Rugby Handicap Betting Explained

Rugby Handicap Betting: How Does it Work?

As is the case in every sporting code, some fixtures seem like forgone conclusions before the match has even started. When Manchester City take on Wycombe Wanderers, the All Blacks tackle Tonga or the India cricket team face the United Arab Emirates, the question isn’t if the favourite will win – it’s by how much.

That’s where handicap betting comes in; it keeps things interesting for punters by evening the playing field somewhat. By awarding an underdog a hypothetical points advantage, bookies can get that team to a level where they consider a particular game to be fair.

Rugby Handicap Betting

To provide a rugby example, when Leinster (one of the best club sides in the URC and arguably the best club side on the planet) take on Dragons (traditionally one of the weakest in the URC), you’ll often see the betting odds looking something like this:

To Win Match

Leinster 1/100, Draw 46/1, Dragons 54/1

Handicap

Leinster 9/10 (-27.5), Dragons 9/10 (+27.5)

This means Leinster are favourites given their 1/100 price tag (betters putting R100 on them to win will receive just R1 if correct, plus their initial R100 back), with Dragons given virtually no chance in the contest at 15/1 (correctly betting R100 on a Dragons win will earn you R1 500, plus your initial R100 back).

Draws are unusual in rugby, hence the 46/1 price (correctly betting R100 on a draw will see you earn back your cash, plus an additional R4 600).

That’s all pretty standard stuff.

Handicap

Because Leinster are so heavily favoured to win (making a straight bet on a Leinster win totally unappealing for punters), bookies have handicapped them by 27.5-points. In theoretical betting terms, this means Dragons will start the match on 0-points, and Leinster will have -20.5-points at kick-off.

Don’t let the “.5” scare you. Effectively, all this scenario means is that bookies have given Leinster 27.5-points to overcome. To win this bet, Leinster must simply come out victorious in the match by 28 or more points.

In this case, your bet would look like this: Leinster (-27.5) 9/10

“Taking the points”

Alternatively, if you think Dragons won’t lose by as many as 28, you can opt to “take the points”. If Leinster win the game by more than 28-points, this bet is lost.

To do this, you’d go with Dragons (+27.5) 9/10

Naturally, in the unlikely event of a draw, either handicap bet would be lost.