In amongst all the different types of bets you can place at Coral Sport, there is usually a section in some of the most popular sports for handicap betting. This form of betting can, to the uninitiated,
seem somewhat complex and difficult to understand. What does the +1 or -1 mean, what on earth is half a goal and how does that work with your bet?
So if you have ever wondered what handicap betting is, why it is available and what the options are for handicap betting on Coral Sport, we hope that by the end of this article, you’ll have a much better idea about it and perhaps, even ready to have a flutter or two.
Let’s begin though by explaining in basic terms what Handicap betting is and why it can be a useful market for punters (and thus, why it is a hugely popular form of betting in other parts of the world).
What is Handicap betting and why is it needed?
Handicap betting is simply a way for the bookmaker to offer different odds on a sporting event by allocating one of the competitors either a positive or negative handicap. The handicap is then applied to the selection’s points or goals tally before the result of the bet is declared.
That explanation makes it sound rather complex but in reality it is very simple. Let’s say for example, you want to bet on an American Football match between the Green Bay Packers and the Tennessee Titans and the Packers are given a handicap of (-12.5) and the Titans have a handicap of (+12.5).
What this essentially means is that for the Packers to win the Handicap bet, they need to beat the Titans by 13 points or more (as once their handicap of -12.5 points is applied any victory by less than that would mean the bet loses).
Backing the Titans would mean that Tennessee could win, draw or afford to lose the game by up to 12 points and your bet on them winning would still win, as once their +12.5 handicap is applied, then any loss by a scoreline of less than 12 points, a tied game or a win for the Titans, would see a bet on them secure you a return.
There are many reasons why bookmakers offer handicap markets but one of the most compelling is that handicaps allow bookmakers to offer attractive odds on heavily odds on favourites in matches. In the example above, it is clear that the Green Bay Packers are the strongly fancied team and thus by offering a handicap, you can offer odds of near to even money on a Packers win, once the handicap is applied.
Those odds are much more appealing to value seeking punters than the heavily odds on the Packers would be to win the game outright in the standard market.
Coral Sports Handicap Betting options
You can bet on the following types of handicap betting at Coral Sports:
- Handicap Match Betting
This is used in soccer matches (and similar team sports) where the home team and away team and the draw option are given a plus or minus handicap of a full goal or more. The handicap is 
applied only to your selection.
So if the home team had a -1 handicap, the home team would need to win by two clear goals in order for your bet to win. If the Away team had a +1 handicap, then the away team could win the match or draw it and they would still win the bet.
If you bet on the draw, then the handicap is applied to the home team. In this case it would be -1, and what would happen here is that you are essentially betting on the home team to win the game by one goal, which when the handicap is applied, would mean the match result is a draw.
- Asian Handicap Betting
This is a form of handicap betting which awards fractions of goals as a handicap and thus eliminates the draw option (as no team can score a half or a quarter of a goal).
So for example, if the home team has a -1.5 Asian handicap and the away team a +1.5 handicap, this would mean that the home team would have to win by two clear goals to win the bet.
The away team could win the game, draw the game or even lose the game by one goal and the bet on them would still win, however any defeat by two or more goals would see the bet lost.
- Snooker Handicap Betting
This is a bet on the score of the match in frames with each player being awarded a handicap. The handicap is then applied to your selection to see if they then win the bet. For example, if you back Ding Junhui to win at (-3.5), then he would need to win the match by four frames or more in order for your bet on him to win.
If a player as a positive handicap, say his opponent is Matthew Selt and he has a +3.5 handicap, then Selt would only need to not lose the match by four frames or more, in order for a bet on him to win.
- Darts Handicap Betting
In Darts, handicap betting is applied on the format of the match. This can be in legs betting, or set betting, depending on the format used to decide the darts match.
In legs betting, the handicap is applied to the legs won by each player and in the same way as in the snooker handicap betting example shown above, the winner is decided once the handicap on the backed player is applied.
With Sets, it is the same process, only the handicap quotes is based on sets rather than legs (so is usually a smaller handicap as fewer sets are played than legs).
- Football Season Handicap Betting
This bet is only available during the pre season and is based on the relative strengths of each team. Each team in the league is given a handicap, with the favourites being given a ‘scratch’ handicap of zero, and all other teams given a positive handicap based on the points they will score over the course of the season.
For example, Manchester City could be given the Scratch handicap of 0, Chelsea could have a +2 Handicap, Arsenal a +4, Manchester United a +4 and Tottenham +8.
The handicaps are applied to all teams in the division and then at the end of the season when the final league table is known, each individual teams handicap is applied to all the teams in the table and then a new league table is devised with the handicaps applied.
So if the final table finished with Manchester City on 80 points, Chelsea on 79, Arsenal on 79, Tottenham on 77 and Manchester United on 72. With the handicaps applied, Manchester City have 82 points, Chelsea 79, Arsenal 82, Manchester United 76 but the winners of the bet would be Tottenham as they would have 85 points.
Remember, it is the team that then has the most points after the handicaps have been applied that will be declared the winner of the bet at the end of the season.
- Other sports handicap bets
Handicap bets are available with Coral across a wide range of other sports including American Football, Baseball, Tennis and Ice Hockey. The principle for working out the success of your bet and the application of the stated handicap is the same as in the examples shown above.
Is Handicap betting potentially profitable?
Handicap betting is hugely popular in North America and Asia as it is a way to bet on matches, even matches with strong favourites, at better odds than would be available on the standard outright win betting market.
The key to profitable handicap betting is recognising when a team has been too harshly or too lightly handicapped as you can then use your knowledge to target these markets and try and make a profit, but be aware, the bookmakers are experts at pitching the handicaps at just the right level.
