Providing Punters with More Details about Asian Handicap Betting
Asian handicap wagers are, seemingly, one of the more complicated areas. But they are not as complex as many Canadian punters fear them to be, and are not only far easier to understand than may be expected, are also able to open up entirely new avenues for online betting.
Asian handicap wagers at totes betting are those placed on the outcome of a points-based match wherein the two teams will be given a handicap, either positive or negative, before the match begins.
This handicap is a figure, like +0.5, +1.0, +1.5, or -0.5, -1.0 or -1.5. These figures represent a head start or deficit in goals awarded to each of the teams before the game begins.
As an example we could take an NHL game between the Vancouver Canucks and the Calgary Flames. The Canucks will be a very short price in order to win, say 1.20, and, with a price as low as that, most Canadian punters will not find it very tempting to place a bet on this team to win. The Calgary Flames will have a longer price, and not many bettors will be interested in betting on this team either.
This is where the Asian handicap bet comes on: in this market, the Canucks will be presented with some kind of negative handicap, for example, -2.5. This figure represents a goals handicap before the match, quite literally -2.5 goals. That is the handicap that the Canucks will start play with. And the Flames will have the same handicap but positively applied, so their handicap would read +2.5.
Overcoming the Handicap Results in a Win
So, should a Canadian punter have bet on the Vancouver Canucks -2.5, this team would be required to win by 3 goals or more in order for the wager to pay out. If the Calgary Flames bet was taken up, they would need to avoid defeat by at least 3 goals in order for that wager to win. Punters need to add the handicap given to the game’s actual score line when it comes to Asian handicap betting. It adds a lot of interest to a game in which the outcome has been considered a foregone conclusion.
What Price would the Calgary Flames be?
While the answer to this question would depend on the market, it would assuredly be a bigger price than on the Vancouver Canucks to simply win the match.
Is There Only 1 Handicap Per Game?
No. For any given game there will be a variety of both positive and negative handicaps for Canadian bettors to make their selection from. For the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames, a bettor would find Canucks -1.5, Calgary Flames +1.5; Canucks -2, Flames +2, and so on.
The handicaps which are provided will reflect, to some degree, the relative strengths of the team as viewed by the Canadian bookmaker. The odds for each of the handicaps provided will differ, obviously, with the stronger team generally receiving shorter odds than the underdogs.