Handicap Betting offers an alternative way of betting on certain events. In this case, you are essentially giving one side an advantage or a disadvantage which will increase the difficulty of the bet; however, the odds will rise as well. Therefore, several bet types are part of handicap betting and we will explain them all below. In addition, it’s important to note that football is the most popular sport for handicap bets; however its often used for rugby, tennis, basketball, golf, etc.
Handicap betting is best used when a strong favorite is playing an outsider. So, you can set up a handicap for the favorite and that way increase the odds. The reason you would do this is because when favorites play, the odds for their victory are very low and pretty much unusable. Nevertheless, read more about handicap bets right below.
Table of Contents
What is Handicap Betting?
Handicap betting is an alternative way to bet on certain events. For instance, if a professional 100m sprinter lined up against the average bloke off the street, you would expect the professional sprinter to win every time. However, this would be boring to bet on, and you would never get interesting odds. How about if you gave the average bloke a 50m head start? Conversely, that would make the race outcome harder to predict. Suddenly, it would be more interesting to bet on.
On the other hand, this is exactly how handicap betting works. You are effectively giving one outcome an advantage, and the other outcome a disadvantage to make something you’re betting on more even.
What does Handicap mean in Betting?
Handicap betting – also referred to as the ‘spread’ – involves giving one selection a virtual deficit (a handicap) to overcome at the start of an event. Conversely, choosing another selection in the same market will usually involve that selection receiving a virtual start. If your chosen selections score is greater than it’s opponents AFTER the handicap has been applied, your chosen selection is deemed the winner.
This type of market is predominantly offered to “even up” a market so in that a selection deemed “inferior” to it’s opponent(s) has a greater chance of winning the event. If the competitors are deemed to have equal chances, you may also come across the term ‘scr’ or ‘scratch’ in replacement of a handicap being applied. This means no handicaps are applied to final scores and that the winner of the market will be the outright winner of the market (or the ‘Draw’).
What Sports is Handicap used for?
Although football is the most popular sport to apply handicaps, there are other sports which often have handicap markets, including:
- Rugby – one of the teams will start with a points advantage. The points handicap will be greater due to higher point scoring nature of rugby.
- Golf – many bookies will allow you to place handicaps on players’ rounds, for instance, +3 shots.
- Tennis – handicaps can be applied to either sets or games. If the handicap applies to games, then all the games from the match will be totaled up to form the outcome, which might not necessarily be the same as the winner of the match.
- Basketball – It’s important to note that handicap bets in basketball are known as spread betting. Players bet on “+” or “-” on the points a certain team will score. Just like in other sports, you can handicap the favorite or help the underdog.
This bet type is used in other sports; however, the ones above are the most popular options. Nevertheless, professional bettors look for value in all sports and all bet types.
Examples
Let’s take the example of football as it is the most popular sport almost everywhere in the world. The number in brackets after the team name denotes the advantage or disadvantage applied to the handicap. Since the Premier League is the most popular league, we will use examples from it. Let’s go through some examples:
0.5 handicap e.g. Arsenal (-0.5) v Newcastle (0.5)
- Newcastle is effectively starting the game with half a goal advantage.
- If you’re backing Arsenal, and they win the match, you win your bet.
- However, if you’re backing Arsenal and the match ends in a draw, you lose your bet.
- If you’re backing Newcastle, you win the bet if they win or draw the match.
1 handicap e.g. Arsenal (-1.0) v Newcastle (1.0)
- Newcastle is effectively starting the game with a one-goal advantage.
- If you’re backing Arsenal they must win by at two goals for you to win your bet.
- However, if you’re backing Arsenal and they only win by one goal, the result is effectively a draw and your stake is refunded.
- If you’re backing Newcastle, you win the bet if they win or draw the match. If lose the match by one goal, your stake is refunded.
1.5 handicap e.g. Arsenal (-1.5) v Newcastle (1.5)
- Newcastle is effectively starting the game with a one and a half goal advantage.
- Because it is a bit more than a single goal, the ability for a draw to occur is eliminated.
- If you’re backing Arsenal to win, they again must score at least two goals for you to win your bet.
- If you’re backing Newcastle to win, they must either win the match, draw, or concede by only one goal.
Handicap Betting Types
European Handicap
The simplest form of handicap betting is known as European Handicap or Single Handicap. Its mostly used for football; however bookmakers will still offer it for other low scoring sports. There are often football matches where one of the sides is considered to be an absolute favorite. European Handicap evens the field by giving the underdog an advantage of one or more goals. For instance, if Barcelona is playing against a team like Huesca at home, their chance of winning is almost 100%. In addition, this means that the 1X2 odds for Barcelona will be really low and bettors will be looking for alternative markets.
European Handicap betting for this particular example will work like this:
- Bookmakers will certainly offer a minimum of -2, -3, and more against Barcelona which will increase the odds for their victory. So, if you pick a -3 handicap, it means that Barcelona will be figuratively starting the match with a 3 goal deficit. So, to win your bet, Barca will need to win by 4 or more goals.
However, if the match ends 3-0 or less for Barcelona, you will lose your stake.
Asian Handicap
Asian Handicap betting becomes valuable when one team is a strong favorite in a certain match. The difference in quality between two opponents is calculated through several factors like:
- Recent Form
- Home field advantage
- History
- Suspended or injured players
Also, the option of a draw is completely removed in this type of handicap betting. In addition, there will be a certain positive or negative goal handicap, allocated to both sides in a match. The one which is considered the favorite gets a negative handicap while the underdog gets a positive one. When it comes to sports betting there are a couple of different Asian Handicap bet types.
Level Asian Handicap
This type of Asian Handicap betting applies when there is no real difference between the two sides in a match. So, each side will start the game with 0 goals meaning that you are pretty much betting on the winner of the game. Look at it as a bet from the Draw no Bet market since the game can either end with the home or the away team winning the match. Subsequently, if it ends in a draw, it results with a void bet and your stake is returned.
However, this is where the biggest difference between Asian and European Handicap is located. Furthermore, a simple -2 Asian handicap bet would be considered void and the stakes returned if the match ends with 2 goal victory for the handicapped team. This means that the game ended in a draw. On the other hand, a -2 European handicap bet with the same outcome will result in a loss of your stakes.
Single Asian Handicap
The Single Asian Handicap Betting will give the side that is considered favorite to win a certain goal handicap. They will start the game with a handicap of – 0.5, – 1, – 1.5, – 2, etc.
| Teams | Handicap | Result | Payout |
| A | -0.5 | Win Draw or Lose | Win Lose |
| B | +0.5 | Win or Draw Lose | Win Lose |
| A | -1 | Win by 2 or more Win by 1 Draw or Lose | Win *Bet void Lose |
| B | +1 | Win or Draw Lose by 1 Lose by 2 or more | Win *Bet void Lose |
| A | -1.5 | Win by 2 or more Win by 1, Lose or Draw | Win Lose |
| B | +1.5 | Win, Draw or Lose by 1 Lose by 2 or more | Win Lose |
| A | -2 | Win by 3 or more Win by 2 Win by 1, Draw or Lose | Win *Bet void Lose |
| B | +2 | Win, Draw or Lose by 1 Lose by 2 Lose by 3 or more | Win *Bet void Lose |
Split Asian Handicap
The Split Asian Handicap Betting markets are great when you are not sure about the difference in quality between the two sides. For instance, the favorite can start the game with a (0 & – 0.5), (- 0.5 & – 1), etc. handicap.
| Teams | Handicap | Result | Payout |
| A | 0 & -0.5 | Win Draw Lose | Win Lose half stake Lose |
| B | 0 & +0.5 | Win Draw Lose | Win Win half stake Lose |
| A | -0.5 & -1 | Win by 2 or more Win by 1 Draw or Lose | Win Win half stake Lose |
| B | 0.5 & 1 | Win or Draw Lose by 1 Lose by 2 or more | Win Lose half stake Lose |
| A | -1 & -1.5 | Win by 2 or more Win or Draw Lose by 2 or more | Win Lose half stake Lose |
| B | 1 & 1.5 | Win or Draw Lose by 1 Lose by 2 or more | Win Win half stake Lose |
| A | -1.5 & -2 | Win by 3 or more Win by 2 Win by 1, Draw or Lose | Win Win half stake Lose |
| B | 1.5 & 2 | Win, Draw or Lose by 1 Lose by 2 Lose by 3 or more | Win Lose half stake Lose |
| A | -2 & -2.5 | Win by 3 or more Win by 2 Win by 1, Draw or Lose | Win Lose half stake Lose |
| B | 2 & 2.5 | Win, Draw or Lose by 1 Lose by 2 Lose by 3 or more | Win Win half stake Lose |
Set Handicap
Last but not least, we have to mention this handicap betting type which is used for tennis. Its increasing in popularity because when it comes to tennis tournaments, there are several favorites and unless they are playing each other, the odds for their victories are usually very low.
Also, with Set Handicap you could give several sets advantage to the opponent who is the underdog. This way the odds for the favorite winning will increase, while the chances of you winning your bet are still relatively high.
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