When betting on football, few things can be as annoying as placing a big bet on a match that results in a draw. Likewise, being super stoked about your favorite team’s upcoming match, only to find that the odds are so poor that betting on them becomes more or less pointless is quite the bummer! Betting with Asian handicap can solve both of these issues simultaneously. 

Europe and the Americas definitely had football in mind when betting was starting to become popular and widespread. We have accepted the draws and even include the possibility to bet on them with 1×2. In Asia however, football was a bit slower at first, meaning that the Asian betting market was already well established when football became a big thing. And the Asians did not like the draws in their betting. In order to solve this problem, and to make betting more exciting, Asian handicap was introduced for football. Today, players all over the world bet with Asian handicap, and many international sportsbooks have picked up the trend. According to SvenskaSpelsajter.org, the popularity is constantly growing in Sweden, and similar trends can be seen all over Europe. So what exactly is Asian handicap, and how does it work?

How does Asian handicap work?

The way Asian handicap work is that the underdog in a match is given extra goals in order to make the odds more even. This means that you can bet on your favourite team regardless if they are expected to dominate or get crushed in an upcoming match. Betting with handicap is nothing new, but one of the things that make Asian handicap unique is that the handicap goals include quarter decimals. This means that Asian handicap lets you bet on for instance -0.75 or +1.25. This means that you can get much more precise and even odds than with the usual handicap systems. Let’s have a look at an example, courtesy of Norwegian gambling experts Nettcasino.nu:

You are betting on a football game, and you place your bet with the Asian handicap odds of +1.25. This means that your team is considered the underdog, and has received 1.25 goals extra before the game has even started in order to even out the odds. This means that regardless of the outcome of the match, your bet can still win even though your team loses the game. If your team wins the match or the game ties, your bet will of course be a win. But if your team takes a beating by 1 goal, your bet still wins, since your team has +1.25 goals from the start. This means that the opposing team needs to score a win by 2 goals or more in order for your bet to be considered a loss.

Asian handicap, in conclusion

The Asian handicap odds are more specific than regular handicap and more advantageous to the player, thanks to the quarter decimals. For this reason, not all sportsbooks online offer them. If you do find a sportsbook that offers them, we recommend that you try them out. They are a great way to balance out odds and make your experience more interesting. In the hands of an experienced bettor, they can be a powerful tool to make huge profits. Asian handicap may sometimes also include the possibility to bet on 0.0 odds. What this means is that you bet on your team as in a usual bet, but you get the money back if the match results in a draw. 0.0 odds can be seen as an extension of a traditional 1×2 bet.