Peter has been writing for the gambling industry since 2013, and joined the SportsCasting team in July 2024. Outside of work Peter is a runner, gig rower, guitarist and musician (releasing two albums under the name 'ShiroToKuro'). Peter is also a lover of manga, anime and Japanese cinema and can even read and speak Japanese at the conversational level.
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Ian Bruce became interested in betting in 1987, when he landed a winning Yankee on his first attempt. That stroke of luck (and he admits that's exactly what it was) sparked an interest in understanding the strategies behind successful wagers. Over the years, he has become one of the UK's most prolific writers on betting and gaming, and is best known for his systematic approach to winning. Ian's career in the industry now spans over three decades. His favorite betting method is Dutching because, in his words, "It's the one I win with more often than not."
All posts by Ian BruceHave you ever wondered what is handicap in betting? A handicap bet is one where the competitor you back is given an artificial addition or subtraction from their actual final score. The bet is then deemed to be successful if the backed competitor remains the ‘winner’ once the handicap is applied. This page will explain how does handicap betting work, and give you some handicap in betting tips.
How Handicap Betting Works
Handicap betting allows you to get more beneficial odds on an outcome you want to back at UK betting sites as long as the bet remains a winning one once the handicap is applied. Let’s say Manchester City are playing Ipswich Town in the English Premier League. The odds for a City win are so poor that it’s not really worth betting on them. There is, though, a handicap option of ‘-2.5’ for a City win with much better odds. This means that 2.5 goals will be subtracted from Manchester City’s final score. You decide to take the bet.
The final score is Manchester City 4 Ipswich Town 1. The handicap-adjusted score would be Manchester City 1.5 (as 4 minus the handicap of 2.5 is 1.5) Ipswich Town 1, meaning your handicap bet would be a winning one.
If, however, the final score is Manchester City 2 Ipswich Town 0, the handicap-adjusted score would be Manchester City -0.5 Ipswich Town 0, which means your handicap bet would be a losing one.
Handicap Betting Example
In case you’re still wondering what is handicap betting, let’s now work through a handicap betting example just so you are clear on how handicap betting works.
The above are the potential handicap selections for a UCL game in which Vitoria Guimaraes are the overwhelming favourites at 1/4. We think that Vitoria will win easily, but we want better odds, so we look at the handicap odds instead.
We can see that with a -2 goals handicap, Vitoria have a much better price of 9/5. That, therefore is the bet we choose. We add it to our bet slip by clicking on those odds of 9/5. In this case, the odds changed to 7/4 just before we managed to get the selection on our slip, but that happens sometimes.
The line ‘Vitoria Guimaraes -2’ outlines our bet, the match handicap meaning that Vitoria must win by a minimum of three clear goals for our bet to be successful, as two goals will be subtracted from their final goals tally. We have set our stake to £5, and only need to select ‘Place Bet’ to confirm the placement of our handicap wager.
Handicap Betting Variations
Handicap betting covers multiple variations, and can include confusing aspects such as half-goals and even quarter-goals. You may be wondering what does goal handicap mean? Here we look at three popular types of handicap betting at the UK’s best football betting sites and what makes each of them different from the others.
2-Way Handicap
A 2-way handicap is where there can only be two possible outcomes of your handicap bet – either a win or loss, with the draw being eradicated. You can instantly tell if the handicap prices are for a 2-way handicap as the handicap totals will include half a goal.
We had this example above when we talked about Manchester City playing Ipswich Town and our chosen handicap -1.5 meaning City have to win by two goals at the minimum. As the final real score cannot possibly contain half a goal, it means the handicap score cannot be a tie. When you bet on a 2-way handicap your bet will either result in a ‘win or lose’ scoreline.
3-Way Handicap
A 3-way handicap is so called as three ‘results’ are possible – a win, a draw or a loss. This means if you bet on a 3-way handicap, you can choose which side you think will win the contest or for the handicap score to end in a draw.
Our Vitoria Guimaraes match above was an example of a 3-way handicap bet. You can always tell if a handicap bet is a 3-way handicap bet, as the goal totals will be whole numbers.
Our bet was -2 on Victoria. This means that if Vitoria won by at least three goals, the handicap result would be a Vitoria win. If, however, Vitoria won by exactly two goals, then the handicap result would be a draw, and our handicap bet would lose. Any other scoreline would see a Vitoria ‘loss’ and also a loss of our betting stake.
Asian Handicap
This should come as no surprise – Asian handicap betting is so-called as it is the most popular form of handicap betting in many Asian countries, originating in Indonesia. There are a few forms of Asian handicap, and we look at them all below:
-3, -2, -1, 0, +1, +2, +3
With these kinds of totals, a three-way handicap is a result. You may be wondering what is a handicap in betting difference between this kind of Asian handicap meaning and a 3-way handicap. There is a difference, and it’s an important one – if the ‘result’ of a game after the handicap is applied is a draw, your stake is not lost but instead returned to you.
-2.5, -1.5, -0.5, +0.5, +1.5, +2.5
Handicaps with these types of totals are straightforward two-way handicaps. The draw is completely eradicated.
-1.75, -1.25, -0.75, -0.25, +0.25, +0.75. +1.25, + 1.75
This is where things start to get a little more complicated, as quarter goals are involved. The use of quarter goals is a simple (ish) way of denoting that you are placing two bets with one stake.
For example, if you backing a team with a handicap of +0.75, then half of your stake goes on a three-way handicap (with the potential of a push) of +1, and half of your stake goes on a two-way handicap of +0.5. The ‘+0.75’ representation comes from the addition of the two handicap totals (+1 and +0.5, adding up to +1.5) divided by two.
Handicap Betting Applications
Handicap betting is synonymous with team sports in which there’s a total score. Popular markets for team handicap betting include football handicap betting, both rugby codes and all American team sports. Indeed, in American handicap betting (or ‘betting on the spread’ as it is more commonly known) is much more popular than straight ‘pick the winner’ betting.
Some individual sports, such as tennis, snooker, and darts, can have handicap betting applied to them. At tennis betting sites, it is usually the number of sets, games, or points won. In snooker, it is the number of frames or total points scored, and in darts, it is the number of sets or legs won.
The only sports that are not usually suitable for handicap betting are ‘first past the post’ sports such as horse racing, greyhounds, most motorsports and track athletic events.
Why Place a Handicap Bet?
The main reason why people place handicap bets is to increase the odds of an outcome. The trade-off for this is it increases the risk. Some competitors in ‘straight-win’ style wagers are so low priced it’s barely worth betting on them. You will win a minimum amount for the stake you are risking, and there’s always the chance of an upset, meaning there’s always the chance of losing your entire stake. Is it worth risking £20 to win £2?
If you seek higher odds by placing handicap bets, then you can lower your stakes too, so you will be minimising any losses should your handicap bets not work out. You are increasing the risk in return for lowering the amount of money you are staking.
In addition, if you are a true expert on the sports you are placing handicap bets on, then you can reward that expertise more with handicap betting than straight ‘1X2’ type betting.
Are There Any Downsides to Handicap Betting?
The only real downside to, for example, goal handicap betting is the increase in risk we keep talking about. If Manchester City are at home to a relegation struggler, you can almost guarantee that they will win (hence the tight odds), but predicting how many goals they will win by is a more difficult pick.
You may also be attracted by the more beneficial prices attached to handicap bets, and you could end up increasing the risk too much. If a -2 handicap bet has odds of 5/4 and a -3 handicap bet odds of 4/1, surely it’s worth the risk? That’s up to you, but the key to successful handicap betting is to learn to balance risk with potential returns.
Handicap Betting Tips
Understanding handicap betting can be tough, especially if it is something you have not considered before. Here to help are a trio of handicap betting tips.
Maths, Maths, Maths
Get used to crunching numbers when it comes to handicap betting. Say a team are 4/5 to win and 21/20 with a -1 handicap, meaning they have a 55.6 per cent chance of winning, and the goal handicap, meaning they have a 48.8 per cent chance of winning by at least two goals – a decrease of 6.8%. Returns from a £1 bet would be, respectively, 80p and £1.05, an increase of 25p or 31%. Therefore, you are adding 6.8% of risk for a 31% increase in returns. This is how you measure how much a handicap bet is truly worth.Hedge Your Bet With a 1X2 forecast
Handicaps bets are tougher to get right than straight ‘1X2’ bets. Teams are playing to win, and only sometimes will they play to win by a decent margin. Some teams are happy to sit back once they’ve secured the lead. This can thwart your goal handicap betting. You can minimise potential losses by placing a straight 1X2 forecast bet too on the same team or, if you want to guarantee some kind of return no matter what, a double chance bet on the competitor you are not backing with your handicap bet.Don’t Forget the Underdog
Tight contests are ideal for goal handicap betting on the underdog. Let’s look at a football match where the home side are priced at 6/4, and the away side are priced at 7/4, making it an even contest. The +1 odds for the underdog drop to 1/2, which are still pretty decent odds. If you take this bet, you are, in effect, covering the draw and any underdog win. In tight contests, a draw is the most common result, after all.
Conclusion
We should now have answered the question ‘what is handicap in betting’. Handicap betting is one way of increasing returns from potential bets, with the trade-off being the increase in risk. Conversely, handicap betting can be a way of reducing risk, with the trade-off being decreasing the potential returns. We hope that the information presented on this page will give you the confidence to consider handicap betting or increase your appreciation and application of handicap betting in the future.
FAQs
What does handicap betting mean?
What does +1.5 handicap mean?
How does handicap betting work?
What is +2 handicap in betting?
What is a 0.5 handicap in betting?
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