How to Use Handicap Lines When Betting on Football

For football punters who are experienced with gambling, there are hundreds of alternative betting markets you can use to enhance how you bet, and ultimately the aim is that you will win more money. Crypto bookies giving away big Bitcoin bonuses, so also check crypto sports betting sites.

Of the many ways that people choose, something that is becoming more popular, though it is certainly not the most popular right now, is betting on the handicap lines.

The handicap is something that is used a lot in other sports, such as basketball, ice hockey and perhaps biggest of all, when people are betting on the NFL or rugby games. However, it can also be used in football too and where is a lot of successful football handicappers. And you can bet successful to, if you pick out the right games.

What we are talking about here are standard handicap betting football lines, not the Asian handicap, and here is a look at what they are, how to use them and how your football betting will improve because of them.

A handicap asian line betting is essentially a fictional line that the best bookmakers create in a bid to make betting on an event more exciting. In terms of football, you can bet on the handicap line in any game, though the main reason why people use the asian handicap lines is to bet on big favourites, so this is where you will see them talked about more often.

Asian line handicap gives one team a head start in the game, while the other is at a disadvantage, so depending on which side of the asian lines betting you are and you will have a team that is either + or – a goal, or multiple goals.

The score of the game is used, but don’t forget that the handicap football line could change the overall winner on your bet when the bookmakers include their handicap score on the real score.

One of the biggest things you need to understand early is that you can place a bet on a team on the handicap line and they can lose the game, but your bet can still be a winner.

As we have said, the most common use for the handicap line is when backing a big favourite so let’s start with this handicap betting football example.

Manchester City are at home to Burnley and as you would expect, City are strong favourites.

Rather than backing them to win the game, in search of value, many punters will back them on the -2 handicap line.

This means City begin on -2, so to overcome that, they need to win by three goals or more to make this -2 handicap betting successful. For Burnley to win on the opposite side with their +2 start, they need to win, draw or lose the game by one goal.

The asian handicap -2 Man. City.  – handicap betting football explained:

• Any Burnley win = Burnley handicap win
• Draw = Burnley handicap win
• Manchester City win by 1 = Burnley handicap win
• Manchester City win by 2 = Handicap draw
• Manchester City win by 3 or more = Manchester City -2 handicap football betting win

As you can see from above, with Manchester City, being -2 means they need to win by three goals or more. This would be the same with other handicaps, so if the handicap is -1, City needs to win by two or more to win on the handicap betting -1 line.

You can also see the scenario we have mentioned where Burnley can lose the game but your bet on Burnley can win. As you can see, a Burnley handicap win is covered by many things, and one of those is a Manchester City win by one goal.

There are two ways this line is known, some bookmakers call it the -1.0,-1.5 asian handicap line while others refer to it in the middle as the -1.25 line. It works the same as the 0.75 line, with a half loss in place if your bet just falls short, here is how it works. 

-1.0, -1.50 line Team win by 2+ Bet wins Team win by 1: Bet Half loss Draw: Bet loss Team loses: Bet loss

Essentially, this market splits your stake across -1.0 and -1.5. If your team wins by two or more, both bets win so you get a full win. If your team wins by one goal, the asian handicap – 1.5 element is a loser, and the -1.0 part gets your stake back, which results in a half loss. 

What is asian handicap +1.5 line? This means that your team needs to win by 2+, otherwise you will lose your bet.

The key to using the handicap betting football markets correctly is to giving yourself genuine value on your bets. The most popular way of doing that is to use it when betting on a favourite.

In the example above, Manchester City will be a very short price, something like 1/10 (1.10 decimal odds) to beat Burnley at home on the regular win line. However, on the handicap line, they will be around 1/1 (2.00 decimal odds) to win if the line was set at -2 asian handicap.

While they have to win by three goals to make this a winning bet, if you think that will happen anyway then this market gives you a 10x bigger price than what the regular win market does.

The second way to use it is to use it to cover a lot of different things, this is seen by the Burnley handicap bet above. If they win, if the game ends in a draw or if they lose by one goal, your bet on Burnley will be a winning one.

You will receive far smaller odds on Burnley when betting them with the handicap advantage, but you open up other ways for your bet to win by doing it this way.

Football handicap betting tips can certainly help your profit and loss and give you another tool in which you can use against the bookmakers.

For anyone who is new to handicap betting, the best place to start with handicap football betting tips strategy is by picking out favourites where you are looking to get a bigger price on them winning (good to use asian handicap 1). Look for teams who you think will win by two, three or maybe even more goals and choose them on the handicap line.

There will be times when you back a team to win and they do win but fail to cover the handicap line, so your bet is a loser even though the team won. But don’t let that put you off here because there is a lot of value in the picks you are taking, you don’t need as many winners to make a profit when you are betting at these bigger odds, so losses can be afforded.

This is a slightly different mindset and approach that you will need to take when betting on the handicap lines, but one that is certainly worth it. Next time you are looking for value against your bookmaker and want to increase the odds, look for handicap betting lines and give them a try.