A Closer Look at How Handicap Betting Works

The aim of handicap betting is to even things out. In sports like football, where one team is often perceived as the stronger of the two, a handicap bet can give their opponent an advantage to maintain. Alternatively, it can add a deficit to the favourite to widen the gap. 

Rather than focusing on a certain team winning, with handicap betting, you’re more concerned about the margins, whether that’s the margin for the favourite or the underdog.  

Depending on your reading of the matchup at hand – and if you think the handicaps the bookmaker has set are accurate – you might find more value in these markets than in a standard match result bet. 

Here’s a quick overview of what to expect.

How a handicap bet works 

In football, virtual goals are added to one team or taken from the other in the run-up to the match. This lead or deficit is the handicap, and it adjusts the final score, which is what your settles on. 

Let’s take this Saturday’s Everton vs. Nottingham Forest fixture (markets and odds used here are purely illustrative). Everton are considered slight favourites and are playing at home. 

Whole numbers are used in European handicaps, which means a draw is a possibility after the handicap is applied.  

The handicaps available for this match might look something like: 

• Everton -1 
• Everton -2 
• Nottingham Forest +1 
• Nottingham Forest +2 

The first handicap here, Everton –1, means that they start the match trailing by one goal and must win by at least two for the bet to land. If they win by one goal, the adjusted score is a draw and your bet loses.  

This requirement is the same for other scores: if Everton won 2-1, the adjusted score would be 1-1 and the bet would lose; if they won by 3-1, the adjusted score would be 2-1 and the bet would win. 

The second handicap, Everton –2, follows the same logic, but the goal deficit here is two instead, so they’d need to win by three or more goals.  

For a bet on the underdog, however, like Nottingham Forest +1, you flip the script. Here, Forest have a one-goal lead they need to guard. The bet lands even if they draw, though, since the adjusted score with the handicap means Forest would have won by one. As with before, a Forest +2 handicap gives them a two-goal advantage. 

The figures attached to the handicaps can wax and wane depending on the teams’ forms, goalscoring records, injuries and so on – basically any variable you can imagine that might affect how a game goes. 

And while we’ve used football as the main example here, handicap betting isn’t limited to that sport. It’s popular in sports like rugby and cricket, but American leagues like the NBA and NFL use it too (over there it’s called ‘the spread’).  

Asian handicaps and no draw handicap match betting 

To eliminate the chance of a draw as a possible outcome, Asian handicaps and no draw betting use half-goals. In doing so, they create two-way markets that remove the complication of a tie after applying the handicap. 

Let's use the Everton vs. Forest example again, this time with an Asian handicap in play. 

If you see Everton at –0.5, they have to win. A draw or a loss means the bet loses. 

Forest at +0.5? That means they start the match with half a goal, and the bet will win if they win or draw the match. Why do they win this bet even if they draw? Because with the half goal included, the adjusted score ends up as 1.5-1 to Forest. 

As the name suggests, no draw betting guarantees that there's always a winning team for the bet, even if the match ends level. Bookmakers add half handicaps – represented by a half point (.5) – to certain teams, which is then added to their final score. If that final score is greater than their opposition's, they win. 

So, if you were to bet on Nottingham Forest with a +1.5 handicap but Everton ended up winning 2-1, it would still land because the result, in effect, would be 2.5-2 to Forest. 

The cleanness of Asian handicaps and no draw betting is what makes them so popular. You're choosing one team or the other and giving them an advantage or disadvantage, while removing any ambiguity. 

Keep in mind that the handicap only ever applies to the team you choose, not both of them. 

Note: some Asian handicap markets also offer quarter-goal increments (such as -0.75 or +1.25), which split your stake between two handicaps and can result in partial wins. 

Handicap league betting 

Another popular handicapping option concerns itself with the league as a whole. With handicap league betting, you can place a handicap on a team’s performance across the season. 

The team that's perceived as favourite to win the league at the start of the season is given a scratch (scr) handicap of zero. Other teams will receive a handicap too, the value of which depends on how the bookmaker expects them to perform – so the greater the number, the weaker the team is perceived to be. 

Handicap league betting applies handicaps to the final league table rather than individual matches. Each team starts the season with a virtual points advantage or deficit, and the league winner is determined after applying those adjustments. 

So, if Manchester City started the season with a –10 handicap and finished with 90, their adjusted total would be 80. If Tottenham started with +5 and finished with 70, their adjusted total would be 75. Bets are then settled based on the final points for each team once the season concludes, and if two teams finish on the same number of points, dead heat rules apply. 

Handicap league betting is available for most sports, like football, rugby and cricket, where there are season-long standings. 

Is handicap betting for you? 

With a handicap bet, it’s possible to find value in at-odds events regardless of whether you’re backing the favourite or the underdog. They can provide better odds than a simple match result bet and rewards strategic thinking (or gut feelings). 

Make sure you know how the numbers work, whether you’re looking at European or Asian handicaps, and be aware of the margins required and how the adjusted score settles your bet.  

The principle stays the same across sports whether it’s football, rugby or basketball; the virtual advantage or disadvantage can change event outcomes, and your bet reflects that. 

Interested in reading more of our sports betting articles? Head on over to the Bally Bet Sports & Casino blog. 

All offers mentioned correct at the time of writing but may be subject to change.