What is Handicap?

Handicap is a system that allows us to assign certain advantages or disadvantages between two competitors to even their chances of winning. This is a common method used in sports that are defined based on a score, such as football, and affect the way the odds are shown.

For example, the advantage that can be given to the non-favorite team can be of one goal and at the same time a deficit of goals can be given to the favorite team. Let's look at a real example: suppose Liverpool, one of the biggest clubs in the English tournament, plays against one of the smallest teams in the competition. Liverpool's odds are going to be really low, for example 1.10, so due to being the favorite, it has a very unattractive odd. The opposing team, having little chances of winning, has an odd of for example 19.0, extremely high. In this case, the handicap "withdraws" Liverpool goals and "gives" them to its rival, making Liverpool's odd higher and its opponent lower. Both are now balanced, for example giving two deficit goals to the favorite and two goals to the underdog.

There are two types of Handicap: negative and positive.

In the first case, let’s say you are sure your team will win. Therefore, you have the option to bet using handicap -1. For example: if the team has odds of 1.40 and bets in -1, the odds will increase to, for example, 1.70 and your team must win by two goals difference, since the match starts -1 to 0.

On the contrary, in case of positive goal Handicap, we face an opposite situation. If you choose this option, you will be giving +1.5 goal to the underdog. This causes the odds to balance for both sides. For example: the match starts +1.5 to 0, if the non-favorite team actually loses 1 to 0, the bet is a winning one, because the match would have ended to 0.5-0. For the bet to be non-winning, the non-favorite must lose by two goals or more.