Demystifying Asian Handicap Betting
There’s a wealth of options for punters in sports betting today, and Asian Handicaps are just one of those. Invented somewhere in Asia - a lot of people say Indonesia - Asian Handicaps are a market that has become wildly popular all around the world. With markets like these, never again does a punter have to limit themselves to 1X2 bets. This means a much more enjoyable sports betting experience, not to mention the vast profit potential of Asian Handicap betting. So, what are Asian Handicaps? And how do they differ from other types of handicaps?
How The Asian Handicap Works
By now, we know that handicaps in sports betting are a way to level the playing field when a contest involves mismatched opponents. One team is likelier to win in a game like that, usually trouncing the opponent by a considerable margin. These matches are very predictable, and both bookies and punters are aware. It would, therefore, be difficult to expect a bookie to offer high prices for predicting such games. Handicaps, therefore, are a way to ensure a punter can get reasonable profit from betting on such contests. By awarding hypothetical goals or points to one opponent and/or deducting them from the other, the line or “spread” reaches a point where both sides are relatively equal. That’s where betting now becomes quite exciting!
Asian Handicaps involve adding or deducting decimal points or goals to teams or athletes. This is as opposed to the traditional European Handicap where whole goals/points are added or deducted. As we’ll see below, while the European Handicap still allows for draws, the Asian Handicap allows punters to concentrate purely on who the better opponent is and to what extent.
The Beauty Of Asian Handicaps - No Draws!
Most sports contests end with a clear winner. This is not just because players and teams are rarely equally matched. It’s because it’s logically impossible to have a draw because of the game's rules or because tiebreakers are used to separate the opponents. However, some sports still feature contests that end as stale, dour draws. Frustratingly enough, these drawn matches occur frequently, with soccer being a prime example. When placing a money line bet in soccer, the punter can’t get away with predicting who wins the game. A draw is a third possible option, and this only whichtes what was already a daunting forecast to make. That Asian Handicaps come in handy.
When applied to soccer betting, Asian Handicaps eliminate the draw outcome from the equation, leaving the punter with the simpler task of just forecasting a winner. For instance, let’s picture that we’ve bet on the underdog to win with a +0.5 handicap.
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If the match is drawn 0-0, the bet would still win because the underdog would hypothetically have 0.5 goals/points vs. the favorite’s 0. Same case with a 1-1 or 2-2 draw.
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If the underdog were to win 2-1, then the handicap final score would be a 2.5-1 win for the underdog, and the bet would still win.
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The bet would only lose if the favorite were to win by 1 or more goals. Either way, the punter does not have to think about draws regarding Asian Handicaps.
