| # | Name | Notation | Quick overview |
Discover |
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Invitation only - Philippine operator, focused on soccer events offering really high odds + Asian handicap market. | Get invitation via a broker |
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Invitation only - Aka IBCbet, this operator is a must have for soccer live betting with best odds. Covers ALL soccer leagues. | Get invitation via a broker |
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Invitation only - No betting limits, 0.75% rebate on all soccer bets and excellent odds. No currency on website to avoid changes fees. | Get invitation via a broker |
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Russian operator with very large offer, high odds, free live streaming and enormous market. | Direct link | ||
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European operator offering asian handicaps, live streaming for over 20,000 events and interesting welcome offer. | Direct link or via a broker |
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One of the most trusted operator, great odds. Allow Asian handicap, no betting limits but few sports supported. | Direct link
or via a broker |
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Invitation only - Offers the best of horse racing and athletic games. No limitation, winning bettors are welcome. | Get invitation via a broker |
When you hear talk of Asian betting it might be referring to the odds system which originated in the East and uses a handicap, certainly with football anyway, in order to eliminate the draw. This system reduces the typical 1X2 European way of football betting with three possible outcomes to simply two alternatives, with various degrees of handicap used to provide a simple win or lose system. Actually it is not always so simple since you might win part of your Asian handicap bet whilst losing another part. In this article, however, rather than going into the intricacies of Asian betting odds, we shall be dealing instead with bookmakers who specialise in the Asian part of the world and their most common markets, but they will of course offer Asian handicaps as part of their website services.
Some of the best known Asian bookmakers are: BetISN, MaxBet, 22Bet, Singbet, Pinnacle or Ga288. Asian bookies do not necessarily have to be operating from within Asia. Quite a few Asian bookies are licensed and operate out of the Philippines, but there are many more which are located in various parts of Europe such as Malta or the Isle of Man, for example. They usually have to have a licence from an accredited supervisory commission in order to operate
Asian bookies are not well known to many Europeans but the Asian websites are beginning to try to actively attract their custom by offering good odds plus often a handsome sign-up bonus. In Asia they are popular with bettors from different countries like China, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and Hong Kong because the customers can use their own local currency for deposits and withdrawals.
Most Asian bookies will accept customers from Europe but there are some restrictions in a few countries that prevent their people from using some sites foreign to them. Pinnacle is not operative from the US for example, while 1XBet cannot be reached from the UK. Some website bookies will not accept players from Hong Kong, France, Italy, or Turkey for various reasons. Pinnacle is one Asian bookie that does accept Hong Kong residents, however, and is well thought of generally in terms of very fair conduct. Anyone wanting to use an Asian bookie will soon find out whether they can or not, simply by trying.
The ways you can deposit also seem to vary from bookie to bookie and country to country but there is a fairly wide range of options overall so you should be able to find one that is suitable. Some of the options are by bank transfer, debit card, Neteller, Moneygram, Moneybookers, Western Union, and Local-Ewallet.
The better known Asian bookies have a reputation for fast and free withdrawals, and also for protecting clients identities. A bank transfer might take only one day or even less, and the bank may receive it marked as a deposit of funds without any mention of the funds originating from a gambling site. This kind of anonymity can be very important for some big bettors.
Asian bookies normally offer odds in several different formats: decimal, Hong Kong odds, Indonesia odds, and Malay odds, and this is very useful for people in different countries where they may have their own currencies and local odds display customs.
Most European bettors are familiar with decimal odds and will probably use these on Asian sites. Hong Kong odds show how much you will win in addition to your stake for a single unit bet. Thus odds of 0.80 gives you $0.80 return plus stake for each $1 risked. Indonesian odds are very similar to the American system so will be familiar to US citizens. Malay odds are the least generally well-known, and expressed as a number of less or equal to 1, and with the underdog offered as a negative. When the odds are a positive number this represents how much you would win on a stake of one unit. So, for example, 0.72 would give a return of $0.72 for a stake of $1. The payouts are the same whichever odds format you choose.
Another possible benefit from using Asian bookies is that you can often get better odds than with European bookmakers because their margins, and possibly their overheads, are lower. Football is popular for betting right across Asia, and so many Asian bookmakers have extensive markets for the sport and generally also good in-play markets too. Many Asian bookmakers are also known for their high limits on stakes, and some like Pinnacle seem not to decline any size bet or to limit or ban accounts of those who win often. They also seem happy to accept arbitrage bets which many European bookies try not to.
Interestingly many Asian bookies offer markets not only on a wide range of football games in their own part of the world but also on a lot of European games, and one has to wonder how they manage to cope with setting up all their handicap odds on such a high volume and wide range of different markets.
Overall, provided you stick to the well known Asian bookmakers you can certainly benefit from the advantages previously mentioned, but it is wise to check their credentials as far as possible first since some smaller firms are questionable with regard to their reliability. There is a governing body for Asian football betting named the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), but exactly how much control they have is difficult to know.
| # | Name | Notation | Quick overview |
Discover |
|
Invitation only - Philippine operator, focused on soccer events offering really high odds + Asian handicap market. | Get invitation via a broker |
||
|
Invitation only - Aka IBCbet, this operator is a must have for soccer live betting with best odds. Covers ALL soccer leagues. | Get invitation via a broker |
||
|
Invitation only - No betting limits, 0.75% rebate on all soccer bets and excellent odds. No currency on website to avoid changes fees. | Get invitation via a broker |
||
|
Russian operator with very large offer, high odds, free live streaming and enormous market. | Direct link | ||
|
European operator offering asian handicaps, live streaming for over 20,000 events and interesting welcome offer. | Direct link or via a broker |
||
|
One of the most trusted operator, great odds. Allow Asian handicap, no betting limits but few sports supported. | Direct link
or via a broker |
||
|
Invitation only - Offers the best of horse racing and athletic games. No limitation, winning bettors are welcome. | Get invitation via a broker |
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