Spread Betting Tips

The world of spread betting in sports has barely had the surface scratched. There is a massive world of different betting markets and opportunities for gamblers to explore.

This is no advert for spread betting but just a statement to suggest the somewhat boring world of traditional fixed odds betting isn’t the only option for those wanting a wager on sports.

Below we will try to educate visitors and have them totally informed on what spread betting is, where you can do it and the pros/cons in comparison to fixed odds bets.

What is Spread Betting?

Many people have asked me in the past, ”What is Spread Betting?” The simple way to respond is to explain that in spread betting, accuracy matters. The more right you are the more you win. The more wrong you are, the more you lose.

In spread betting you are given a Buy number and a Sell number, for example let’s take the Total Corners market in a football match. You are presented with the following;

Man City v Burnley
Total Corners
SELL @ 10
BUY @ 11

The Buy number is set at 11, the Sell number at 10 You then decide if you think there will be more than 11 corners, you buy. If you think there will be less than 10, you sell.

Now you decide your stake, this is not a total bet stake. In spread betting you decide your stake based upon (in this case) how much you want to bet on each corner. So if buying corners at 11, you will win your specified stake multiplied by each corner over 11 that happens. Similarly, you will lose your stake multiplied by each corner less than 11.

A practical example of Buying Corners is;
£10 Buy of Corners at 11
Corner count ends at 14
Therefor the count went 3 over your buy number, you win 3 x £10 = £30.

Here is an example of Selling Corners;
£10 Sell of Corners at 10
Corner count ends at 5
Here the count went 5 under your sell number, you win 5 x £10 = £50.
If you made the same sell but the corner count ended at 16. You would lose 6 x £10 = £60.

The spread company’s profit margin kicks in as they have both 10 corners and 11 corners as winning numbers for them, based on equal money being bet on both sides.

If they have £100s worth of Buyers at 11 and £100s worth of Sellers at 10, they have balanced money on both sides. That gives the company the numbers 10 and 11 as winning outcomes. If 10 corners are taken, they take the Buyers @ 11 money and yet don’t have to pay the Sellers @ 10 (they push their bets). If there are 11 corners, it’s just the opposite result for the Buyers and Sellers.

Buy and Sell numbers will not often fall on exact numbers such as 10 and 11 but more often would be 10.7 and 11.3 for example.

Where can I make Spread Bets?

There are two places to make Spread Bets on sports, Sporting Index and Spreadex. Find more information on the two companies and spread betting in general below.

Sporting Index

Sporting Index History
Running since 1992, Sporting Index was orgininally set up as a very small operation with a handful of staff. By 2001 the website had arrived with spread betting on sports and also casino & virtuals.

Regulators of Sporting Index
They are regulated by both the UK FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) and the UK Gambling Commission.

Sporting Index Integrity
Their integrity is very strong and we are yet to have heard any horror stories relating to deposits or bet settlement issues.

Negative Reports of Sporting Index
One of the Green Room team has been refused an account and anyone with his family name was also met with the same response upon registering. The reasons behind this were not divulged despite repeat inquiries.

Getting On at Sporting Index
Getting on is normally not an issue for those with accounts, the liabilities they are prepared to carry are substantial.

Sporting Index Comparison to Spreadex
They are superior to Spreadex when it comes to Football, Horse Racing and Greyhounds spread betting.

Sporting Index Payment Methods
They accept the usual debit and credit cards, bank transfers and e-wallets like Skrill.

Spreadex

Spreadex History
The company began in 1999, this was initially just offering spread betting on financial markets. In 2006 the addition of sports betting came with an online site to compliment it. In 2010 the choice was made to not only offer spread betting on sports but to add traditional fixed odds betting too.

Regulators of Spreadex
The FCA and the UK Gambling Commission.

Spreadex Integrity
We’ve not been able to find any reports of any skull-duggery at Spreadex.

Negative Reports of Spreadex
There have been a couple of cases we know about where Spreadex have posted up incorrect spreads and left markets open during matches. They seem to have handled the cleaning up of such situations sloppily and it normally has involved long phone calls for customers.

Getting On at Spreadex
We have seen evidence of Spreadex limiting players in the past to quite paltry stakes.

Spreadex compared to Sporting Index
The main difference is they offer financial spread betting and fixed odds sports betting. There are some markets in the fixed odds sports that they seem to price up generously like handicaps and first goalscorers in football but generally speaking they apply high margin and so, aren’t great for bettors. They also have a poor range of casino games and slots.

Spreadex Payment Methods
Spreadex allow debit/credit cards, bank transfers and they will allow Skrill but not if the customer is from the UK last we heard.