Market type
Handicap (spread)
Handicap markets give one side a head start on points, goals or games, normalised across the roster — a staple of basketball, rugby and US sports.
What is handicap (spread)?
A handicap (or spread) market gives one side a virtual start, so a strong favourite must win by more than the handicap to pay out. It tightens lopsided contests into near-even markets and is central to basketball, rugby, American football and ice hockey trading.
How OddsRelay delivers it
The feed normalises handicap lines across books so the same line is comparable, and pairs back prices against exchange lay where the market is layable.
Exchange lay: this market is layable, so back prices are paired against exchange lay and rated.
Sports this market applies to
Handicap (spread): common questions
- How is a handicap different from an Asian handicap?
- A standard handicap can still allow a tie outcome at whole-number lines; an Asian handicap removes the draw with fractional or split lines. The feed normalises both so they compare cleanly.
Related coverage
Sports, use-cases and markets connected to handicap (spread).
- Basketball oddsSport coverage
- Rugby union oddsSport coverage
- American football oddsSport coverage
- Ice hockey oddsSport coverage
- Arbitrage & surebetsFeed an arb scanner deep, normalised coverage including bet365 and the exchanges.
- Sports trading toolsGive a trading interface clean, comparable prices and the exchange lay side.
- Value & +EV bettingCompare soft-book prices against a sharp benchmark to surface positive expected value.
- Match odds (1X2)Market type
- Over/under (totals)Market type
- Both teams to scoreMarket type
Proof, not claims
See handicap (spread) in the feed.
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