bet works best for selecting an underdog who you believe is undervalued.

Market example: If Liverpool Full time result odds are @1.80 and Tottenham odds are @2.10 and you are staking $100 on Liverpool on the -1.5 Asian handicap football betting market.

• If Liverpool wins the game by two or more goals, the bet wins
• If Liverpool wins by one goal (1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and so), the bet is lost
• If Liverpool loses or the game ends in a draw, the bet is lost

You are staking $100 on Tottenham on the +1.5 Asian handicap football betting market.

• If Tottenham wins or draws the game, the bet wins
• If Liverpool wins by one goal difference (1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and so), the bet wins
• If Liverpool wins by a two or more goal difference (2-0, 3-1, 4-2 and so), the bet is lost

Alternative Asian handicap markets

If you have understood the main Asian handicap markets described above, it will be easy for you to understand all the other alternative asian handicaps.

The concept is the same, with advantages given to the home or away side, but with bigger handicaps. For example, -1.75, -2, -2.25, -2.5, -2.75 etc.

Each bookmaker lists the Asian handicaps different; for example, when you bet with Betway, it offers the standard AH option, depending on the odds and then all other AH options listed in a different section as “Alternative Asian Handicaps”.

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Asian handicap betting conclusion

The classic Asian Handicap lines usually offer better odds than the direct 1 X 2 markets and hence for the simplest of reason of better profit margin it is preferred.

At first glance, the rules may look complicated but with time you will find it easy and that the AH markets offer you to be more creative with your bets and minimize risks with room for stake refunds instead of losing bets. Τake your time to learn usage of the handicaps correctly.

Once you are used to the rules, it is much better placing bets using Asian Handicap. The AH 0.0 is a safer option than direct win whereas if you are predicting for a heavy win for the favourite side, AH -1.5 is a great option.

The AH 0.5, +1.0 and +1.5 as very valuable bets when picking the underdog who you think has high chances of edging a draw or will lose by a maximum of one goal.

The advice we can give is to refer the guide time to time in your initial days of Asian handicap betting and only once mastered you won’t need the guidance.