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What is an Asian Handicap +0.5 / -0.5 Bet?
The main aim of Asian Handicap betting is to make a sporting event more even by giving a disadvantage, called a “handicap”, to the favourite. Which then allows you to bet on the favourite with more favourable odds. Asian Handicap betting originated in Asia, and its popularity has increased since online betting became available.
In this article, we will focus on the +0.5 / -0.5 Asian Handicap market, which is known as one of the half-point handicap markets. With this type of bet, no tie is possible, and that is also largely the aim of Asian Handicap betting to reduce the potential outcomes from three to two.
What does -0.5 Asian Handicap Mean?
The -0.5 handicap means that the team you are betting on starts the game on -0.5 goals rather than zero. So, for your bet to win, you need the team to overcome this handicap.
There is no such thing as 0.5 goals, which means if the team you bet on wins or loses the game, the result will still be the same. However, this does mean that if the match ends in a draw, you will lose this bet, as once the -0.5 handicap is applied, your team's score will be lower than that of their opponent.
So there are only two possible outcomes, whatever the score when you bet on a team at -0.5 Asian handicap.
Check out the table below, which should make it 100% transparent.
- Your team wins, then the bet wins.
- Your team loses, then the bet loses.
- Your team draws, then the bet loses.
-0.5 bet | Any win | Win |
| Draw | Lose | |
| Any loss | Lose |
What does +0.5 Asian Handicap Mean?
As you would expect, the +0.5 Asian Handicap means the opposite of the -0.5 handicap. Instead of starting with a half-goal disadvantage, the team starts with a half-goal advantage.
Meaning this time that if the game ends in a draw, your +0.5 will give you the extra half goal needed to win the bet.
So again, there are only two possible outcomes when you bet on a team at +0.5 Asian handicap. Explained in the table below
- Your team wins, the bet wins.
- Your team loses, the bet loses.
- Your team draws, the bet wins.
+0.5 bet | Any win | Win |
| Draw | Win | |
| Any loss | lose |
Outcomes for Asian handicap -0.5 / +0.5 Examples
Below are the exact odds on a UEFA Europa League game between Rangers and Athletic Bilbao. In the win/lose/draw market, Athletic Bibao are favourites to win the game @2.14. Rangers are outsiders at 3.8, and the draw is 3.65.
The odds that the bookmakers are offering on the -0.5/+0.5 Asian handicap market were
- Athletic Bilbao -0.5 @ 2.14
- Rangers +0.5 @ 1.86
As you can see the odds have stayed the same for Athletic Bilbao but drastically changed for Rangers. The head start now means that if the game ends in a draw the bet will win.
Let's say we were to place a 10 bet on each of the outcomes above
| Match Result | Athletic Bilbao -0.5 bet | Rangers +0.5 bet |
|---|---|---|
| Any Athletic Bilbao win | 11.40 | -10 |
| Any Draw | -10 | 8.60 |
| Any Rangers win | -10 | 8.60 |
Asian Handicap Calculator -0.5
Asian Handicap Calculator +0.5
Asian handicap betting conclusion
The -0.5/+0.5 handicap is one of the easier Asian handicap markets to get your head around. All you need to remember is that you are giving a team a half-goal head start or a half-goal disadvantage at the beginning of the game. So the only way the result of the bet can be affected is if the game ends in a draw. Spending time learning how the various Asian handicaps work is strongly advised. They are not all as simple to understand as this one, but once you have a working knowledge of how they all work it will allow you to place bets that you might not have been able to cover in the past.
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Well, firstly, remember it's not always a handicap, you can also bet on giving a team a head start. The main reason is to either improve the odds on a favourite by giving them a handicap. Or giving the outsider a better chance to win by giving them a head start.
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Asian handicaps often offer better value as there are only two outcomes rather than the standard win/lose/draw market. Also, the +0.5 handicap provides a safety net if the game ends in a draw. This makes it a better option to use when you want to bet on an underdog to win a game.
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As with all betting, nothing is guaranteed. If you believe a team is likely to win or draw a match, betting on them with the +0.5 will mean your bet will win if the game ends in either a draw or they win.
