Asian Handicap Betting
The Asian handicap betting market is the most liquid betting market in the world and provides the most accurate odds for all football matches. There are two reasons why Asian handicap betting is preferable to traditional European three–way bets.
1. There are only two possible outcomes: draws are either eliminated completely because of a goal advantage (or handicap) granted to the underdog – a draw is not possible with a 0.5 or 1.5 goal advantage –, or, if a draw is possible (handicap 0 or 1 etc.), you simply receive back your stake. Odds are only offered on a team win – this, of course, increases the success rate considerably and leads to more frequent betting wins.
2. The odds for both teams are roughly equal: handicaps are selected by the bookmaker such that the odds are approximately the same for both teams. Ideally, both the home team and the away team are offered at odds of 1.97.
In principle, Asian handicap betting is similar to traditional handicap betting. Here, too, the respective (fictitious) handicap is added to the real result of the match and the handicap winner is determined.However, the Asian variant is much more flexible than the traditional format because the underdog cannot only be awarded full goals (1 or several goals) but also half goals (0.5) and, as a special form, quarter goals (0.25) or three–quarter goals (0.75).
The intention is to arrange the handicap in such a way that there are only two possible outcomes (home team win or away team win) with approximately equal odds.
Asian betting aficionados do not like draws or big differences in the odds of both teams – both Team 1 and Team 2 should ideally be just under odds of 2.0.
The more clearly a team is favoured in a match, the higher the handicap or the advantage for the underdog. This means that any match can be offered as an Asian handicap bet.
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