Asian handicap is a key betting strategy for a punter to familiarize themselves with. That’s especially so if they want to be a successful sports gambler in the 21st century. For a long time, 1×2/moneyline betting was the staple of sports betting. 1×2 is where the punter predicts the outright winner of a sports contest. However, it is quite difficult to sustain consistent profit-making relying purely on the moneyline bet. Picking the winner for sports like soccer, for which 1×2 is very popular, has become harder and harder. Modern soccer is highly competitive, and the gap between historically best teams and their opponents is really waning at this point. Modern-day punters have therefore had to diversify their betting markets. There are various other ways (from a betting perspective) of looking at matches, rather than just the pure winner/loser perspective. Asian handicap is one of those ways.
Handicap Explained
In the most traditional sense of the word, handicap means to have an impediment. This is a circumstance that makes it difficult to achieve something. In the sports betting world, handicapping is achieved by deducting goals or points from a team. It is done before a game/match/event starts. The goals/points are not actually deducted – not in the real sense. It is a hypothetical situation to picture in the punter’s mind when laying down the bet. In short, when betting with a handicap, the punter is telling the bookmaker that they believe very strongly in a team/player winning. So much so, that they would still win even if docked an X or Y number of goals or points. That’s one way of looking at handicaps. In a 1×2 scenario, one can bet for a team, against a team or even for a draw, depending on the bet.
What About The Asian Handicap?
They are two popular types of handicaps used in today’s sports betting. One is an European handicap and the other is an Asian handicap. The European handicap is the regular handicap. The Asian handicap is a more recent addition to betting markets. It’s a concept that originated in Indonesia in the 90s, quickly becoming popular in Asia. The Asian handicap is now very popular all over the world. The key difference between both types is just the format. The regular handicap uses whole numbers while the Asian version uses decimals. For instance, handicap odds for Man City playing Chelsea in the 2021 Champions League final might look as follows:
European Handicap
MAN CITY (-2)
DRAW
CHELSEA
1.80
2.20
1.60
Asian Handicap
MAN CITY (-1.5)
DRAW
CHELSEA
1.68
N/A
1.95
The first example shows a European (regular) handicap with Man City deducted 2 goals. This means that for a Man City pick to win, the team has to score at least three goals without a Chelsea reply. If Chelsea do score, say one goal, then Man City have to score four. The second example illustrates an Asian handicap. The concept is similar but, rather than docking 2 whole goals, a Man City pick wins if the team wins by a margin of more than 1.5 goals. This is an interesting, or even amusing idea since there’s no such a thing as half a goal in soccer. But what it means is that if Man City win by a margin of two goals (which is more than the 1.5 handicap) then the bet wins.
Ways/Situations To Apply An Asian Handicap
Here is when to use Asian handicaps to best effect in betting:
Use it to increase value in underdog vs favorite betting. Betting odds for favorite teams/players are always lower, since a win is highly likely for those teams/players. Boost the odds (and therefore profit) by handicapping the favorite team/player.
Similar to 1) above, you can increase potential profit by adding goals to the underdog and backing them.
Use it to avoid the draw distraction. With the Asian handicap type of handicap, a draw is not a possible betting outcome for any match. This leaves only two options in a 1×2 scenario – home or away win. The chances of winning the bet therefore go from 33.33% from 3 options to a tantalizing 50% from 2 options.
