There are quite a number of markets in esports betting. And, handicap betting is one of them. It can be an advantage or a disadvantage for either team. And, bookmakers give it before starting the game. The main aim of providing handicap betting is to get the teams equal chances of winning.
Types of handicap betting
There are two methods of applying it. It can be either a positive handicap or a negative handicap. A positive handicap is for the weaker team. And, a positive sign follows it. However, if one of the teams is stronger. They get a negative handicap. And likewise, a negative sign follows the negative handicap function.
Handicap Betting in FPS and MOBA
FPS is short for a first-person shooter. And, MOBA stands for the multiplayer online battle arena. The core concept of handicap betting is the same in all esports games. However, there are slight modifications as per each game. Earlier, those bets lead to three outcomes. Those are winning, losing, or a tie. But, in esports games, most of the results are either a win or a loss. The game ties quite rarely. And, that too if the pattern of the game allows so.
League of legends
League of Legends is a multiplayer esports game. This is usually the best of three games. And under this, handicap betting is done before the start of the match. Positive handicap is set at +1.5. And, a negative handicap is set at -1.5.
+1.5 states the advantage to a team. The team which has this advantage needs to win one of the matches or the overall match. This will lead to the winning of the bet.
On the other hand, a -1.5 handicap gives a disadvantage to a team. Therefore, the team with a negative handicap has to win two matches consecutively. If the team loses any of the matches, they lose the whole game.
Kill Handicap function
Handicap betting does not just stick to the above games. Pinnacle has this option too. It has a kill handicap function in it. As the name suggests it just gives a kill count. The betting has a range of +5.5 to -5.5. Do not forget that it is not a decision maker for winning or losing of a team. It is merely the killing numbers. So, the team with a -5.5 handicap bet needs to have more than 5.5 kills in a game. And, inversely applies for +5.5 handicap bets. This is just the betting of kill counts.
Global Offensive Handicap Betting
Counterstrike is the game in which this type of betting is applied. It is similar to +1.5 and -1.5 handicap bets. And, the difference is the rate of bets. Here, the positive bet is +2.5 and the negative is -2.5. Also, games with the battle of five use it. It means the game with five rounds. Apart from this, it works similarly to the earlier one. Teams with a +2.5 handicap advantage, need to win two matches to win overall.
Round Handicap
In the games like CS: GO, teams, play around 30 rounds. The first team to win sixteen rounds wins the bet. Here comes the round handicap. For those number of rounds, the positive handicap bet is +7.5 and ranges to negative is -7.5. Now, in round handicap betting, the team with the advantage of +7.5 needs to win mere seven or more matches to win overall. However, if we place handicap bets on a team with -7.5. That team needs to win by eight rounds from the opponent to win the whole game.
Conclusion
Overall, handicap betting has a base function similar to almost all esports games. However, there is a difference in the range of positive to negative handicap bets. A positive handicap gives a clear advantage to the team at which it is set. And, it might also look that the negative handicap gives an extreme disadvantage to the team it is set on. But, one must not forget that those are placed with a crystal clear motive. And this aim is to maintain the balance between the teams. It gives a fair chance to the uneven teams. And it also keeps the unbiased and ethical values of competition, alive.
