Spread Betting
Spread Betting through Free Betting Online
The concept of Spread betting was first incepted by an American gentleman named Charles K. McNeil in the late 1930's, and this then new form of betting was gradually phased into the UK in the 1980's. The term "Spread Betting" is used to describe bets placed on the outcome of an event where the success is based on the precision of ypur bet, rather than on a simple win or loss, as in fixed odds betting. The bet is made outside a 'spread' or index, and is determined on whether the result is above or below the spread.
Spread Betting Explained
In a sporting match, for instance, a top team may be playing against a weaker team. Most persons betting on the match would probably favour the top team to win and there would be very few or perhaps even no bets on the weaker team.
Spread betting evens things out so that there are almost the same number of participants on each side of the bet. In this way a bookmaker can accept bets on both sides of the spread. Bettors pay the bookmaker a commission on each bet and as long as the number of bettors on each side is roughly equal, the bookmaker can relax about the outcome of the event as his profits come from these commissions.
An example of Spread Betting
An example would be that the you want to go spread betting on a rugby match. The bookmaker thinks that England will score between 15 and 25 points in a match, i.e. the "Spread" is determined by the bookmaker at 10 points.
You then bet outside or against the spread, for example you may bet £10 that England will score 35 points which means 10 points over the spread. If you were correct, you get a pay out on the amount by which you were accurate. In this example, it?s 10 points, your stake was £10 and so the profit is 10 points multiplied by £10 which comes to £100 profit.
However, if you lost the bet and England only scored 10 points, (5 points below the spread) then you lose 5 points multiplied by your stake £10 to give a total loss of £50 (5 times your original stake).
North American Spread Betting
In North America, it's usual for the bettor to bet that the difference in the points scored between two teams will be less than or greater than a point value allocated by the bookmaker. For instance, if a bettor places a bet on a less-favoured team in an American football game when the spread is 4.5 points, he is said to "take the points". The bettor will win the spread bet if the less-favoured team's score plus 4.5 points is greater than the more favoured team's score.
If, however, the bettor had taken the favourite team, he would have been "giving the points" and would win if the more favoured team's score minus 4.5 points was greater than the lesser team's score.
The winning bettor of a North American spread bet wins the amount that he has bet, and a losing bettor loses his bet plus the bookmaker's commission (which is usually 10 percent of the bet).
If one of a team's top players is slightly injured and it's not certain if he'll play, the bookmaker can declare the game off-limits and not quote any spread at all.
Spread Betting Teasers
Bettors can sometimes place a "teaser" bet in spread betting. This is one that changes the spread in the bettor's favour by a certain margin, in most cases, six points. An example would be if the spread is 3.5 points and the bettor wants to place a "teaser" bet on the lesser-favoured team, he takes 9.5 points instead. On the other hand, if a teaser bet is placed on the more favoured team, that would mean the bettor takes 2.5 points instead of having to give the 3.5. But, in return for the additional points, if the bettor wins, the payout is less than even money!
Spread Betting Teaser Example
A good example would be in a football match between say, Liverpool and Everton where the bookmaker's spread for corner kicks is 12-13. A bettor approaches the bookmaker believing that there will be more than 13 corner kicks in the game. The bettor 'buys' at £25 a point at 13. If the total corner kicks add up to 16, the bettor has won, and receives 3 x £25. If the total corner kicks are less than 10, the bettor loses 3 x £25.
UK Comparison :
In the UK, a large part of spread betting is found in the financial markets - betting here closely resembles the futures and options markets.
This is why you need to have a thorough knowledge of what you are doing in spread betting because it is possible for you to lose much more than your original stake, unlike fixed odds betting. We therefore recommend that you learn the subject thoroughly before trying it out in a live environment.
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