Through StarsPay’s articles, you’ve already learned about the main types of odds offered in sports betting, the sports that receive the most bets, the importance of responsible gambling, and much more. Now, it’s time to learn more about one of the most popular markets on betting sites in Brazil: the Asian Handicap.
What is the Asian Handicap?
The Asian handicap is a market that creates a disadvantage for one team (and consequently an advantage for the other), seeking to equalize the two options. In practice, it eliminates the possibility of a draw in a soccer match, for example, giving only two alternatives for results.
It may seem complicated at first glance, after all, what does “Team A -1.5” mean? However, after some practice, the Asian handicap becomes intuitive for the bettor. Originating in Asia, as the name suggests, the market gained popularity in various parts of the world, including Brazil.
Examples of Asian Handicap
It’s easier to understand in practice. In the case of the already mentioned “Team A -1.5”, this means that Team A starts with a disadvantage of 1.5. Thus, they would need to win by at least 2 goals (or points, depending on the sport) for the bet to be a winner. If the team wins by 2-0, even though they have a 1.5 disadvantage, they would end the game with “0.5-0”, still winning.
In the case of -0.5, for example, the bet works exactly like a “money line”, meaning a bet on the team’s victory by any score. Another reason why many bettors like the Asian handicap is that it brings the chance of neither winning nor losing the bet but rather receiving the wagered amount back, which is commonly referred to as a “push”.
How Push Works
The examples above used handicaps ending in 0.5 or 1.5, but what if the handicap were -1 (or another number)? In the case of -1, for example, a victory by 2 goals or more would still bring profit in the bet, but a victory by only 1 goal, instead of meaning a loss, would result in a “push”. In other words, the player would receive the bet amount back because, considering the disadvantage described in the handicap, the game would be tied.
Example: imagine a heavily favored team against another, with an Asian handicap of -2. If the game ended 2-0 for the favorite, subtracting the -2 from the disadvantage, the score would be 0-0, hence the amount would be returned. At the same time, if you believe that an underdog team will perform well, you could take the other side, of +2, only losing the bet in case of defeat by 3 or more goals.
The Most Complex Case
In some betting sites, you can find a line described as “Team A -1, -1.5”, containing two handicaps, which more experienced bettors would call 1.25. The operation is exactly the same as described above, but the total bet amount is divided into the two lines, creating two different bets.
Using money, a bet of $10 would mean, in practice, a $5 bet on -1 and $5 on -1.5. Thus, the user changes the risk of the wager, being able to guarantee at least half of the amount back (in case of victory by 1 goal in this example), while allowing themselves to have the possibility of a bigger return in a more elastic result.
