What is European handicap in soccer betting? How does it work?

If you are not going to bet the money lines on any soccer match, there are alternate ways to bet on the games that allow you to get more favorable odds and probabilities. Sometimes, betting on an underdog to win at +300 is not appealing.

All online sportsbooks offer handicaps. These allow you to bet the underdog and still win your bet even if the team ends up losing the game. There are two types of handicap betting in soccer:

In each version, the underdog essentially begins the game with a headstart on the goal line (1, 1.5 etc). The Favorite must score more than that amount to win the bet.

For example, in a recent English Premier League match in March, Fulham hosted Manchester City, and the odds were very high that Manchester City would win the game. City came in at -650 on the money line, while Fulham was +1600. 

The goal line was Fulham +1 (+450). If you thought that Fulham would draw the match or even win outright, you could bet them +1, and a $100 bet would return $550 if either of those results came out after 90 minutes. 

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