While there is no doubt that fixed odds betting has its place, and is the primary reason that sports betting maintains the popularity that it has today, spread betting is unique in that it is not limited to dealing with sports. Instead, spread betting works by creating an active market on either side of a binary wager, creating a scenario where an event – regardless of whether it is sports-related or not – can be profitable regardless of who wins or loses. In the case of financial spread betting, bettors wager money on the market shares of a company and whether they will rise or fall. As such, there are individuals out there who make a significant profit betting against companies or teams losing rather than winning, since the bets placed are based upon a spread of points rather than a win or a loss.

The beauty of spread betting as far as bookmakers are concerned is that they make a profit regardless of the outcome, so the overall goal for a bookie is to create an equal number of wagers on either side of the event, so that regardless of who wins or who loses they are still making money on the total spread of bets placed. In order to be truly profitable at spread betting an individual must have researched the market prior to placing a bet, because without knowing how the market could potentially change in either direction it is impossible to know with any certainty how to place bets.

Apr 14 2010