[toc]When you think of Handicap betting, most of the time you will see sports books offering a form of Asian Handicap betting where the use of half goals or points makes a tied outcome
impossible. Asian Handicap betting is arguably the most commonly understood form of handicap betting but it is not the only type available today.
At SkyBet, the company takes a different approach to its most popular and accessible form of Handicap betting, especially on key sports such as football. Rather than offering Asian Handicap betting which removes the draw option and tries to present two near the same odds options, SkyBet offer something called Handicap Match Betting.
And arguably, their approach is a simpler one for most football fans based in the UK to understand.
SkyBet’s approach to Handicap Match betting
If you bet on football, which is one of the most common handicap betting markets in the world today, then SkyBet have taken the brave (some would argue, foolhardy) decision to primarily focus on Handicap Match betting, rather than Asian Handicap betting.
In Handicap Match Betting, there are no half goal or quarter goal handicaps in play. This means that all handicaps awarded, whether it is for the home team or the away team, are full goal handicaps and this means that the draw option is still very much in play and can be bet upon.
This gives the punter more choice of bets, but conversely with there being three options instead of two, it also statistically gives them less chance of picking the rig
ht result. .
Before we show you an example of what a Handicap Match Bet on SkyBet looks like, it is important to understand exactly what you are betting on and how the handicap is applied when you place a bet.
Handicap Match Betting on SkyBet Explained
In the Handicap Match Betting Market on Sky, you will often find several different Handicaps applied to the two teams, plus the draw, in order to offer you a number of different markets. Most typically, the handicaps applied to each team and the draw option are -2, -1, +1 and +2 goals.
The market you are betting on is always named by the handicap that is applied to the home team. So the Goal Handicap -1 Market would signify that the home team in this section has a handicap of -1.
When you come to make a bet on a selection in this market, the important thing to note is that you only apply the handicap that applies to your selection. You do not also include the handicap that applies to the other team contesting the match.
In the case of betting on the Handicap Draw market, you would apply the stated handicap for the draw to the home team only.
Let’s see how this would work by means of an example
Let’s say we want to place a Handicap Match bet on a game between Arsenal and Manchester United in the Premier League. We check the prices on SkyBet and we have the following options available:
Goal Handicap
(-1)
Arsenal -1 4/1 Handicap Draw -1 3/1 Manchester United +1 2/5
If you bet on Arsenal, then they would have a handicap applied to their goals scored of -1 goals. Therefore, for your bet on Arsenal to win, you would need Arsenal to win by any scoreline of two or more goals (2-0, 3-0, 3-1, 4-0, 4-1 etc).
Alternatively if you bet on Manchester United at a handicap of +1, then any win for Manchester United in the match, or any draw between the two teams would see your bet win. It would only be if Arsenal won by any scoreline that your bet would lose.
Things get a little more complicated if you placed a bet on the Draw -1 market. In this instance, your draw bet would win only when the handicap of -1 is applied to the home team, in this case
Arsenal. Therefore for your draw bet to be successful, you would need a match result in the game of an Arsenal victory by just one goal (1-0, 2-1, 3-2, 4-3 etc).
You will notice that in all the examples above, the handicap is applied only to your selection, not both teams.
In addition, SkyBet will likely also offer different goal handicap betting to bet on so there may be markets where each team and the draw option has a -2, +1 and +2 handicap applied.
So does SkyBet not offer Asian Handicap betting?
Yes, Sky does offer Asian Handicap betting on selected sporting markets but it is nowhere near as prevalent as a form of handicap betting as it is on other sites. Many other sports sites for example offer a large number of Asian Handicap bets across a wide range of football matches, SkyBet tend not to do that.
You can find Asian Handicap betting on Sky for a number of sports however, particularly team games where large numbers of points are scored, such as American Football, Rugby League and Rugby Union.
Are there any other Handicap bets available on SkyBet?
Yes there are. While Asian Handicap and Handicap Match betting focuses on single matches between two competing teams or individuals, there is another option available on some SkyBet markets which is Handicap League Betting.
This is a handicap that is applied across the result of an entire season in the chosen sport. The team judged as the favourite to win the league is given a default handicap of 0, every other team in the league is given a handicap related to their strength and likelihood of winning the league. So a genuine title contender would have a small handicap of say +4 points, whereas an outsider would have a much greater handicap (+15 points or similar).
Unlike the match betting option, where only one of the handicaps is applied, at the end of the season, all teams handicap scores are added to their points total and a new league table is then worked out. The team that finishes top of this table with the handicap applied is deemed the winner and people that bet on that team will be paid out.
For example, let’s say SkyBet offer a Handicap League betting market on a Champions League group consisting of Manchester City, Bayern Munich, FC Basel and Celtic.
SkyBet offers the following points handicap on each of the teams:-
- Bayern Munich – 0 – Evens
- Manchester City – +2 – 2/1
- FC Basel – +5 – 4/1
- Celtic – +6 – 4/1
Let’s now assume that after the six league games in the competition the final table is as follows:
- Bayern Munich 14 Points, Manchester City 13 Points, FC Basel 4 points, Celtic 4 points.
Now when the points handicap is applied, the new layout for the table would be as follows:
- Manchester City 15 Points, Bayern Munich 14 Points, Celtic 10 Points, FC Basel 9 Points
So in this case, any bets on Manchester City with a +2 Handicap at 2/1 would be successful and bets on the other teams in this market would lose.
Handicap betting is not as complicated as it may initially seem and it is a great way to breathe life into markets that seem utterly one sided and perhaps not worth betting on and you can enjoy lots of this type of betting every day of the week at SkyBet.