Handicap Betting Football Example

Author: Yan Zhylinski

If bookmakers didn’t offer handicap bets, the stronger side would have won against the weaker team, and it would have been predictable and monotonous. Mostly, handicaps are displayed in brackets after the name of the name. For example, let’s say you are wagering on a football match that’s scheduled to take place between Liverpool and Newcastle. If the bookie declared a handicap of 1.5, then the results would look like this

Liverpool (1.5) vs. Newcastle (-1.5)

• Liverpool is beginning the match with a 1.5 goal advantage compared to their opponent.
• Since the advantage isn’t more than one goal but not two, there couldn’t be a tie.
• If you wager on Newcastle to win, they would need at least 2 goals if for you to win your bet.
• If you are betting on Liverpool, they have to either win the match, draw, or concede by 1 goal, to win the bet.

What is Handicap League Betting?

As a bettor, especially beginning your journey in online sports betting, you’ll definitely come across many terminologies. Handicap League Betting is something that you may come across when placing your bets. But what does it entail? In short, Handicap League Betting is the same as standard handicap betting, but here, you get to wager on a particular football team’s performance across the entire season.

In this type of betting, bookmakers assign different odds to each team as the season begins, and you get to place a wager on the side that you think will win. Favorites in the league are given the “SCR” or zero advantage. Other teams taking part in the league receive odds by the expectation of their play by the bookmaker, with weaker sides given the more significant benefit.

The biggest difference between football handicap betting and handicap league betting is that as opposed to only giving the advantage to the team you did bet on, you would also apply it to all the teams taking part in the league.

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What is a No Draw Handicap Bet?

A no draw handicap bet is a type of betting that ensures there’s a guaranteed winner, by doing away or eliminating the option of a draw, regardless of the final result. The no draw handicap markets allow point handicaps/half goal to certain outcomes. You need to keep at the back of your mind that in handicap betting, the actual advantage or disadvantage is only given to a team that you are betting on. The following is a perfect example of a no draw handicap bet:

Everton (2) vs. Leeds (-2)

• If you place a bet on Leeds to win the match, they need to win by a margin of three or more goals.
• If you bet on Everton to win, you’d win if they lose but only by a margin of only one goal.
• If you are backing Everton and they go to lose by two goals, your bet would be void, and your full stake returned.

Since there’s no decimal in this handicap, you get a refund of your stake in the event of a tie. You also need to remember that when a handicap is a decimal number, it’s referred to as a “no draw handicap bet.” This one eliminates the possibility of a draw. It’s because in football and many other sports, there aren’t half goals.

Is handicap betting legal?

As a bettor, there’s nothing riskier than having to face persecution for engaging in something illegal when betting. Before you immerse yourself in the world of online sports betting, you may want to do a background check on what you can bet on and what you cannot bet on. By doing so, you’ll avoid heavy fines or even the possibility of time behind bars.

Is handicap match betting legal then? Many bettors seem to ask this question almost every day. To answer them, yes, it is. Handicap betting is legal provided you are placing such bets at licensed bookies only. It gets illegal if you engage in handicap betting at unlicensed and unregulated bookies. If found, you may incur heavy fines or some jail time. Mostly though, handicap betting is largely legal. In fact, many bookmakers across the globe offer their customers a chance to place handicap bets on a number of sporting events.

What's the difference between European and an Asian handicap?

There are actually 2 main types of handicaps: European and Asian. But what’s the difference between Asian handicap and European handicap? While the 2 handicap betting markets can appear similar, their differences are classified into three parts: representations or symbols, match outcomes, and number variants as further explained below:

• Symbols or Representations – These two types of handicap betting methods use different symbols for representation. In Asian handicap betting, the focus is on the skills of a specific team and so it uses non-integral symbols such as ‘+1.5’ and/or ‘-1.5’ to be subtracted or added to the weaker and/or stronger teams. Meanwhile since European handicap betting has a draw score and more fixated on relative ability, it uses a ratio such as ‘0:1’.
• Match Outcomes – Another key difference between Asian and European handicaps is its respective match outcomes. In the Asian handicap market, there are only 2 possible outcomes, which is to give the lead to the home or away team. In the European handicap, you can choose from 3 possible results. Players can either pick between wagering on home, away or draw.
• Number Variants – Lastly, another notable difference between European and Asian handicaps has to do with the number variants. They both use the number variants in different ways. Asian handicap betting has several varieties, such as half-ball, quarter-ball and whole-ball handicaps as opposed to European handicaps which make use of whole number variants only.

Overall, though, draws or ties are refunded when you are doing Asian Handicapping. European Handicaps are the same as Asian Handicaps but a tie is possible. As you can see then, the difference between European and Asian handicaps isn’t that huge.

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Is handicap betting only available in football?

Now that you have a clear picture of handicap betting, you may be wondering whether this type of betting is only available in football. Most bettors believe that handicap betting only applies to football and not any other sport. But it’s not their problem. Since football is the globe’s number one sport, most people tend to believe that this sort of betting strictly applies to football. However, as you’ll later learn, that’s not the case.

Handicap betting doesn’t apply to football only. Apart from football handicap betting, this type of betting applies to other sports such as tennis, basketball, hockey, American Football, ice hockey, rugby, and swimming. Some bookies today even go a step further to apply handicap betting to racing events –greyhounds and horse racing – as well.

When is the best time to wager on handicap bets?

There are some situations when placing handicap bets appear more favorable in comparison to other situations where you may not want to place such type of bets. The best time to wager on handicap bets, especially on football matches is when you find out that the odds, the match result, or another preferable market you play do not offer real value. If that’s the situation, you may want to place handicap bets. With the help of handicap betting, as a bettor, you may benefit since the chances are evened out, regardless of the fact that one team would have enjoyed a ridiculous advantage in an average match.

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Published: 09/29/2021