What is Sports Spread Betting?
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 realized
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:
- Potential of large wins from small stakes.
- You can bet in running.
- Markets are more equally balanced.
- You can back selections to do badly as well as to do well. i.e. for example you can bet for a particular player to score or not to score.
- The more correct you are, the more you win. (Of course, the more wrong you are, the more you lose!).
- It is more exciting than fixed odds betting because your profit can keep going up. e.g if your team keeps scoring!
- Once you have opened an account, bets can be placed in seconds either online or over the telephone.
- You can close your spread bets when you like. As soon as soon as you are in profit you can take your money and run. Even before the match or season is over. This also means that you can cut losing bets early.
- Similarly, you can minimise your risk with a stop win/loss.
- You don't need to tie your money in the bet unlike what happens in fixed odds betting where you place your bet and wait for the event to finish. With spread betting there is no need to pay for the money upfront - bets are settled when the market is over so you don't need to have your money tied up for the whole season if you are betting, for instance on which team will win the Premiership.
- Unlike with conventional bookmakers, winning accounts are not closed. The spread firms make their money on the spread - the difference in price between what you can buy at and what you can sell at (just like the bid and offer prices of a stockbroker for a share).
- Spread firms in the UK are monitored by the Financial Services Authority, which means your money is always safeguarded.
Disadvantages:
- The computations to work out profits are slightly harder. Example: difference of outcome and spread multiplied by bet stake.
- Losses can be bigger than your stake.
