European handicap (3way): how does it work?

In this article, we will tell you what is a European handicap and how it differs from an Asian handicap. This material will be surely useful both to professional bettors and newbies.

What is a European handicap in betting?

The European handicap also has the name 3way. It is quite logical that this type of handicap consists of three outcomes: victory of the first team, a draw and success of the second team (taking into account the conditional initial score). The data from this betting market (along with hundreds of others) is provided at sportsbook data feeds from OddsMarket.

As for the initial score: the European handicap in the bookmaker line already includes the conditional initial score of the event offered by the bookmaker. It is from this result that you should start when subsequently calculating bets on 3way.

The main difference between this type of handicap and Asian handicaps is that 3way handicap does not imply a return of the bet for any outcome of the match. Most often, European handicap is found in football matches and is displayed in bookmaker lines as European Handicap or EH. 

European handicap: an example of calculating

Suppose we have the odds from the betting line of the well-known bookmaker for one of the Scottish Premiership matches between Rangers and Celtic. In this case, European handicap means that the match conditionally starts with a score of 0:1 in favor of Celtic:

Rangers (-1): 7.50; Tie (Rangers -1): 5.50; Celtic (+1): 1.33

If you already have your own odds change monitor based on software from OddsMarket – you can always find much better betting opportunities. In this case, we just chose a random bookmaker to show you the work principle.

Thus, if we bet on Rangers with a handicap of -1, then our bet will win if this team defeats the opponent with a difference of two goals or more. With all other results of the match, the bet will lose.

If we bet on a draw with odds of 5.50, then Rangers will have to win by one goal. Let us remind you that this match starts with a score of 0:1 in favor of Celtic. Accordingly, if, for example, the Rangers win by 3:2, then taking into account the conditional initial score of 0:1, it will be 3:3, i.e. a draw.

As for the +1 handicap on Celtic, this bet will play in the event of the team “not losing”. In other words, the match must end in a draw or a victory for the Brendan Rogers’ team with any score. If the Rangers win, our bet will be lost.

As you see, it’s not that complicated, but for better understanding, let’s look at another example with a line from a different bookmaker:

In this case, the bookmaker set one of the betting options for the European handicap for the Manchester City – West Ham United match, which is taking place within the framework of the EPL. As you can see, the conditional initial score of the match offered by the bookmaker is immediately visible (0:2).

Now let’s deal directly with the bets themselves:

So, if we bet on the 3-way handicap of Man City with odds of 2.75, then in order to win it, the English grandee must beat the opponent with a difference of 3 or more goals.

A bet on a tie, in this case, assumes that the same Manchester City will beat the opponent with a difference of exactly two goals.

If we bet on the European handicap on West Ham at odds of 1.93, this team must win, play in a tie, or lose with a maximum difference of one goal. In fact, this bet is equivalent to the Asian handicap H2 (+ 1.5) that we are used to.

Let’s sum it up

At first, it may seem that calculating European handicaps is a difficult task. However, this is only at first glance. In fact, even based on the results of this article, you will probably be able to calculate such bets on your own without any particular problems.