Asian handicap betting and odds - Live Soccer/Football betting odds

What is an Asian Handicap?

An “Asian Handicap” is a form of betting that seeks to make a sporting event as close to a 50/50 eventuality as is possible.

This is done in the form of giving one of the competitors an agreed “handicap” before the event and the idea of the handicap is that the punter will then receive odds as near to even money as possible, for either team or competitor winning as the possibility of a draw is eliminated from the possible outcome.

The term itself is derived from the Asian markets where this form of ‘handicap’ betting quickly became popular in the bookmaking markets. This Asian Handicap was born.

Most importantly, Asian Handicap betting reduces the possible number of outcomes from three (in traditional 1X2 wagering) to two by eliminating the draw outcome. This simplification delivers two betting options that each have a near 50% chance of success.

Asian Handicaps are both good and bad for bookmakers. On one hand, they help bookmakers minimize risk by facilitating trading with parity or balancing the amount of wagering on each side of the match. This enables bookmakers to take larger positions on major matches. On the other hand, Asian Handicap markets are typically low margin offerings that do not contribute as significantly to the gross win as other, higher vigorish betting options like 1X2.[1]

Football (soccer) is one of the few sports in the world where a tie is a fairly common outcome. With traditional fixed odds, ties are treated as an additional outcome to the game. In other words, bettors lose when they place a wager on either team to win and the game ties. With Asian Handicaps, however, the chance for a tie is eliminated by use of a handicap that forces a winner. This creates a situation where each team has a 50-50 chance of winning; similar to the odds for a basketball or baseball game where a tie is impossible.

This system works in a straight-forward manner. The bookmakers's goal is to create a handicap or "line" that will make the chance of either team winning (considering the handicap) as close to 50% as possible. Since the odds are as close to 50% as possible, bookmakers offer payouts close to even money, or 1.90 to 2.00. Asian Handicaps start at a quarter goal and can go as high as 2.5 or 3 goals in matches with a huge disparity in ability. What makes Asian Handicaps most interesting is the use of quarter goals to get the "line" as close as possible. Taken in conjunction with the posted total for the game, the handicap essentially predicts the game's final score.

Quarter Goal or Two Way Handicaps
Subsequently, many matches are handicapped in ½ and ¼ intervals; both of which eliminate the possibility of a push since no one can score a half-goal. Quarter (¼) handicaps split the bet between the two next closest ¼ intervals. For instance, a $1000 bet with a handicap of 1 ¾ is the same as betting $500 at 1 ½ and $500 at 2. With ¼ handicap bets, you can win and tie (win ½ of wager) or lose and tie (lose ½ wager). The ¼-goal handicap may be expressed by some bookmakers as "0 and ½", or (especially for bookmakers whose systems are designed for sports like American football and basketball (where bets have a handicap that is designed to make the odds as close to even as possible)) as "pk (for "pick-em") and ½".

Match: Everton vs. Newcastle United

Handicap: 0 : +1.0, +1.5

Explained: This handicap states that half of your bet goes on Newcastle winning, or losing by less than 1 goal, and half on Newcastle winning, or losing by less than 1.5 goals.

If the final score is Everton 1-0 Newcastle, half your bet would be refunded due to draw (Everton 1 - +1 Newcastle, i.e: Newcastle lost by exactly one goal). The second half would win (Everton 1 - +1.5 Newcastle, i.e: Newcastle lost by less than 1.5 goals).

Whole Handicaps and Draws
In the event that a whole number is used for the handicap, the handicap adjusted final score could result in a draw. This situation is not a draw, but a push. With a push, all bettors have their original wagers returned as there is no winner.

Handicap	Team Result	Bet Result	Handicap	Team Result	Bet Result
0	Win	Win	0	Win	Win
	Draw	Stake Refund		Draw	Stake Refund
	Lose	Lose		Lose	Lose
- 0.25	Win	Win	+ 0.25	Win	Win
	Draw	Half Lose		Draw	Half Win
	Lose	Lose		Lose	Lose
- 0.50	Win	Win	+ 0.50	Win	Win
	Draw	Lose		Draw	Win
	Lose	Lose		Lose	Lose
- 0.75	Win by 2+	Win	+ 0.75	Win	Win
	Win by 1	Half Win		Draw	Win
	Draw	Lose		Lose by 1	Half Lose
	Lose	Lose		Lose by 2+	Lose
- 1.00	Win by 2+	Win	+ 1.00	Win	Win
	Win by 1	Stake refund		Draw	Win
	Draw	Lose		Lose by 1	Stake refund
	Lose	Lose		Lose by 2+	Lose
- 1.25	Win by 2+	Win	+ 1.25	Win	Win
	Win by 1	Half lose		Draw	Win
	Draw	Lose		Lose by 1	Half win
	Lose	Lose		Lose by 2+	Lose
- 1.50	Win by 2+	Win	+ 1.50	Win	Win
	Win by 1	Lose		Draw	Win
	Draw	Lose		Lose by 1	Win
	Lose	Lose		Lose by 2+	Lose
- 1.75	Win by 3+	Win	+ 1.75	Win	Win
	Win by 2	Half win		Draw	Win
	Win by 1	Lose		Lose by 1	Win
	Draw	Lose		Lose by 2	Half lose
	Lose	Lose		Lose by 3+	Lose
- 2.00	Win by 3+	Win	+ 2.00	Win	Win
	Win by 2	Stake refund		Draw	Win
	Win by 1	Lose		Lose by 1	Win
	Draw	Lose		Lose by 2	Stake refund
	Lose	Lose		Lose by 3+	Lose