Beginners Guide to Spread Betting
New to Spread Betting?
The Spread Betting Trading Centre has compiled the following guide
to explain how Spread Betting works
Understanding Sports Betting
As well as spread betting on the financial markets, we can spread bet on sports matches. It is a very similar concept to spread betting, but involves a prediction about the match by a betting company and then a bet against that prediction.
There are several different predictions that the sports betting company can make, including the time of goals, total points in a game, or even the sum of the jersey numbers of goal scorers. Sports spread betting is most easily explained through examples.
Beating the Spread
This evening there is a football (soccer) match between Arsenal and Chelsea. The sports betting company believes that with these two teams there is bound to be a goal in the early portion of the game and sets the spread at 19-22. This means that they believe that the first goal of the match will be scored within the 19th and 22nd minute. However, you disagree and feel that with these two tightly matched teams the goal will come much later in the match. You chose to buy for £1 at 22.
You were correct to do this. Lampard finally scored in the 62nd minute of the match. You beat the spread by 40 minutes and have made a profit of £40.
Closing the bet early
One aspect of spread betting on sports that is different than other types of sports betting is that you are able to place bets and close bets during the match.
Suppose that the Miami Heat are playing the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA this evening. The sports betting company predicts a total point spread of 190-195. The spread here refers to the estimated final scores of the match. You disagree with the rate offered and think that with Dwayne Wade and Kobe Bryant both playing, the score should be much higher. You buy for £5 at 195.
Just as you had predicted, Bryant and Wade are hitting every shot they take and by halftime the score is 62-58 for Miami. The point spread set by the sports betting company has increased to 225-230. You are not confident that both teams can continue to play as well as they are, so you decide to play it safe, and claim your winnings. You sell for £5 pounds at 225 and make a profit of £150.
225 - 195 = 30 points
30 x £5 = £150
Different Sports Spread Bets
There are several types of sports bets that are available to spread betters, for a better look at all of them, please refer to our glossary for the definitions.
