There are many football betting markets available, with 1X2, correct score, both teams to score and first goal scorer being among some of the most popular and easy to understand.  However, there are plenty of other options when betting on football, one of which is handicap betting.

How many times have you thought about betting on a football match, looked at the betting markets online, seen handicap betting and chose to ignore it because you are not sure what it means?

Perhaps you do know what it means but have never taken the plunge?  Whatever your current thoughts on handicap betting, you are about to become enlightened with our tips for how to win more at handicap betting.

In this article you will find out a lot about the handicap betting market including:

• What is handicap betting?
• How does handicap betting work?
• What leagues should you bet on?
• What are the best betting sites?
• How can you win more using handicap betting?

Find out the answers to these questions and much more by continuing below.

1. Handicap Betting Explained

For many beginner football gamblers, handicap betting is something new but thankfully, it is easy enough to understand.

Handicap betting is popular when a strong football team is playing against a weaker team.  To balance the playing field and make the match more interesting for gamblers, the bookmaker will open a handicap betting market and give the favourite a disadvantage at the beginning of the match and the outsider an advantage.

Example

Let’s take a look at the 2018/19 Champions League round of 16 second leg game between Manchester City and Schalke as an example.

Manchester City won the first leg in Germany and are the bookies favourites to win the Champions League. They won the first leg 3-2 and are priced at just 1/6 (1.17)to win the second leg, making them the overwhelming favourites.

You believe the bookmakers are right and Manchester City will win the game and will do with ease.  However, there is little point in betting on odds of 1/6 (1.17) and this is where handicap betting comes into play.

The handicap market gives Manchester City (-2) at odds of 11/10 (2.10).  At 1/6 (1.17), at €10 bet would return €11.66 but using the handicap odds of 11/10 (2.10), the potential returns are a more satisfying €21.

For the bet to be a winner, Manchester City must win the game by 3 clear goals.  The (-2) listed on the odds refers to goals and therefore, Manchester City are starting the game 2-0 down for the purpose of the bet.

If Manchester win the game 1-0, they lose 1-2 for the purposes of the bet and you lose your stake.  If the match ends 2-0 to Manchester city, the final score is 2-2 for the purposes of the bet and you lose.  If Manchester City win 3-0, the outcome in terms of the bet is 3-2 in favour of Manchester City and you win the bet.

Now you know how handicap betting works, let’s take a look at some tips for how to win more at handicap betting.

• Balances the playing field
• Gives weaker team an advantage
• Goals are the key
• Makes potentially mundane matches interesting

2. Use the Best Betting Sites

Using the best betting sites is important, not only for handicap betting but for all forms of betting.  You want to place your handicap bets at online bookmakers who have the correct licensing, security certificates, good support and selection of payment methods.

With that in place, you must look at the selection of handicap betting markets. You do not want to be betting at a website which has limited handicap betting markets. You want to click on a football match knowing there will be handicap betting odds available, not hoping there will be handicap betting odds available.

You will waste a great deal of time if you keep having to search different bookmakers because the one you have chosen does not offer handicap betting odds.

• Check licenses and certificates
• Look for handicap odds
• Use only if regular handicap odds available

3. Find the Best Odds

Handicap betting may be a new form of football betting for some people but the same principles apply when it comes to finding the best odds. You must bet on handicap markets using the best odds available.

You will only increase your potential winnings by betting using the best odds and, in most cases, it can take seconds to compare odds between various bookmakers.  You could be losing out on a great deal of money over the course of a year if you accept the first odds you find when handicap betting.

Take the short amount of time required to find the highest odds possible for your handicap bet and reap the full rewards when you place a successful bet.

• Look for the best odds
• Use comparison tool
• Do not be lazy and look around

4. Team Form

Before placing a handicap bet you must check the form of both teams involved. This means general form, the form for that particular competition and home/away form.

For example, you may find a team such as Porto enjoy a fantastic record in the Portuguese league and start as favourites in most games. You would use handicap betting when placing a bet on Porto to defeat a lower team in the Portuguese league.

However, when they play in the Champions League, their record is not as good and therefore you would tend to avoid using handicap betting in this competition.

When analysing form for handicap betting, you want to look for teams who are dominant and you can then place a bet feeling confident they can overturn the handicap placed upon them.

Manchester City or Liverpool playing at home in the Premier League against teams from the bottom half of the table is a good example.

• Home and Away form important
• Look at that particular tournament
• Find dominant teams

5. Bet on Heavy Favourites

This brings us nicely on to our next handicap betting tip, which is to bet on heavy favourites.  It can be tempting to go for an outsider and hope they make life tough for the favourite but you are always advised to back the heavy favourite when handicap betting.

While winning a bet can never be guaranteed and you should never bet more than you can afford, backing the heavy favourite when handicap betting will always give you a better chance of success.

Think about it in terms of making shorter odds more favourable and you begin to see why.  Take our example of Manchester City from above.  If they are playing at home in the Premier League against Cardiff City and have won each of their last three home league games by 3 goals or better, the odds for a Manchester City win are going to be very low.

However, for every goal head start you give Cardiff City, the better the odds are going to become.  In this instance, you could bet on Manchester City (-2) and still stand a good chance of winning the bet.  Handicap betting odds are always better when used to back the favourite and if you stick to this principle it will help increase the potential for you to win.

• Always back the favourite
• Dominant teams are best
• Use teams who are strong at home

6. Team News

Team news plays a huge roll in betting and one of our top tips for how to win more at handicap betting is to always check the team news before placing a bet.

If Liverpool are playing Burnley at home in the Premier League, you would expect Liverpool to come out on top and by a couple of goals.  However, you take a look at the team news one hour prior to kick-off and Liverpool are playing without Virgil van Dijk, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.

With these key players missing, Liverpool become much weaker in both defence and attack.  Therefore, their chances of winning the match by a significant margin become reduced and you would think twice about placing a handicap bet on Liverpool to win.

Imagine you placed a Bet on Liverpool (-2) only to later discover their team is missing these three players?  There is no excuse for it so do not allow it to happen to you.

• Always check team news
• Look for key players
• Never bet if important players are missing

7. Head-to-Head Record

The head-to-head record between teams can provide a good insight into what might happen in a match.  You should never expect the same type of result to repeat itself every season between two teams but you can use it to back up you handicap betting plans.

If a team has been enjoying 2 or 3 goal wins over a team at home in their past five meetings, you will feel confident placing a handicap bet on them next time the fixture is played.

However, always try and find out the relevance of the fixtures you are looking at.  Stoke City vs Liverpool is a great example and the home team defeated Liverpool 6-1 at the end of the 2014/15 campaign only for Liverpool to return the following season and win 1-0.

The timing and significance of a previous fixture should always be considered before placing a bet.

• Check head-to-head record
• Use it to back-up your plan
• Check significance of the previous fixture

8. In-form Players

If you are planning on placing a handicap bet, you want to ensure the team you are backing has players who are scoring goals.  You do not want to back a team to overcome a two goal handicap if their strikers have been struggling to score goals.

They could even be playing what is considered weak opposition but if a team does not have someone who can put the ball in the back of the net, it could turn into a struggle.  Always try and back teams with players in goal scoring form when handicap betting.

• Back teams with top goal scorers
• Check form of strikers
• Find teams with players in goal scoring form

9. Statistical Margin

It is not always enough to simply look at the past five results and the team news when placing a handicap bet.  You must also look at individual results, be it for the whole of the previous season or for the matches already played in the current campaign.

Look at the number of times each team in the league has won games by a 2 goal margin or better.  For example, you may find a team in 5^th place has won the same number of games by a 2 goal margin or better as the team in 15^th place.

Perhaps the 15^th place team has defeated most of the teams below them comfortably so when they come up against someone below them in the table next, you can look at handicap betting as an option.

Taking the 2014/15 Premier League season as an example, Tottenham Hotspur finished in 5^th place and won five games by a 2 goal margin or better while Hull City finished in 18^th place and had the same record.  So, it can happen and it pays to do some research to find out this key information before placing a handicap bet.

You can keep a record of which teams are winning by high margins throughout the season and this will make it easier to find the information as and when you need it.

• Research margin of victory
• Which teams are winning by 2 goals or more?
• Keep your own record for easy reference

10. Low Scoring Teams

There is one simple rule you need to follow when handicap betting and that’s to stay away from low scoring teams.

When you think about it, this makes sense because when handicap betting on the favourite to win, you are backing them to overturn a deficit.  If that team has managed to score just 1 goal in each of their last five games, how are they going to overturn a -1 goal handicap?

The team may be in form in terms of their results but if they have been winning most of their matches 1-0, you would consider it unlikely they are going to all of a sudden produce a performance which sees them win 3-0.

It could be down to the tactics of the manager or the playing personnel but you should always avoid low scoring teams.

• Avoid low scoring teams
• Keep away from teams winning 1-0
• Consider a team’s tactics before betting

11. Unrealistic Handicaps

If you have tasted some success handicap betting it can become tempting to push your luck a little and increase the handicap by one more goal to improve the odds further.  Do not be tempted to do this as you will only be disappointed you did not stick you your original plan if the bet loses.

You could always combine the bet with another one if you would like to increase the odds and you should certainly stay away from big handicaps, such as (-4).  As tempting as the odds might be, the bookmaker will be laughing if you decide to place such a bet as it is not often you find many games in the top leagues which end with a 5 goal margin of victory.

• Keep control
• Do not increase the handicap for better odds
• Stay away from unrealistic handicaps

Handicap betting is a great way to place a bet on a heavy favourite and improve your odds.  If you follow the handicap betting tips above you will have a better chance of placing a winning handicap bet but remember there is always a risk and you should never bet more than you can afford.