European or Asian Handicap?

We receive a lot of questions regarding which handicap type of better and what’s the main difference between those. From the tipster’s point of view, the Asian handicaps are more profitable. With Asian handicaps, we only have two options instead of 3, like in the case of European ones. Statistically, our winning chances are increasing from 33% to 50% - everyone, whos dealing with betting would agree that it is quite a lot.

You must also remember, that bookmaking companies impose a considerably lower margin on Asian handicaps, which increases the odds on the identical selection by a couple of per cent. For example, AH (-1.5) and EH (-1), in that case, the Asian handicap will have a bit longer odds. We don’t have to remind you how important those “a couple of per cent” are when it comes to betting.

In order to explain you all the inner-workings of both Asian and European handicaps, we would like to use the random Premier League match between Chelsea and Stoke.

Let’s focus on the 0:1 or EH (-1) option. Assume, that we want to tip out the home team victory using the EH (-1) at the odds of 1.72 (18/25). Chelsea has to win the match by two or more goals for our bet to win. If Chelsea would win by one goal, our bet will lose. In such a case, the only option that we are left with is betting on the draw at the odds of 3.80 (14/5). In case of the EH (-1) the away team (Stoke City) victory tip at the odds of 3.80 (14/5) would be a winning one if Stoke City will tie or win the game. Let’s move to the 0:2 or EH (-2) option. Tipping on the home team victory at the odds of 2.85 (37/20), Chelsea has to win by three or more goals. The victory by only two goals will leave you with only one right option, which a draw at the odds of 4.20 (16/5). The Chelsea’s victory by only one goal, a draw or a loss will lead to the Stoke City option being correct (odds 1.94 (47/50)).

The biggest advantage of the Asian handicaps is that we only have two options to choose from, instead of three like in the case of European alternative (which increases our winning chances from 33% to 50%). To make it even more simple, we would like to use the same event as an example, but this time in the Asian handicaps form.

Let’s assume that we are interested in the AH (-1) Chelsea option at the odds of 1.39 (39/100). You can notice that the odds for the same selection from the previous example EH (-1) had the odds of 1.72 (18/25). Indeed, but in the case of European handicaps, the home team was bind to win by two or more goals. In the case of Asian ones, the home team victory by just one goal would lead to a void. The same would happen if we’ll use the opposite Stoke AH (+1) option at the odds of 3.10 (21/10) and the away team would only lose by one goal.

Just like with European, Asian handicap for the Chelsea AH (-2) option requires the home team victory by three or more goals. Unlike in the case of European option, the situation where the home team would win by exactly two goals would lead to a void. The home team victory by just one goal, a draw or a loss would not be enough to win a bet.

It is clear that there are more arguments for Asian handicaps then against. The 50% over the 33% winning chance, noticeably lower imposed margins and the greater variety of offers to choose from are not the only advantages of Asian handicaps. Moreover, the proper use of such bets lets us bet on a complete outsider and still have a decent chance to land it, like in the case of AH (+3) option.

We are also aware that there are those among us, who are diehard European handicaps fans. Lots of tipsters specialize in betting on the precise scores of a particular team, for example, Chelsea will beat Stoke by exactly one goal, therefore - a  draw with the EH (-1). 

Either option has something you can take advantage of. We hope that after reading this article, you will not have any more problems with Asian & European handicaps.

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