A Complete Guide to Asian Handicap

What is Asian handicap betting?

In a normal match result market you have three outcomes: home win, draw or away win. Asian handicap removes the draw by giving one team a goal head start (a plus handicap) and the other a goal deficit (a minus handicap) before kick-off.

You then bet on which team wins once that handicap is applied. Because there are only two outcomes to back, the odds are usually more generous than betting the favourite outright, especially in one-sided fixtures.

Whole, half and quarter handicaps

Asian handicaps come in three types. Understanding what each does to your stake is the key to the whole market.

Half handicaps always give a clear win or loss. Whole handicaps can land exactly on the line and return your stake. Quarter handicaps split your bet in two, so you can win half and draw half.

A worked example

Say you back a strong favourite at -1.5 Asian handicap. They must win by two clear goals for your bet to land.

The -1.5 line pays more than a straight win bet, because you take on the extra risk that the favourite wins by only a single goal.

How to use Asian handicaps

Asian handicap dos and don’ts

Do

• Use it to get better value on strong favourites than the outright win
• Use plus handicaps to give underdogs a safety margin
• Check whether the line is half, whole or quarter before betting

Don’t

• Bet a line you have not worked out the win conditions for
• Assume a minus handicap is safe just because the team is strong
• Ignore how a team actually wins, comfortably or narrowly