Asian handicap
An Asian handicap is a football betting market that gives one team a goal start or deficit in steps of a quarter, half or whole goal, then settles the bet on the adjusted score with the draw removed as an outcome. Because there are only two sides, a level adjusted score either returns your stake or cannot happen at all, depending on the line. That two-way shape is what separates it from the three-way handicap most Irish punters see first.
How whole, half and quarter lines settle
On a whole line such as -1, a one-goal win leaves the adjusted score level, so the stake comes back as a push. A half line such as -1.5 has no level result: the favourite either wins by two or the bet loses.
Quarter lines ending in.25 or.75 split your stake equally across the two neighbouring lines, so -0.75 is half on -0.5 and half on -1.
Take €20 on -0.75 at 1.90. A one-goal win pays €19 on the -0.5 half and refunds €10 on the -1 half, a return of €29 rather than €38. The odds of 1.90 imply 52.6%, and with both sides priced the same the book adds up to about 105.3%, a margin of roughly 5.3%.
Where you meet it on a betting site
You will usually find it in the football markets for a single match, listed beside the match result and goal lines.
Notation is where practice varies between operators. Some show a quarter line as a single figure like -0.75, while others write the pair, as in (-0.5, -1). Which leagues get the full ladder of lines also differs from one bookmaker to the next, so read the market rules before assuming a refund.
What Asian handicap is confused with
The usual mix-up is with the European or three-way handicap, where the handicap draw is a selection of its own and a level adjusted score loses a bet on either team.
A line of 0, sometimes called level ball, settles exactly like draw no bet: a draw returns the stake.
The other trap is reading a quarter-line half win as a full win, when only half the stake was at the quoted odds.
