22a Soccer - Asian Handicaps / Betfair Education / 18 March 2008 / Leave a comment

A handicap is assigned to each team in a match. The aim of which is to even up a contest by giving the underdog goals or fractions of goals start.

Imagine Man Utd at home to Fulham - a rather one-sided contest in the match odds market, but give the Cottagers a 1.5 goal head-start and betting on it becomes a lot more interesting.

A punter chooses which team to back (or lay) using the handicap lines offered. At the end of the game the handicap is applied to the team that the punter has backed and the bet is settled accordingly.

Handicaps range from 0 (known as level or Draw No Bet) up to 2.5 usually in single-league competitions. In international competition for example, you might see San Marino be given a five-goal start against Portugal.

With the recent addition of Asian Handicaps to the Betfair in-play portfolio if a game is one-sided handicap lines can be added throughout the game and may extend to 5.5 or 6.0 in extreme circumstances to maintain competition and interest in the markets.