{"id":789,"date":"2026-11-10T17:25:30","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T10:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/score-goal.com\/what-is-asian-handicap\/"},"modified":"2026-11-12T22:28:55","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T15:28:55","slug":"what-is-asian-handicap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/score-goal.com\/en\/what-is-asian-handicap\/","title":{"rendered":"What is an Asian handicap? An A\u2013Z guide to reading handicap lines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Asian handicap (often simply called the handicap) evens out the strength of two teams by adding or subtracting \u201cvirtual\u201d goals from the final score. That way, even a lopsided match has two sides with roughly equal chances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to read a handicap line<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The stronger team carries a minus sign (for example <strong>\u22120.5<\/strong>) and the other team the matching plus sign. The bet is settled after the handicap is added to the actual score. A line of <strong>0<\/strong> is called level ball: if the match is drawn, your stake is refunded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table is-style-mfd3-blog\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Handicap<\/th><th>Favorite wins the bet if<\/th><th>Special cases<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>0<\/td><td>wins the match<\/td><td>draw: stake refunded<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>\u22120.25<\/td><td>wins the match<\/td><td>draw: lose half the stake<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>\u22120.5<\/td><td>wins the match<\/td><td>draw: bet loses<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>\u22120.75<\/td><td>wins by 2+ goals<\/td><td>wins by 1: half win<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>\u22121<\/td><td>wins by 2+ goals<\/td><td>wins by 1: stake refunded<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Quarter handicaps: why \u201chalf wins\u201d and \u201chalf losses\u201d?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The quarter lines 0.25 and 0.75 are really two neighboring handicaps combined. For example, \u22120.75 = half your stake on \u22120.5 and half on \u22121. If the favorite wins by exactly one goal, the \u22120.5 half wins and the \u22121 half is refunded \u2014 so you get a \u201chalf win\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Common beginner mistakes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Mixing up the plus \/ minus signs of the two teams.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Forgetting that the bet covers only 90 minutes plus stoppage time, not extra time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Comparing odds in two different formats (decimal and Hong Kong).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"mfd3 mfd3-v-b-faq mfd3-blk mfd3-blk--faq\"><div class=\"mfd3-hp-faq mfd3-hp-faq--blog\"><div class=\"mfd3-acc mfd3-acc--blog mfd3-hp-acc\"><h2 class=\"mfd3-acc-h\">Quick questions about the Asian handicap<\/h2><details id=\"faq-does-the-handicap-include-extra-time\" class=\"mfd3-acc-i\"><summary><h3 class=\"mfd3-acc-qt mfd3-notoc\">Does the handicap include extra time?<\/h3><span class=\"mfd3-acc-ic\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><i class=\"mfd3-i mfd3-i-chev-d\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><\/summary><div class=\"mfd3-acc-a\">No. A standard Asian handicap only covers <strong>90 minutes plus stoppage time<\/strong>.<\/div><\/details><details id=\"faq-why-are-the-odds-for-the-two-teams-not-equal\" class=\"mfd3-acc-i\"><summary><h3 class=\"mfd3-acc-qt mfd3-notoc\">Why are the odds for the two teams not equal?<\/h3><span class=\"mfd3-acc-ic\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><i class=\"mfd3-i mfd3-i-chev-d\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><\/summary><div class=\"mfd3-acc-a\">Because the price includes the bookmaker&#8217;s margin and reflects how much money is placed on each side.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"mfd3 mfd3-v-b-author mfd3-blk mfd3-blk--author\"><div class=\"mfd3-ba\"><p class=\"mfd3-ba-up\">Last updated on Nov 12, 2026<\/p><div class=\"mfd3-people mfd3-ba-strip\"><a class=\"mfd3-person\" href=\"https:\/\/score-goal.com\/en\/tac-gia\/admin\/\"><img class=\"mfd3-person-av\" src=\"https:\/\/score-goal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/mfd3-demo\/author-avatar.svg\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><span class=\"mfd3-person-b\"><span class=\"mfd3-vh\">Author: <\/span><span class=\"mfd3-person-n\">admin<\/span><span class=\"mfd3-person-r\">Content editor (sample profile)<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A handicap levels the playing field with virtual goals. This article explains each handicap line, how bets are settled and the mistakes beginners often make.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mfd3_reviewer":0,"_mfd3_trending":true,"footnotes":"","_mfd_ml_orig":"en_US"},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-betting-basics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/score-goal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/score-goal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/score-goal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/score-goal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/score-goal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/score-goal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1154,"href":"https:\/\/score-goal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789\/revisions\/1154"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/score-goal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/score-goal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/score-goal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/score-goal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}