Points Spread and Asian Handicap

What is Point Spread?

Points spread +/- is the most common sports bet type made on many US sports. It is a bet that can excite one-sided games because you can’t just bet the favorite to win. You have to work out if they will win by more than a certain number of points.

The point spread is betting on who will win the game with the favorite being handicapped a given number of points. This could be expressed as the underdog getting that number of points head start.

Applying the point spread can even make a game. Let’s say the betting community thinks Argentina is 1.5 goals better than England. Sportsbooks will put up a points spread market of

Let’s say you backed the underdog with the head start, indicated by the “+”. To determine if your bet was a winner, take the final score of the game then add the underdogs’ head start to their score and see which team is ahead.

So, if the final score is

• England 1
• Argentina 2

Add England’s head start of +1.5 goals and you get

• England 1 + 1.5 = 2.5
• Argentina 2

So with the points spread added you have a winning bet.

If you back the favorite to win with a -1.5 goal handicap, 1.5 goals will be deduced from the favorite’s final score. As such you need the favorite to win by more than 1.5 goals for that to be a winning bet.

So in this example, the final score is as follows:

• England 1
• Argentina 2

Deduct Argentina’s handicap of -1.5 goals and you get

• England 1
• Argentina 2 – 1.5 = 0.5

If you bet on Argentina to beat the spread of -1.5, you have a losing bet.

The odds

When the points spread represents the betting community’s view of how much better one team is than the other,

the odds will be 50:50 or “pick’em”, which means the same for both teams.

This indicates an equal chance for the favorite to cover the spread.