What is Spread Betting on Sport?

Spread betting can be applied to a huge range of sporting events and matches. There are three basic categories into which bets fall: Total Number Bets, Supremacy and Match Bets and Performance Index Bets. These are decided by the totals of certain numbers in sporting events from which winners are declared, i.e. goals in football; runs in cricket; points in rugby; shots in golf. The key idea underpinning all bets is the spread, representing the difference between the prices at which you can back your selection to do well and badly.

How does it work? Imagine the First Test between England and the West Indies. How many runs will England score in their first innings? Example: Total Runs The quote might be 260 - 280. This means England are expected to score between 260 and 280 runs. If you think the pitch is full of runs, and that a total of 400 is likely, you should BUY at the higher quote i.e. 280. If, on the other hand, you think England will get nearer 200, you should SELL at the lower quote of 260. You specify your unit stake, i.e. the amount per run you wish to bet, when you open the bet. You always buy at the higher quote and sell at the lower quote. Say you think England will do well, and BUY for £2 per run at 280. This means for every run above 280 that England score, you win £2. If they make 400, you win (400 - 280) x £2 = £240. But for every run below 280 that they total, you lose £2. If they are all out for 200, you lose (280 - 200) x £2 = £160. If, instead, you were confident England would do badly, you could SELL for £2 per run at 260. So for every run below 260 that England total, you win £2. A final score of 200 nets you a profit of (260 - 200) x £2 = £120. But every run above 260 loses you £2, and a total of 400 means a loss of (400 - 260) x £2 = £280.

This demonstrates the key difference between spread betting and fixed-odds betting. Profits, and losses, are made in proportion to whatever unit stake you choose, but the stake is not the limit of your financial risk. With a £10 bet with a High Street bookmaker, that £10 is all that can be lost. A £10 per run bet on cricket can win, or lose, many times more than the £10 unit stake. With supremacy and match bets, the chief interest is not simply in who will win, but by how much. Betting takes place on the margin of victory, or supremacy, of one team or performer over another. Example: Supremacy The quote for supremacy in the 1999 Rugby World Cup semi-final was New Zealand/France 26 - 29. This means that New Zealand are expected to out-score France by between 26 and 29 points(the team on the left being the favourite). If you thought New Zealand would win by more than 29 points, you would BUY at 29, the higher end of the spread, for, say, £10 per point. If, for example, New Zealand were to win 60-18, a winning margin of 42, then you would win (42 - 29) x £10 = £130. Alternatively, if you thought France would lose by less than 26 points, you would SELL at 26, the lower end of the spread. In fact, New Zealand lost the match by 12 points, 43-31, which gives a make-up of -12 (minus 12). So, if you had sold New Zealand for £10 per point at 26, then you would have won 38 x £10 = £380. Where points, runs, goals and lengths are not suitable to measure success, a Performance Index is generally used, which enables quotes on a variety of other sporting events to be made. A different number of points are awarded to the winner, runner-up, third place and so on.

Example: Racing Favourites A spread on the performance of the favourites on the card at the main horse race meetings each day is made by awarding 25 points for a winning favourite, 10 points for a favourite which comes second and 5 points for third. Say it's Derby Day at Epsom. The quote for the favourites index is 64 - 68 on the seven-race card. You think that there will be at least three winning favourites, with perhaps a second and a third place too. That would be worth (25+25+25+10+5) = 90 points, so you decide to BUY £5 per point at 68. If, by contrast, you thought the favourites would struggle, you might want to SELL £5 per point at 64. As it turns out, there are two winning favourites, two seconds, two thirds and one unplaced. That adds up to (25+25+10+10+5+5+0) = 80. If you BOUGHT £5 at 68 you would win (80 - 68) x £5 = £60, but if you SOLD £5 at 64 you would lose (80 - 64) x £5 = £80.