Asian Handicap
Posted on May 3, 2008 by Anders Nielsen | Articles
The Asian Handicap.
Asian Handicap (AH) betting, as the name suggests, originated and is a popular way of betting in the Far East. One of the major advantages of AH betting is that the possibility of a drawn in a football match is eliminated.
This is achieved by, in most cases, giving the favourite a handicap to overcome and the underdog a headstart of the same value. Any handicap is taken from/added to the actual final score of the match to determine the outcome of the bet.
In the process of reducing the number of possible outcomes of a bet from three to two we find the biggest benefit of betting the Asian Handicap - the increase in the bookmakers theoretical pay-out.
There are, perhaps, some confusing terminology, for instance half-handicap (0.5 goal), and quarter handicap (0.25 goal), and the different terminology for the same handicaps used by different bookmakers.
In this article we will thoroughly explain the handicaps, pay-outs and terminology for Asian Handicaps.
Handicaps / Spreads.
Handicapping is a way of making a sports contest more even and, thus, more interesting as a betting object. In betting this is done by awarding one of the teams, the underdog, some points or goals ahead. Different names and conventions are being used for this, depending on the sport and the geographical origin of the bookmaker, but once you see through this the basic principle is always the same.
How Handicapping Works
Consider a soccer match between Liverpool and Derby, with Liverpool being the home team. Bookmakers offer odds on this event where Liverpool is a clear favorite to win. To make this match more even, from a betting point of view, Derby is given an advantage (head start) of 1.5 goal in the bet. Thus, the handicap becomes -1.5 for Liverpool or +1.5. So, if Derby scores more goals, with 1.5 a goal added, Derby will still have won. If the teams score an equal number of goals, with the ½ goal added, Derby will have won the handicapped bet, and even when Derby loses by one goal they win the handicap bet because they get the 1.5 goal advantage. However, if Liverpool wins by 2 goals or more, Liverpool will have won the bet.
Note that with a handicap of -/+ 1.5 the game/bet can never end in a draw.
The exact same principle can be used in any contest between two teams or individuals, where the outcome of the contest is determined by who scores more goals / points / sets won / games / frames… you name it – handicaps can be applied to any sporting event. For example, in an tennis match, where the player winning more sets is the winner, the handicap will be a number of sets awarded to the underdog. Handicapping is the most common type of betting US team sports, where the handicap is most often referred to as the spread.
Asian handicapping is just the same . Only Asian handicaps try to find the handicap making the match-up as even as possible, making odds fluctuate as closely around 2.00 on each side of the handicap. To make match-up entirely close from a handicapping point of view it is sometimes necessary to combine handicaps into one. This is what defines Asian Handicaps from other sorts of handicaps.
Asian Handicaps are still most commenly used for soccer, but could, with equal succes, be applied to eg. baseball and ice-hockey. For high scoring sports, such as American Football and basketball, Asian Handicaps would make no sense since a difference of 0.25 point has little significance for the outcome of a handicap.
Combining Handicaps
Handicap 0.75 (+½,+1 or 3/4)
For instance, an Asian Handicap bet could be an offer of odds 1.90 for PSV Eindhoven to beat Arsenal at home with handicap 0.75. This handicap is also sometimes listed as +½,+1 or ¾, which can be quite confusing and is a bad methodology. What handicap 0.75 means is, that the punter will be rewarded as if he placed 50% of the stake on the bet with handicap +0.5 and 50% of the stake on the bet with handicap +1.
In the example, the punter will get a payout of 1.90 if PSV Eindhoven draws or wins. And he will lose his money if Arsenal wins by two goals or more. Why? Because these are the payout for both handicap +0.5 and +1.
If Arsenal wins by 1 goal, e.g. final score PSV Eindhoven 0, Arsenal 1, then handicaps +0.5 and +1 differ. The punter’s money will be lost in case of handicap +0.5, giving a payout of 0, while the game will be tied in case of handicap +1, giving a payback of the original stake. Mixing the two together, fifty-fifty, the punter receives 0.5 x 0 + 0.5 x 1 = 0 + 0.5 = 0.5.
Handicap +0.25 (0,+½ or +1/4)
If the handicap is +0.25 the two handicaps in the combination will differ if the game ends in a tie, e.g. final score PSV Eindhoven 1, Arseanl 1. For handicap 0, the game is tied and the punter is returned his stake, a payout of 1. For handicap +0.5, PSV Eindhoven is the winning bet, and the punter receives a payout corresponding to the odds offered, 1.90. Mixing the two together, fifty-fifty, the punter receives 0.5 x 1 + 0.5 x 1.90 = 0.5 + 0.95 = 1.45.
The table below shows how selected handicap bets are paid according to the result.
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What are Over/Under Bets?
Over/Under bets are mentioned here, because they remind a lot about handicaps. In an O/U bet, the bet is determined on the total number of goals / points / runs / sets … scored in the match. For a soccer match, the bet could for instance offer odds 2.10 for the total number of goals to exceed 2.5. Or in an American football game, the bet could offer odds 1.90 for the total number of points to exceed 35. And so on. You can offer Over/Under bets on anything, which is determined by the outcome of some single number.
As with handicaps, an Over/Under can end undetermined if the threshold in the bet, the total, is integer, e.g. the American football Over/Under with a total of 35. And again there is an issue of a payback / refund of the bet stake in case this happens.
Handicaps and Over/Unders are the same..
The similarity between handicap and Over/Under betting is particularly clear when you notice, that handicap bets are simply Over/Under-bets, where the number determining the Over/Under is the goal difference between the two teams. Over/Under bets are sometimes offered as a combination of handicaps just as handicaps for favorites and underdogs and the mechanisms in settling the bet are excactly the same:
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