Betting is a very popular event especially for sports like soccer, cricket, horse racing etc. But with soccer championships happening on an almost daily basis throughout the world, no sport enjoys more popularity than soccer or football. In fact, most punters would be surprised to know that Asian handicap soccer is a special type of sport betting which takes place only in Asia.

The name is a combination of the fact that this type of gambling is only prevalent in Asia and the word “Handicap” has been added to indicate the reduction of the outcome of the game to only two possibilities; either a win or a loss. The third possibility of a draw is completely eliminated.

Explaining Asian handicap

This is a much more advanced form of betting and hence it is always better for beginners to understand the basic concepts of soccer betting and then venture into this market.

Basically this type of bet is used in soccer and also in other sports to even out any imbalance that may be posed by two opponent teams facing each other in a match. Simply put an Asian handicap soccer bet balances the odds between two teams by evening out the score line. Thus this type of a bet:

  • Enables levelling of the odds of both the teams towards evens,
  • Converts the winning probability of bets placed on either teams to about 50% and
  • Ensures that the punter is able to win back his stake or wager.

 

 

Generally the evening out of the score is done by either adding to a team’s final goal tally or subtracting from their final tally of goals.

The biggest advantage of this type of handicap is that a punter gets a chance to win back his stake provided the team he has bet on, does not exceed or go below the punter’s handicap mark. In other words even though there are three outcomes of a game of soccer, the Asian handicap soccer bet helps cover up for the middle outcome of a draw.

Working of Asian handicap

There was a reason for the creation of the Asian handicap. A superior team facing an inferior team generally leads to smaller odds and even smaller potential returns. This does not make it worthwhile to bet on a game like that. Yet in some of the famous championships the initial matches are mostly between superior and inferior teams.

Thus bookmakers, in order to ensure greater returns and to make the betting style interesting especially for unevenly paired matches, came up with the system of Asian handicap soccer betting so as to:

  • Provide the required balance to a match between two unevenly matched teams and
  • Enable punters to follow the popular 1X2 betting model approximately.

The whole betting system in this regard depends on the handicap that is being used. For the single handicap wager, the betting outcomes are given below. They are:

  • Home 0, Away 0 handicap: This is indicative of the fact that both teams have an equal chance of winning the tournament but the option of a draw happening gets completely eliminated. Thus a punter wins when the team he has bet on wins. But if the match ends in a draw, the punter’s bet is refunded.

 

  • Home +1, Away -1 handicap: When a bet is placed on the Away team having a -1 handicap in order for the punter to win the bet, the away team will have to score at least 2 clear goals. But fortunately if the win is only by 1 goal, the punter’s stake is refunded. Similarly any bet placed on the home team with +1 handicap, a punter wins irrespective of whether his team has won or the match ends in a draw. In case the team loses by 1 goal, the punter’s stake is refunded. Most punters use this handicap to bet on underdogs in the Asian handicap soccer

 

 

 

  • Home -1.5, Away +1.5 handicap: In this instance if the punter places the goal on:
    • The home team with a -1.5 handicap, the punter wins only if his favourite team wins the game by two or more goals.
    • The away team with a +1.5 handicap makes the punter win irrespective of whether the outcome of the game is a win or a draw or even a loss suffered by the team by 1 goal.

Similarly when double betting is used in the Asian handicap, the wager or bet gets split into two parts. Double Asian handicap betting is also of the following types:

  • Home 0/-.5, Away 0/+.5 handicap: Herein the results of the handicap soccer betting can be either of the following outcomes:
    • The punter wins if the home team wins by 1 or more goals and in case of a draw, the punter stands to lose only 50% of his stake.
    • A punter placing a bet on the Away team wins if the team wins and in case of a draw, 50% of the stake is refunded while the other 50% stands to be a winner.

 

  • Home -0.5/-1.0, Away +0.5/+1.0 handicap: This is a very interesting type of Asian handicap soccer betting wherein:
    • A punter betting on a home team only gets to win his wager if the home team wins by a minimum of 2 goals while a 1 goal win returns half of the staked amount to the punter while the other half is taken by the winner at odds.
    • When the punter bets on the Away team, he wins only if his team either wins the match or the match goes into a draw but if the team loses by only 1 goal, the punter gets 50% of his stake back.

 

Even though the Asian handicap soccer betting rules might seem to be a bit complicated at the beginning, once a punter starts to bet using this system, it becomes very easy to understand. In fact the popularity of this type of betting results from the fact that when a punter wins he wins big time but when he loses, his loss gets minimised.

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