Asian handicap eliminates the draw by giving goal advantage or disadvantage to one of the teams. The confusing part is the lines ending in .25 and .75.
Whole Lines and Half Lines
A whole line — 0, -1, -2 — can result in a refund. If you bet on the home team at -1 and it wins by exactly one goal, the bet is voided and you get your money back.
A half line — -0.5, -1.5 — never refunds. You either win everything or lose everything, because there's no result that lands exactly on it.
Quarter Lines
A -0.75 line is literally two bets: half at -0.5 and half at -1. The possible outcomes become four.
If the team wins by two or more, both halves win. If it wins by exactly one goal, the -0.5 half wins and the -1 half is refunded: you get half the profit. If it draws or loses, you lose everything.
The same works in reverse. At +0.75, a draw makes you win half; a loss by one goal gives you back half your stake.
Why They Exist
Because they give the market a finer scale. Between -0.5 and -1 there's a big difference in probability, and the quarter line allows the sharp book to position itself halfway instead of jumping from one to the other.
Where the Record Goes Wrong
Half-wins and half-losses must be recorded as such. Counting a half-win as a full win inflates the strike rate; counting a half-loss as a full loss depresses profit. In both cases, the record no longer matches the money that went in and out.