It originated in Indonesia and has become a widespread betting option with all modern online sportsbooks now offering Asian lines.

The principle of the Asian Handicap, like all handicap markets, is to even up the betting between the two teams to make each side equally enticing for punters.

The Asian method of handicapping uses .25, .50 and .75 which to new bettors can seem a little confusing but this is actually what makes this particular variant special as it opens up the possibility of split handicaps.

The best way to fully understand how Asian handicap betting works is to show an example market. To start with, look at the standard betting for the match result market in an English Premier League football match. We can see Watford are heavy favourites to win, priced at 1.74.

Moving down to the Asian Handicap markets, we have the following betting options at SportPesa. The quarter goals (or points in other sports) is what makes some punters shy away, but once you understand it, there’s no looking back.

=> A £10 bet on Watford -0.75

The simple way to think of this bet is:

If the final score is Watford 1 - Fulham 0

Asian handicaps do give punters a higher chance of getting a return, but you must study the markets as well. Based on the prices offered by this bookmaker, you would get a greater return on the 1x2 if Watford only won by a single goal.

They need to win by two clear goals for you to win both halves of the bet and make a bigger profit.