Asian Line betting is the most popular way of betting on football in the Far East, asia countries. It offers great value to the bettor and is potentially less risky than traditional "Win-Draw-Win" style betting. You must either select the favoured team to overcome a handicap (framed in goals) or oppose the favourite with the handicap.

There are only two possible selections in Asian handicap betting, home team win or away team win. Asian Handicap betting thus eliminates the draw option used in normal multiples (1x2).

The greater the difference in ability between the teams involved in the match, the more goals you would expect the favourite to win by and the bigger the handicap will be. The underdogs will therefore be given a head start, a handicap, (of 0.5, 1 ball, etc.) by the favourite.

The favourite has to overcome the indicated handicap, and will have it taken away from its final score. The handicap for the favourite is preceded by a minus (-).

As the underdog is given a head start, they will have the handicap added to its final score. The handicap for the underdog is indicated by a plus (+).

Take a 0.5 ball handicap example: The underdogs will start the game with a score of 0.5-0 (which then means there can’t be a draw result when the handicap is included, as mentioned above). The favourites have to win by at least 1-0 to win the bet, while bets on the underdog win with any other result.

Note that you either deduct the handicap from the favourite or add it to the underdogs final score - not both.

In a more even match than in the example above, we may want to use a handicap in between half balls (such as a 0.5 ball), and so a handicap of 0,+0.5 can be used. The best way to understand this type of handicap is to imagine you have two separate bets with your stake being split equally between the two handicaps (0 and 0.5 in this case)

Thus with a handicap of 0,+0.5, half your stake will be at a 0 ball handicap, and half at a 0.5 ball handicap.

Assume you are taking Leeds, you will WIN ALL as long as Leeds draw or win.

You will LOSE HALF if Man Utd win by 2 clear goals.
You will LOSE ALL if Man Utd win by 3 clear goals.

Unlike fixed odds (1x2) betting, asian handicap betting is not available in all soccer bookmakers. Some asian handicap bookmakers give very low odds or handicap.

Therefore, we like to take this opportunity to let you know some of the reliable bookies that offer asian handicap are Bet365, 10bet and 188bet and Pinnacle Sports.