What is the Asian Handicap – Goal lines and Types
What is the Asian Handicap?
In a nutshell, Asian Handicap is a popular type of bet on an event from a football match, in which the choice options reduced from 3 to 2. Often, you may encounter that in Asian Handicap a draw is eliminated as an outcome, but it is not exactly the case. You do not have the option to bet right on the draw, but a draw can mean a gain or loss, depending on the handicap on which you have a bet. So, there is a draw on which you can place bets.
There are many reasons why Asian Handicap is considered to be the best and most profitable way to bet on football matches.
Why is the Asian Handicap so Popular?
It is easier to decide between two than among three possible betting options;
There is a better payoff. For bets on fixed odds (1X2) the regular odd payment is 92-93%. In Asian Handicap odds are around 97-98%. That is a vast difference that allows you to bet on better odds that would bring more profits than the fixed odds over the long term.
The Asian Handicap is flexible and balanced betting. With fixed odds, you are bound to bet the big favourite with low odds or to try your luck with high odds bet on the underdog.
With the Asian Handicap, you can bet on any team in every game with pretty decent odds, and you can have approximately 50% chance of a winning bet, which makes it easier to manage high amounts and brings excellent profits.
How does it Work?
“Handicap” means a national lead of one of the teams (generally on the underdogs in the game). That means that one virtual team leads the result by 0.25 goals, 0.5 goals, 0.75 goals one goal, 1.5 goals and so on. These figures represent lines. You choose whether the favourite will win this handicap or the outsider in the match will keep it.
The handicap can also be 0 goals when both teams were considered more or less equivalent. The latter is called the handicap level ball — the Asian Handicap established by adding the handicap to the actual result of the match.
- For example, if Napoli is 0.5 goals ahead of Milan and the match ends in a draw, the bet in favour of Napoli wins because you gave Napoli the lead with half a goal (Napoli 0.5). In this case, the bets for Milan win if and only if they win the game no matter what the result is because you understand that even one goal is more than half a goal. If you have a handicap -1.5, it means that the favourite must win the game by at least two goals difference, in other words, the outsider has a goal and a half ahead of that the favourite must overcome to win the match. Handicap 0, 1 and two goals, the best result would be a virtual draw, in which case all bets on this Handicap return.
- For example, we bet on match Juventus vs Atalanta. We bet on a handicap, which gives one goal priority to Atalanta (Juventus -1). If the match ends 1-0 for Juventus, then bets will be invalid, i.e. the amount you bet on this bet is returned to your account.
The fact is that lines of the Asian Handicap cover precisely the same things as the other betting options. For example, zero goals handicap is the same as Draw No Bet or 0.5 handicaps for the underdog is the same as a double chance for a draw or victory of the underdog. The difference is that Asian Handicap offers great odds which is one of its main advantages.
It should note that it is vital to be careful when you use in-play betting because bets on Asian Handicap are generally valid for the remaining of the game and not for the whole 90 minutes. If you have doubts, check the rules of the bookmaker where you want to bet.
Split (Quarter Goal) Handicap
After we mentioned the basics of the Asian Handicap, let’s look at the little more complex and confusing “split” handicaps (learn more about the betting terms in different bookmakers). When you get to know better the Asian Handicap bets, you will meet handicaps of the type of -0.25 or 1.75. At first glance, it seems confusing and strange, but when you grasp its idea, you will not have trouble understanding it.
The critical point here is this – let’s take the number 0.25. It is the average of the numbers 0 and 0.5. Similarly, 0.75 is the average between 0.5 and 1 and 1.25 is the average of 1 and 1.5. Most bookmakers help you by giving you a handicap of 0, 0.5 – this kind of handicap may see as 0.25. Handicap 1 1.5 will mean 1.25. The way the split handicap is present is through the exact quarter or with two numbers which average is a quarter.
If you bet £10 handicap -0.75 (-0.5, -1) goals, actually you bet £5 handicap of -0.5 goals and £5 handicap of -1 goal. In this case, if your team wins with 2-1, half of your bet is winning on an odd, which corresponds to the -0.5 handicap, the other half of your bet returns because at -1 handicap, the final Handicap result is equal.
We will offer you another example with specific teams and odds, so it gets clearer.
Suppose you choose to bet on Schalke against Werder Bremen. You bet £50 on Schalke +0.25 (0, +0.5) at odds of 1.80. If Schalke wins the game with any result, you earn £90 lev (50 x 1.80). If the game ends with a draw, you win half of the bet, i. e. £45 because you have bet £25 on a handicap of 0 and £25 on the handicap of 0.5 to Schalke. The other half of the £25 bet returns into your account, which makes a total of £70. If the match ends 1-1, the first handicap of 0 for Schalke is useless because the virtual result is a draw as well, and half of your bet return to your account. Another handicap +0.5 goals for Schalke gives you a virtual victory for Schalke, which would look like this: Schalke 1.5 – 1 Werder. That means that Schalke wins virtually with half a goal and thus you win half the bet.
If you decide to bet £50 on Werder with Handicap -0.25 (0, -0.5) goals and the result ends with a draw, the bet of -0.5 goals lost, whereby you only get half of your bet, in this case, £25, because the bet on the other handicap of zero does not change the virtual result in any way and is basically useless.
Asian Goal Lines
Asian goal lines are bets on the total goals scored in the game. They are quite similar to the classic bets on Over/Under a certain number of goals, but with the Asian goal lines, you can find different lines, like 1.75 goals, 2.25 goals and so on. The idea is the same as the one for ‘split’ handicaps.
If you bet on a line under 2.75 goals and the game ends 2-1, you only get half of your stake back. Why? The Asian line under 2.75 goals consists of two lines – one is three goals, and the other one is 2.5 goals. As a result of 2-1, you have a total of 3 goals scored, and the line under 2.5 goals drops out automatically (3 is more than 2.5). The other line – three goals, however, turns back half of the stake because there are three goals in the match.
And one more example:
Consider the match Tottenham against Manchester United. You bet £20 on Asian line over 2.25 goals, which means that you have two bets: £10 on a line over 2 and £10 on a line over 2.5 goals in the game. Let’s say that the match ends 1-1, then your bet on the line over two goals gives you half of the stake back because there are precisely two goals scored in the match. The other line over 2.5 goals is lost because there are only two goals in the game.
The advantage, as you can see is, that you only lose £10 and the remaining ten are back in your account. Let’s assume that the match ends 1-2 in favour of Manchester United, for example, then we have a total of three, and thus the line 2.25 goals in the match is a winning one at the corresponding odds.
Remember that with in-play bets the Asian goal lines are valid for the entire 90 minutes of the match, unlike the Asian Handicap, which refers to the remaining time of the match, as we have already mentioned in the beginning.
Our Opinion on Using the Asian Handicap
Asian Handicap gives you many opportunities. Besides handicap for a team or goal lines, you can bet, for instance, Asian lines on corners. The Asian Handicap is very convenient because to some extent your bet cannot be lost entirely. That is why the Asian Handicap is such a preferred way of betting which at some point will surely save some portion of your funds. Analyse, consider carefully and secure your bets with the Asian Handicap.
