What is Asian Handicap?
Betting odds are created by the bookmaker and they reflect the mathematical probability of a certain outcome. The calculation is as follows: 1 / odds = probability. Therefore, decimal odds of 1.60 would reflect a 62.5% of the betting selection to be a winning one. This calculation also works for combo tickets. If the odds on a combo ticket are 13.40, there's roughly 7.5% chance of winning.
A very import point to understand is that Odds are not to be confused with Probability, as they are slightly different. The best way to run through this is use an example.
The Probability that Manchester United will win the 2007/08 premiership is 1 in 20? (20 teams in the Premiership and only one winner) and this is expressed as 1/20.
Probability therefore reflects the chances of winning. Now what are Manchester United's Odds of winning?
They would be 19 to 1?. That's because odds are actually a ratio of the chances of losing to the chances of winning. Manchester United has a 19 in 20 chance of losing and a 1 in 20 chance of winning. To calculate this ratio you need to take 19/20 over 1/20 and the 20s cancel, leaving us with 19 in 1, which expressed as odds is 19 to 1? or 19/1.
This example of course assumes every team in the premiership has equal probability of winning and this as we know is not the case.
This may seem a little confusing at first but the key thing for you to remember is the Odds bookmakers offer are for what they are willing to pay and NOT the Probability that the event will occur.
Fair odds
The bookmakers rarely or never offer fair odds, to gain money regardless of the outcome by offering slightly shorter odds than the mathematical probability would suggest. When odds for all possible outcomes are summed up, they will rarely or never sum up to 100%, except in case of sure bets - when a percentage highers than 100% is possible by taking odds from different bookmakers. Betfair tends to offer odds closes to the 100% probability, but there's a commission on net winnings. Pinnacle Sports is known to have the best odds in the world, or, the lowest juice. (See Pinnacle Sports review)Different odds types
The most common odds type are European or decimal odds. They are a multiplier of the betting stake, and so odds 1.60 will give profit of +60%, and odds 5.40 will give a profit of +440%.In the UK, fractional odds are most popular, although a large number of bettors switches to decimal odds for simplicity. Odds of 4/1, or four-to-one, mean the bettor earns 400 units on 100 unit stake.
American, or moneyline odds, can be positive or negative. If the figure is positive, the odds are quoting how much money will be won on a $100 wager. If the figure is negative, the odds are quoting how much money needs to be wagered to win $100.
There are also Hong Kong, Malay and Indonesian odds, and they are variations of decimal odds.
Some online bookmakers use asian handicap to express the probability of some outcome.
