Handicap in betting: what 0:1, 0:2, +1.5 and -0.5 mean, and how each line settles

A handicap gives one team a head start in goals before the match is settled, so that a lopsided fixture becomes a fair bet with a worthwhile price. It is the market most often misread in the apps our readers use, partly because the same idea is written three or four different ways: 0:1, 0:2, -1, +1.5, AH 0, -0.25. This page explains each notation, settles every common line on fixed example scores, and shows how to put a probability on a handicap using the scoreline tables on this site. The examples are invented scores, not real matches; the real ones are on the correct score prediction page.

What a handicap does

In a plain 1X2 bet the match is settled on the real score. In a handicap bet the bookmaker adds imaginary goals to one team first and settles on the adjusted score. A favourite is given a negative handicap, meaning it starts behind and has to win by more than the line. An underdog is given a positive handicap, meaning it starts ahead and can lose by less than the line and still win the bet. The price moves the other way: backing the favourite with a handicap pays more than backing it straight, and backing the underdog with a handicap pays less.

There are two families, and they settle differently. The European handicap keeps three outcomes and uses whole goals. The Asian handicap keeps two outcomes and uses whole, half and quarter goals, with a refund on some lines.

European handicap: 0:1, 0:2, 0:3 and 1:0

Apps built on the Eastern European model, which includes the one we recommend, write the European handicap as a starting score, home first. Handicap 0:1 means the match begins at 0-1, the away side one goal up. Handicap 0:2 begins at 0-2, handicap 0:3 at 0-3. Handicap 1:0 goes the other way: the home side starts a goal up, which you see when the away team is the favourite. You then choose 1, X or 2 on the adjusted result.

Take an example match that finishes 2-0 to the home side.

• Handicap 0:1: adjusted score 2-1. Home still wins, so the 1 pays. The X and the 2 lose.
• Handicap 0:2: adjusted score 2-2. The X pays. The 1 loses even though the home team won the real match by two.
• Handicap 0:3: adjusted score 2-3. The 2 pays. A reader who backed the home side at 0:3 needed a win by four goals.

The draw on the adjusted score is the piece that catches people. In a 0:2 handicap the X is a bet that the favourite wins by exactly two, and it carries a long price because it is a narrow target. Backing the 1 means the favourite wins by three or more; backing the 2 means anything from a one-goal home win downwards, including the draw and the away win. The three selections cover every result between them, which is why the market is settled with no refunds.

Asian handicap: two outcomes and the push

The Asian handicap drops the draw as a selection. Each line is written with a sign on one team, and the other team carries the opposite sign automatically: if the home side is -1, the away side is +1. The adjusted score is either a win for your team, a loss, or, on whole-number lines, a tie, in which case the stake is returned. That return is called a push.

Half lines: -0.5, +0.5, -1.5, +1.5

A half line cannot tie, so every bet wins or loses. Away +1.5 wins if the away team wins, draws, or loses by one goal, and loses only to a home win by two or more. On the 2-0 example above, away +1.5 loses, because the adjusted score is 2-1.5 and the home side is still ahead. Home -1.5 wins with any home win by two or more, so the 2-0 pays. The pair -0.5 and +0.5 is the smallest half line: -0.5 is a straight win in disguise and +0.5 is the double chance in disguise.

Whole lines: 0, -1, +1, -2

Whole lines can tie. Home -1 on a 1-0 win gives an adjusted 0-0: push, stake back. On a 2-0 win it pays; on a draw or defeat it loses. Away +1 is the mirror image: it pays on an away win or a draw, pushes on a one-goal defeat, and loses to a two-goal defeat or worse. The 0 line is the special case where nothing is added: your team wins the bet if it wins the match, you get the stake back on a draw, and you lose if it loses. That is exactly draw no bet under another name, and the two markets should carry the same price.

Quarter lines: -0.25, +0.75, -1.25

A quarter line splits the stake in two across the neighbouring lines. Home -0.25 is half a bet at 0 and half at -0.5. If the home side wins, both halves win. If it draws, the 0 half pushes and the -0.5 half loses, so you get half the stake back. If it loses, both halves lose. Away +0.75 is half at +0.5 and half at +1: an away win or draw pays in full, a one-goal defeat pays the +1 half as a push and loses the +0.5 half, and a two-goal defeat loses everything. Quarter lines exist so that the bookmaker can price a match more finely than whole and half goals allow, and they are the lines most often misunderstood because the app shows a single price for what is really two bets.

Reading the line in the app

The sign belongs to the team it is written next to, and the number is in goals. "Arsenal -1" and "handicap 0:1 with Arsenal at home" describe the same head start in opposite families: the first is Asian with a possible push, the second is European with a backable draw. If the app shows a line like -0.5/-1 or -0.75 it is a quarter line. When in doubt, open the market's help text in the app, which lists the settlement for each result. The money is the same whichever notation the app prefers; what changes is whether a tie refunds you, loses for you, or is a separate selection.

Pricing a handicap from our tables

The model on this site assigns a probability to every scoreline, and every handicap is just a set of scorelines. That makes it possible to price a line even though we do not print handicap tips.

For away +1.5, add together the probability of every away win, every draw, and every home win by exactly one goal. The correct score prediction table lists the three likeliest scores for each match with their probabilities; sum the ones that qualify for a first estimate, and the fair odds are one divided by the result. For home -1.5, sum every home win by two or more. For a European 0:2, the 1 is the home-wins-by-three-or-more sum, the X is the home-wins-by-exactly-two sum, and the 2 is everything else.

The 0 line is quicker: take the home and draw probabilities from the fixtures table on a league page such as the Premier League predictions, and the fair draw no bet price on the home side is one divided by the home probability over one minus the draw probability. If the model gives home 50% and draw 26%, the home side at handicap 0 is about 68%, fair odds about 1.48. The model's view of how likely each margin is comes from the same attack and defence ratings explained on the methodology page, with the one caveat that the correct score tables list only the three likeliest scores, so sums built from them are too low, often well short, and the fair odds too high.

When a handicap beats the plain markets

A big favourite at 1.15 is a poor single: an 87% chance at best, paying 15% profit, and it loses more often than the price suggests on days when the lineup is rotated. The same team at -1.5 might be priced near 1.90, and the question becomes whether it wins by two or more about half the time. The correct score table gives a first, rough answer. The reverse case is backing an underdog at +1.5 or +2 instead of on the draw no bet: you give up price for the cover of a narrow defeat, which is the most common result for a weaker side away from home.

Whatever the line, the settlement is on the 90-minute score. Extra time and penalties in cup ties do not count. A postponed match voids the bet. And a handicap, however generous, is still a bet that can lose, including on the days when the favourite wins and simply does not win by enough. Betting is for adults aged 18+; the how to bet page covers the rest of the markets, and the responsible gambling page covers the limits worth setting before you need them.