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What Is Asian Handicap Betting?

Are you an avid sports bettor? Research shows that nearly 50% of Americans have at least some type of interest in this popular pastime. Soccer sports betting is an especially popular niche, appealing to sports enthusiasts around the world. 

If you’ve tried your hand at placing bets on certain soccer teams, then you know to naturally lean toward the one with the stronger scorecard. However, what do you do when both teams are matched fairly equally? 

In that case, you can employ a strategy known as Asian handicap betting. Today, we’re sharing how this approach works, and what you need to know before you give it a try. 

Starting With the Basics: What Is an Asian Handicap?

Before we dive into the ins and outs of Asian handicap betting, let’s start at the beginning. What is an Asian handicap? The answer lies in the perceived quality of each soccer team.

In the world of soccer betting, each team has an inherent reputation that can steer you toward or away from placing your money on the players. There are multiple factors that can determine this status, and they can be both natural and situational.

A few of the most common elements that comprise a team’s status or reputation include:

  • Their overall form
  • Their historical performances
  • Their budget and financial aptitude
  • Their player availability (e.g. players out for sickness or injury)
  • Their home field advantage

By analyzing the above factors, traders can more clearly gauge each team’s potential for success. Then, they can use this information to speculate their odds of winning a specific game or matchup. 

As you might expect, this can result in some pretty significant levels of perception bias. This is where Asian handicap betting comes in.

The Asian Handicap Betting Strategies

This strategy hinges on goal handicaps applied to each side of the board. To prevent any type of bias from occurring, a negative goal handicap is placed on the team perceived as the strongest, or the favorite. In turn, a positive goal handicap is added to the underdog’s side. 

This type of betting started in Indonesia and is widely used in the Asian sports betting market, hence the unique moniker.  

If you’re interested in trying it for yourself, then there are a few different types of Asian handicap betting strategies that you can employ. Let’s take a look at each one in greater detail. 

Level Asian Handicap Betting

Level Asian handicap betting is employed when there is no perceived variation in the two teams’ playing ability. In that case, both teams begin the game with a handicap of zero.

How is this different from any other type of sports betting? There isn’t a draw option. If the game ends in a draw, then the bet is void, and you’ll get your stake back. 

Otherwise, it works the same. If your team wins, then you get the payout, and vice versa. To ensure legitimacy, make sure to only share betting information with a credible website or app, such as Caesars Sportsbook.

Split Asian Handicap Betting

In some cases, there is somewhat of a difference between two teams, but it isn’t super clear. You might know that one is favorited over the other, but you’re not sure the size of the margin.

Split Asian handicap betting is appropriate in this case. With this approach, you can use two different handicaps to split your stake in a particular team.

For instance, if the team is favorited, then it might start the game with handicaps of -0.5 and -1. Or, the stakes could be split between -1 and -1.5 goals. When this happens, you may see the strategy referred to as a quarter goal Asian handicap.

This uses the average of the two separate goals, so a starting handicap of -0.5 and -1 would turn into -0.75. Your stake is them multiplied by your odds.

If there’s a draw between both teams, then you’ll either win or lose half stake. If you win, that means you’ll receive half of your stake and the other half gets returned. If you lose, then you’ll lose half of your stake and the other half gets returned. 

Single Asian Handicap Betting

What should you do if there’s a substantial perceived difference between the teams’ playing ability? If that happens, then you can consider a single Asian handicap betting strategy. 

This is where the positive and negative goal handicaps come into play. You’ll apply a positive one to the better team, effectively “weakening” their ability and leveling the playing (and betting) field.

The handicaps are usually scaled on a 0.5-goal basis. For instance, they may range from -0.5 to -2. If the final score makes it even, then the bet is void. 

For example, if Team A has a -1 goal handicap, and they win by 1, then the bet is essentially zero, or voided. Yet, if they win by at least 2, then it’s considered a winning bid. 

Ways to Use Asian Handicap Betting

There are two different ways to employ Asian handicap betting. These include:

  • Before the game 
  • During the game

If you do it pre-game, then you can enjoy access to trade-out opportunities as they’re presented to you. Otherwise, you can also trade the handicaps during the game as you react to each separate match. In this way, you’ll approach the betting process just as you would with any other soccer market.  

Keep in mind that one of the main benefits of this betting strategy is that even if your team loses, you could still win money. Your bet hinges on the outcome of the handicap, not necessarily the game. Depending on how it performs, you could win or have your bet voided. 

Betting Smartly and Strategically

Sports bettors are highly skilled in reading performances and making educated predictions. While the Asian handicap betting strategy is an interesting one, it’s not the only approach that you can take.

Before you invest any type of money in this pastime, make sure you’re financially stable enough to do so. While this can be an exciting and rewarding activity, it’s always smart to plan ahead. 

Looking for more advice and inspiration on everything from business to fitness? Keep checking our blog for more informative guides!

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