Bet Types: Asian Handicap, BTTS, Over/Under, Double Chance, Draw No Bet, Correct Score

Six football markets, one clear guide. Learn what each bet means, how it is settled when the match ends level or by a single goal, and which ones remove the draw, split your stake or ignore the winner completely.

Open any betting app before a big match and the simple home, draw or away choice is only the start. Below it sit dozens of other markets, each with its own name, rules and way of being settled. For many fans, terms like “Asian handicap –0.75” or “BTTS” look more like code than football.

The good news is that most popular bet types are built on a few simple ideas: removing the draw, giving one team a goal start, or betting on goals instead of the winner. This guide explains six of the most common football markets, shows exactly how each one is settled with clear examples, and finishes with a side-by-side comparison.

Start Here: The 1X2 Market

Every bet type in this guide is a variation of the basic 1X2 market, also called the match result. Here “1” is a home win, “X” is a draw and “2” is an away win. You pick one of the three outcomes, and if it happens after 90 minutes plus stoppage time, you win.

The problem for many bettors is the draw. Roughly one in four top-flight matches end level, and historical data compiled by Dutch data blog Sargasso found that 1-1 was the most common scoreline in football between 1901 and 2012, at around 11% of games. Several of the markets below were designed specifically to deal with that problem.

One rule applies to almost all of them: they are settled on the result after regular time, which means 90 minutes plus stoppage time. Extra time and penalty shootouts do not count unless the market clearly says so.

Double Chance: Two Outcomes, One Bet

Double chance lets you cover two of the three possible results with a single bet. There are three options:

• 1X: the home team wins or the match is a draw.
• X2: the away team wins or the match is a draw.
• 12: either team wins, but not a draw.

Because you have two ways to win, the odds are much shorter than in the 1X2 market. As an illustration, if a home team is 2.10 to win, the 1X option might be priced at around 1.35. Double chance suits fans who expect a team to avoid defeat, such as an underdog playing a cautious away game, but who are not confident enough to back a win.

Draw No Bet: Your Stake Back if It Ends Level

Draw no bet (DNB) removes the draw from the result. You back one team, and three things can happen. If your team wins, you are paid at the DNB odds. If your team loses, you lose your stake. If the match is a draw, your stake is returned in full, and this is known as a push or a void bet.

This makes DNB a middle option between the 1X2 market and double chance. The odds are shorter than a straight win because the draw no longer counts as a loss, but longer than double chance because a draw does not count as a win either. As an illustration, a team priced at 2.10 to win might be around 1.55 on draw no bet.

Draw no bet is also exactly the same as an Asian handicap of 0, which is a useful link to the next and most technical market in this guide.

Asian Handicap: Giving One Team a Head Start

An Asian handicap gives one team a virtual goal advantage or disadvantage before kick-off. The handicap is added to the final score, and the bet is settled on the adjusted result. The favourite gets a minus figure, such as –1, and the underdog gets the matching plus figure, such as +1. The draw disappears, so there are only two sides to bet on.

The method developed with bookmakers in Asia, where it was known as “hang cheng” betting, and it is widely linked to Indonesia. The English name “Asian handicap” is generally credited to British journalist and gaming consultant Joe Saumarez Smith in the late 1990s, and the market gained wide popularity with European bookmakers in the early 2000s.

Half-goal lines: always a clear result

Lines that end in .5, such as –0.5 or –1.5, can never produce a tie. A bet on a team at –1.5 wins only if that team wins by two goals or more. A bet on the underdog at +1.5 wins if they draw, win, or lose by just one goal.

Whole-goal lines: a refund is possible

With a whole number such as –1, a refund becomes possible. If you back a team at –1 and they win by exactly one goal, the adjusted result is a draw, so your stake is returned. A win by two or more goals wins the bet, and any other result loses it.

Quarter-goal lines: your stake is split

Quarter lines, such as –0.25 or –0.75, confuse many new bettors. Your stake is divided equally between the two nearest lines. A bet at –0.75 is really half at –0.5 and half at –1. If you stake 10 at odds of 1.90 and your team wins by exactly one goal, the –0.5 half wins (5 × 1.90 = 9.50) and the –1 half is refunded (5). You get back 14.50, which is called a half win.

The table below shows how a bet on the favourite is settled on the most common lines:

Line	Win by 2+	Win by 1	Draw	Lose
0 (same as DNB)	Win	Win	Refund	Lose
–0.25	Win	Win	Half loss	Lose
–0.5	Win	Win	Lose	Lose
–0.75	Win	Half win	Lose	Lose
–1	Win	Refund	Lose	Lose
–1.5	Win	Lose	Lose	Lose

Asian handicaps are popular because they turn uneven matches into close betting contests. A heavy favourite at short odds in the 1X2 market can become a near even-money bet at –1.5 or –2, and each side of the market is usually priced close to 1.90 to 2.00.

Over/Under: Betting on Total Goals

Over/under, also called totals, ignores who wins. You simply bet on whether the total number of goals in the match will be over or under a set line. The most common line is 2.5 goals: over 2.5 wins with three or more goals, and under 2.5 wins with two goals or fewer. Lines such as 0.5, 1.5, 3.5 and 4.5 are also widely offered.

Context helps when reading these markets. According to the Premier League, the 2024/25 season averaged 2.93 goals per game, the second-highest rate in the competition’s history. In a league scoring at that rate, the 2.5 line sits close to the middle, which is why it is usually the most balanced and most popular totals market.

Some bookmakers also offer Asian totals, which work like quarter-line handicaps. At over 2.25, half your stake is on over 2 and half on over 2.5. If the match finishes with exactly two goals, the over 2 half is refunded and the over 2.5 half loses, so you lose only half your stake. Own goals count towards the total in all goal markets.

BTTS: Both Teams to Score

Both teams to score (BTTS), sometimes called goal/no goal or GG/NG, is one of the simplest markets. You choose Yes if you think both sides will score at least one goal, or No if you think at least one team will fail to score. The final result does not matter: a 1-1 draw, a 3-2 home win and a 1-4 away win all settle BTTS Yes.

BTTS is popular because it rewards attacking matches without needing a winner. It is also less tied to total goals than many fans assume. A 3-0 win has three goals but loses a BTTS Yes bet, while a 1-1 draw has only two goals but wins it. Data from the 2024/25 Premier League season suggests both teams scored in around 57% of matches, which shows how close to a coin flip this market can be.

Many bookmakers also combine markets, such as “BTTS and over 2.5 goals” or “BTTS and home win”. These pay higher odds because both parts must be correct.

Correct Score: The Hardest Pick, the Biggest Prices

A correct score bet asks you to predict the exact final score after regular time, such as 2-1 or 0-0. Because there are so many possible scorelines, even the most likely ones rarely happen more than about one match in nine or ten. That is why correct score odds are high: common results like 1-0 or 1-1 can be priced at 6.00 or more, while unusual scores such as 4-3 often reach 50.00 or higher.

The historical data supports this. The Sargasso analysis found that 1-1 was the most common scoreline over more than a century of matches, at about 11%, with a 1-0 home win close behind at about 10%. Even the safest-looking correct score, in other words, loses around nine times out of ten. Industry studies show the 1X2 market usually carries the lowest bookmaker margin, so niche markets like correct score tend to include a bigger cut.

Comparing the Six Bet Types

Each market answers a different question about the match. The table below shows how they compare at a glance:

Bet type	What you predict	If it’s a draw	Typical odds
Double chance	Two of three results	Wins for 1X or X2	Low
Draw no bet	One team to win	Stake returned	Low to medium
Asian handicap	Result after a goal start	Depends on line	Usually near even money
Over/under	Total goals vs a line	Not relevant	Usually near even money
BTTS	Both teams score or not	Not relevant	Usually near even money
Correct score	Exact final score	Only if you picked it	High

Choosing the Right Market

There is no single best bet type. Double chance and draw no bet protect you from the draw but pay less. Asian handicaps make uneven games more balanced. Over/under and BTTS let you bet on the style of a match without picking a winner, while correct score offers big prices with a very low chance of success.

Whichever market you use, read the settlement rules in your betting app, especially for quarter lines and whether extra time counts. Every price includes a bookmaker margin, so no bet type removes the house edge. If you do bet, check the legal age where you live, set a budget before kick-off and treat it as entertainment, not income.