Hey and thanks for visiting our site. Throughout this guide I am going to be taking you through the exciting world of Sports Spread Betting, from beginner basics to some professional secrets, after reading this guide you should have a good grounding of what sports spread betting is and how you can profit from it! I have seperated this guide out into a number of key sports however I recommend that you read all the sports even the ones that you are not interested in because you may find something in say golf that inspires you in football you never know!
Right before we begin let's get some legal stuff out of the way, this guide is purely my opinion and I cannot be held responsible for any losses incurred after reading this guide, spread betting has risks and you can lose money.
Most punters are familiar with fixed-odds betting, where players bet on an outcome and are given odds based on the likelihood of that outcome. But another form of sports gambling has been growing in popularity over the past few years, especially in the United Kingdom. It's referred to as spread betting, and while the risks are higher than fixed odds, so too are the rewards. Sports spread betting is based on the same concept as the stock market, where a Buy Price and a Sell price are quoted for shares - for example Shell 405 - 410, meaning that the stockbroker is offering to buy Shell shares from you at 405, or sell them to you at 410.
Spread Betting is an unfixed bet type that empowers the punter to predict an outcome of a match or event and back their judgment against the 'spread' quoted by the sports spread betting company. The 'spread' is a scoring range created by the sports spread betting company on a specific event or match. If punters believe this spread is too high or too low, they can sell or buy accordingly. The winnings or losses are calculated by the stake multiplied by the point difference from the spread.
About ten years ago someone had a brainwave and realised this could be applied to sports. It is hardly surprising that since then sports spread betting has really taken off. Basically, the punters will name their stake and decide if their bet will be higher (sell) or lower (buy) than the point spread quoted by the sports spread betting bookie.
The advantages of sports spread betting are many and various:Disadvantages:
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As you probably know by now spread betting is a lot different to traditional betting and I am going to run through the basics of spread betting with you now.
To start when you go to Sporting Index and go into any market you will see numbers like the following:
SELL 10.75 - 11.25 BUY
Every market will have different variations of these numbers, the market I used as an example is the number of corners in a Newcastle United game.
Now let's spread bet, let's say I think there will be more than 11.25 corners throughout the game, I will BUY at 11.25 for £5. Now say the match finishes and there were 15 corners total, 3.75 more than what was offered by the spread.
To find out how much has been won multiply the difference between the final make-up and the spread by the wager:
( 15 11.25 ) x £5 = £18.75
Now imagine that there had only been 10 corners, this would have resulted in a loss of £6:
( 10 11.25 ) x £5 = -£6.25
So to put things more simple when BUYING the spread every corner over 11.25 is worth £5. Except for the 12th corner which is worth £3.75 (12-11.25=0.75).
And the reverse holds true when selling, say I think there will be less than 10.75 corners in the game I will SELL at 10.75 for £5. If there are 8 corners in the match this is 2.75 less than what was offered by the spread.
To find out how much has been won multiply the difference between the spread and the final make-up by the wager:
( 10.75 8 ) x £5 = £13.75
Now imagine that there had been 14 corners, this would have resulted in a loss of £16.25:
( 10.75 14 ) x £5 = £16.25
So to put things more simple when SELLING the spread every corner under 10.75 is worth £5. Except for when the make-up is 10 which is worth £3.75 (10.75-10=0.75).
I realise that example could have been simplified by not using a spread with decimal points in it but I thought I would throw you in at the deep end because a lot of spreads wont be whole numbers. All you need to remember is that you multiply the difference by your wager to make your profit/loss.
Now that we know the basics let's run through the 3 different types of spread bet:
1) Total Numbers
Total number spreads are represented in the example showed above where the Spread Firm will give a spread based on an event that finishes with a total number examples of this are:
Total Numbers are the easiest to follow type of spread.
2) Supremacy
The degree by which one competitor beats another competitor is the basis of a Supremacy Spread. An example spread for this would be in a rugby game where Australia are playing England the spread given for Australia's supremacy could be:
Australia/England 7 9
If you therefore believe that Australia will beat England by more than 9 runs you would BUY this spread, however if you feel that Australia will finish the game less than 7 points ahead of England you would SELL this spread.
NOTE: Supremacy markets can have a negative make-up. Imagine in the previous example that England would the game by 5 points, this would mean Australia's supremacy would have ended at -5 resulting in a 12 point win for anyone selling and a 14 point loss for anyone buying the spread.
3) Indices
The third unique form of spread is called the artificial index. Artificial indices will vary sport to sport and match to match but the structure is normally the same. In an artificial index the Spread Betting company will assign points next to certain things happening during a game and then provide a spread as a result. Here is an example.
Manchester Utd are playing Tottenham. There is a market called Man Utd's team performance. The points are awarded as follows:
Man Utd team performance 60 65
Through this index if you expected United to win 2-0 with 7 corners and no cards the make-up would be 86, so you would buy, however if you thought United would lose 2-0 getting 3 men sent off and only 3 corners the make-up would be -36 so you would sell. These are extreme examples to help you get the point!
Closing out is one of the best things about spread betting. Effectively it allows you to take a profit or limit your losses in running.
Let me show you an example to show you what I mean, its one day cricket and England are batting you have bought the total runs in the innings with the spread 230 250.
England come out and play a blinder and hit 100 from the first ten overs, now the spread has shot up to 360 380.
Now you can SELL the new spread and take a profit of 110 runs (at £5 a run that is £660 profit!).
Not following?
Imagine the final total is 300 runs. You will have won 50 runs from your first spread and 60 runs from your second spread 50 + 60 = 110.
Now imagine that England have a stinker and the next ten balls gets everyone out and the final score is 100 (not likely but bear with me), You will now have lost 150 on your first spread but won 260 on your second spread -150 + 260 = 110.
Now imagine the other side of the improbability scale and England carry on hitting ten an over for the whole 50 overs and score 500 runs. You will have won 250 in your first spread and lost 140 in your second spread 250 140 = 110.
So you see what I am getting at here closing out can give you a guaranteed profit regardless what happens next.
Spread betting is sometimes seen as the thinking man's bet, for the serious punter. Mathematics plays a key role in analyzing outcomes. While fixed-odds betting will be familiar to most, some folks may not be quite so comfortable with the terms 'spread betting' and 'binary betting'. As such, these betting methods are often approached with caution. What I'd like to do here then, is blow away a few misconceptions about spread betting and show you how it can turn out to be exciting and profitable at the same time. Firsty, it's not as complicated as you think. It's simply a game of 'higher' or 'lower'. The spread betting company will give you a market, followed by two numbers.
In essence, a punter places a bet that the difference in the score between two teams will be less than or greater than the bookies spread. A bettor can either bet that the score for the underdog plus the spread exceeds the favorite or that the favorite's score minus the spread is greater than the underdogs score. Let's look at this example; the spread betting market for Manchester United versus Tottenham fixture -:
| Bet Type... | Bet Quote... |
| Supremacy | Manchester United/Tottenham 0.4 – 0.6 |
| Total Goals | Manchester United/Tottenham 2.7 – 2.9 |
| Total Corners | Manchester United/Tottenham 11.5 – 12 |
| Bookings | Manchester United/Tottenham 34 – 38 |
If you believe that Manchester Utd will beat Tottenham, then you would 'buy' at 0.6. Should Manchester Utd win by one clear goal (1-0, 2-1, 3-2 etc), you would win 0.4 (1-0.6) times your original stake. For every goal more than one they win by, you would win your original stake again. However should the game result in a draw or Tottenham win, you would lose 0.6 + 1 for every goal that Tottenham win by. So let's say you lay a £10 'buy' at 0.6 on Manchester United, the profit/loss table would look something like this:
Result of 1-0 to Manchester United = £4.00 Profit
Result of 2-0 to Manchester United = £16.00 Profit
Result of 3-0 to Manchester United = £26.00 Profit
Result of 0-0 to Manchester United = £6.00 Loss
Result of 1-1 to Manchester United = £6.00 Loss
Result of 2-2 to Manchester United = £6.00 Loss
Result of 1-0 to Tottenham = £16.00 Loss
Result of 2-0 to Tottenham = £26.00 Loss
Result of 3-0 to Tottenham = £36.00 Loss
Let's take another example. Say you really fancy Manchester Utd to beat Aston Villa at football. You think they'll win easily.
If you bet with a fixed odds bookmaker, you might get 6/5 Manchester Utd. If they win by several goals, you don't win any more than if they win by one goal. If they fail to win, you don't collect.
However, with spread betting, you can back your selection on a whole variety of markets, depending on which one you think gives the best value. You can choose goal superiority, or team performance, or time of first goal or a host of other ways. You can also bet on many other markets relating to the game, such as the number of goals to be scored, the amount of yellow and red cards, even the number of corners. So if your team are winning by two goals with 15 minutes remaining there are still lots of possibilities, making for much more excitement.
You can also bet in running - in other words, after the game has started, if you think you know what's going to happen, you can back your opinion by having a bet, or close out an existing bet if you want to take a profit or minimise a loss.
As industry spokesman Jeremy Scott explains: 'There is a whole list of things you can bet on depending on the sport. With football matches we bet about 35 markets while the game is going on.' Markets for a football match might include minutes until the first goal is scored, number of corners or the total of which shirt numbers will score. The spreads change as the event goes on to reflect progress. 'With shirt numbers we take the aggregate of the numbers and put it together,' continues Scott. 'So if number 10 scores three times that makes 30, so we're giving a 34-37 spread for the score. In the Champions League Liverpool versus Sofia match maybe you think Steven Gerrard - number eight - will score once. You then sell at 34, the bottom end of the spread. If you're right you win 34 less eight, which is 26 points.'
'Shrewdies sell, mugs buy is one good rule of thumb when spread betting. Many spread punters trade sentimentally, backing what they hope will happen rather than what they think will happen. This is why spreads can be pitched artificially high.'
This is why, spreads tend to be pitched artificially high in some cases. For instance when Sporting Index issued the first ever corners spread it didn't have statistics on what to base the quotes on it figured a 'feel price' of 23-26, more than double the average number of corners in a game. And guess what? They saw far more buyers than sellers!
Markets when betting on sports generally fall into three categories, each of which are designed to measure the performance of an individual, team or a combination of all parties involved, in some way:
For instance, 'How many goals will Wayne Rooney score this season?' Let's say the spread price is 27-28. If you think he'll score 27 or less, you 'Sell'. The stake is entirely up to you. In this case, we'll stake £1. You decide Rooney is in poor form and sell at 27 for £1.
What happens now is that for every goal less than 27 he score, you'll win £1. For every goal over 27 he scores, you'll lose £1. As it happens, he had a terrible season and only managed to score 10 goals. Congratulations! You've won yourself £17!
And you can bet on almost anything. For Liverpool's Carling Cup semi-final second leg Sporting Index for instance offered some 125 markets, including injuries, corners, bookings, goal minutes even the total shirt numbers of goalscorers in the match.
So what's the big advantage over good, old, reliable fixed-odds betting? Well that's a very simple. It's far more exciting! In fixed-odds betting, you know exactly how much you can win and exactly how much you can lose. It either happens or it doesn't. With spread betting, the more correct you are, the more you can win and the more wrong you are, the more you can lose. It's fast paced, enthralling, and best of all, most markets are traded live, meaning you often have a live bet from the kick off to the final whistle.
Spread betting is the arena for the serious punter but it comes with a wealth warning attached. I'm sure you've also heard horror stories about people losing lots of money. Well, yes this can happen. What sports spread betting companies havie in place across most of their bets is something called a 'Stop Loss' to mitigate this. This does exactly what it says on the tin. As soon as your bet is losing at a certain point, the bet closes. This means you will always know the maximum amount you can lose.
Please note that sports spread betting can be a very volatile market and a surprising demonstration of the volatility of this form of betting can be identified in the Euro 2004 footbal game between France and England. In that game an experienced punter bought Zinedine Zidane's goal minutes at 11 for £50 per point which meant that he would get 1pt for every minute of the goal time. France proceeded to win the football game with a score of 2-1, with two Zidane goals coming late, both in the 90th minute! Thus, in the 89th minute the punter was 11x £50 down = £550. However, 3 minutes later he had 180 points in the bank. He ended up winning 180 - 11 = 169pts x £50 = £8450, a truly amazing recovery! From this payout alone one can see that there is no more exciting way to bet on sports than via the sports spread betting medium!
"A few words of warning though if you are a beginner - in order to avoid sleepless nights make sure to keep your bet sizes small, and keep a watch on how bet spreads are moving before placing a spreadbet. Also, as a novice, make sure that you familiarise yourself with the rules of the game you are betting on unless you are prepared to take a random punt!" - Tim Bennett, MoneyWeek
