Anyone who considers himself an accomplished sports gambler should have extensive knowledge of – or at least experience with - spread betting. In this day and age, there is no way to way to ignore the importance of spread betting in the world of sports gambling. Fixed-odds betting remains highly popular of course, but without the ability to place effective spread bets, a gambler is lacking the necessary tools to make the real money that is out there waiting to be won. Let’s have a closer look at what spread betting entails.
In sports spread betting there are essentially three different types of bets: Total Bets, Supremacy, and Index Bets.
Total Bets is the name for the type of spread betting in which someone tries to predict how many times a particular event takes place in a sports match. This can be anything from corner kicks in a soccer match, to aces in tennis match, to the number of tries in a game of rugby. This is basically an over-under bet, but due to the escalating odds for each result on either side of the spread, there is potential to either win or lose a lot of money. For example, you think there will be more than 12 aces in the French Open final between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick (and the spread is set at 12), so you put down $20. In the end, there are 16 aces and for each one over the spread you win an additional $20. Therefore, you walk away with $80 (4 X $20). As you might have guess, the same concept applies to losing bets so there is a great potential to win big and lose big.
Supremacy betting is the type of spread betting which attempts to predict one team’s dominance over another. It differs from fixed-odds betting in that the closer you are to predicting the final outcome of a match, the more cash you can win! Conversely, the more wrong you are, the more you can lose. Gamblers place bets against an index – or a spread – which is determined by the bookmaker. The bettor’s point is to predict whether the final outcome will be above or below the index, which essentially represents the betting firms’ margin. For example: In a game of pro football between the Bears and the Eagles, the spread is 7.5 points in favour of the Bears. As a bettor, you have two choices: You can either take the points (you feel that the Eagles final score plus 7.5 points will be greater than the Bears final score) or you can give the points (you feel that the Bears final score minus 7.5 points will be greater than the Eagles final score. To put it simpler, if the final score is Bears 21-Eagles 13, the Bears have covered the spread by half a point and anyone who placed a bet on them (or took the points) is the winner. Spreads are usually set in half-points in order to avoid a tie. This way the favorite either covers the spread or fails to, with nothing in between since NFL games can never end in a tie.
Index (Performance) bets assign a value to the different positions which occur in a race or event, i.e. first place = 25 points, second place = 10 points, etc. The object is to place bets on whether or not a particular competitor, over the course of a certain period (a day at the track, a season in soccer) will cover the spread or not. This form of betting is quite popular in horse racing, in which the bettor can choose a horse and place a wager on the collective results of that horse for a given period.
Until quite recently spread betting was known only as the pro gamblers choice. It was reserved for those gamblers who made their living betting on sports, and not for everyday-Joes like me and you. It was also popular with the Wall Street-type and those who could afford take a big loss occasionally. For the average punter, the system of spread betting was too complicated and the minimum bet required often resulted in losses too great for the casual gambling to swallow. Lately it has become more accessible for the casual gamblers, with lowered minimum bets available at online sports books.
Part of the appeal of spread betting surely lies in the major fluctuations seen in payouts, for the gamble one takes is significantly increased in spread betting. If you place an incorrect bet, you never know how much you are going to lose until the game has ended. Of course many sports books offer the option to place a “stop loss” wager can limit the amount that you lose, but the volatility remains an exciting addition to the business of sports gambling.
There are a few differences between spread betting in the America and in the UK. Spread betting in the UK differs from fixed-odd betting in that the amount that is won or lost entirely depends on the result of the match in question.
In North America the payout operates slightly different to their British counterparts. In the UK, the winner takes back the same amount of his original bet, while the unsuccessful gambler loses the same amount and must pay a commission to the bookmaker. This is also known as the vigorish, or vig for short. Spread betting only entered the British sports gambling market about ten years ago, but is gaining in popularity.
