Getting informed on all the different types of betting in today’s football betting market can be tough, the choice is just so vast after all. With so many different types of bets and ever-growing markets, starting out as a beginner bettor has never been so tough. In this article we plan on improving your knowledge and research of betting by exploring one of the lesser known markets in football betting, the handicap bet. Slowly becoming more popular, why not have a look at how handicap betting works in football below.
Handicap betting explained
Handicap betting is the bookies’ way of accepting that one side in the tie is much better than the other and are going to dominate the fixture. With handicap betting, the bookies place a ‘handicap’ on one team which is a deficit in which they will need to overcome and still come out on top of their opponents for the bet to win.
How does this bet style work?
It is much easier to understand this type of betting by using an example. Let’s take Man City – arguably the best team in the world on their day. Say Man City are playing a cup tie fixture against Accrington Stanley. There really is only one way that this tie is going to go. This is reflected in the odds, giving Man City the odds of about 1/200 to win the game – making it a pointless exercise. Likewise betting on Accrington to get one over on City is just throwing your money away.
Instead, by applying a handicap bet to this match you automatically boost your odds and make it much more worthwhile. This could see you place anything from -1 to -5 goal handicap on Man City in this instance. By placing such a handicap on City you automatically boost your odds whilst still being within the realms of possibility. For a -3 bet, this would mean that Man City would have to overcome Accrington Stanley by 4 goals or more – a much more attractive bet. These types of bets are often seen in weekly football tips as they are ideal bets for maximising odds and making bets much more worthwhile than low odd outrights.
Types of Handicap betting
There are a couple of different types of handicap betting:
No-draw handicap betting
This bet will eliminate the chance of a draw in the game and provide a team with a 0.5 increment added on or taken away for them as a handicap. Should the team with the handicap win the game, and therefore the virtual scoreline, according to the given handicap, you will win your bet with a clear winner.
3-way handicap betting
This means that you get the chance to win your bet even if the match ends in a draw as long as you have predicted the correct virtual deficit and this has been made up effectively.
Asian Handicap Betting
This is the most popular style of handicap betting. It seems to be continually gaining popularity but can take a while to get your head around. It splits two markets into one bet. Firstly, it offers punters the chance to win their stake twice. Secondly, it eliminates the draw in the bet and then gives both parties in the bet a much more 50/50 equal chance at winning by applying handicaps accordingly.
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