What Is Spread Betting and How Does It Work in Football?

Nowadays, you can bet on dozens of different markets. Some markets are relatively straightforward and beginner-friendly, like the match result or the double chance bet, while others, like the accumulator bets or Asian handicaps, are more complex.

In the sea of betting markets that can spoil any punter, spread betting is one of the latest emerging trends that keeps gaining popularity among punters in the UK. If you haven’t tried it yet and are not familiar with how it works, our article will help you learn what spread betting is and why you should bet on this exciting betting market.

8 Quick Facts About How Spread Betting Works

• A spread is a line proposed by a bookmaker.
• You can buy or sell spreads if you believe the outcome will be higher or lower than the spread.
• The more accurate your bet is, the more you will win.
• Spreads change over time based on new information and how many punters buy and sell the spread.
• Spread betting allows you to bet on entire seasons or tournaments.
• You can bet on the number of goals, corners, yellow cards, completed passes, goal scorers’ shirt numbers, and much more with spread betting.
• Sports betting is often combined with in-play football betting.
• Spread bets are valid for 90 minutes, and every minute can increase your profits.

What Does Spread Mean in Betting?

Spread betting doesn’t work like traditional betting. With regular betting, a bookmaker provides fixed odds, and you will be able to bet on several different markets. However, with spread betting, a bookmaker proposes a line known as a spread, and you will have to bet on whether the outcome will be higher or lower than it.

In a way, sports spread betting is more similar to over/under bets than regular betting. Let’s say that Liverpool is playing with Arsenal. With traditional betting, a bookmaker will provide odds for several different outcomes, such as either team winning, a draw, or something else.

How Does Spread Betting Work?

Let’s say that a bookmaker proposed a line that says there will be 1.5 to 1.9 goals in a match between Liverpool and Arsenal. In this scenario, you will buy a spread if you believe there will be more goals than the predicted line or sell a spread if you think there will be less than 1.5 goals in the match.

Another key difference between regular betting and sports spread betting is that, with traditional betting, you will bet on fixed odds. This means that, even before the outcome of the game, you will know exactly how much you are going to lose or what your potential profit is. However, with spread betting, you can win more the closer you are with your prediction to the outcome, but you can also lose more if you are far from the proposed line.

Let’s say you are betting on the number of points a team will have during a season. With sports spread betting, a bookmaker will propose a line. In this case, the bookmaker says Chelsea will end the season with 56–57 points, and you decide to buy the spread with £10. If Chelsea ends the season with 67 points, you will earn £100 points.

If you want to learn what a spread in sports betting is, you should know that, in this scenario, 57 is known as the buy price, and 67 is known as the makeup. To calculate your profits, you should subtract the buy price from the makeup and then divide it by your initial stake. In other words, 67-57 = 10 x £10 = £100.

However, let’s say that Chelsea ends the season with 51 points. In this scenario, the makeup is 51, and the buy price is 57, which means the equation to calculate your loss would be 51-57 = -6 x £10 = -£60. This means that you would lose £60.

Spread Change Over Time

Now that you know what a spread in betting is, it is important to keep in mind that a spread might change over time, as more people buy or sell the spread and more information becomes available. For example, let’s take a look at our previous example.

Naturally, Chelsea’s chances of ending the season with 57 points will be significantly higher if it’s far into the season. Chelsea already has 55 points with 10 games remaining, which is one of the reasons bookmakers adjust spreads.

However, when it comes to sports spread betting, a bookmaker is unlikely to change the actual payout odds. Instead, they would alter the point spread. While the value of the spread might change over time in case of a payout change, your profits or losses are calculated based on the value of the spread at the time of placing your wager.

This means that, if the price of the spread changes, a new price will affect only those who bet after the change. In other words, you can win or lose more with spread betting than someone who places the same wager later.

Spread Betting Explained

Bets like the one where you bet on the number of points at the end of a season are not uncommon with spread betting. In fact, spread betting has a ton of different markets on its own, and you can bet on the number of goals in a game, corner kicks, yellow cards, completed passes, and much more. Bookies often offer innovative bets, such as predicting the minute a goal will be scored or the number of a player who’s going to score.

Now that we’ve covered what spread betting is, another important thing to know is that you won’t be limited to just betting on a single fixture. Instead, you will be able to bet on multiple fixtures or even the results of entire seasons or tournaments.

Apart from being able to win big, sports spread betting is also popular because bets are valid for 90 minutes. Let’s say that you’ve placed a regular match bet, and your team is three goals down in the first half. Most of the time, you won’t even bother watching the second half of the match. However, with spread betting, your bet is valid until the final whistle, and each extra minute can substantially increase your profits.

The last bit of information that will help you master spread betting is often combined with in-play betting. As the game progresses, the prices of spreads will change accordingly. Additionally, many bookmakers will allow you to close bets, cut your losses, or take profits before the game is finished.

Summary

As you can see, conventional and spread betting have several key differences. Despite that, there is nothing too complex about spread betting, and it shouldn’t take long before you master this betting market.

Hopefully, now that you know what spread betting is, you will be able to take full advantage of spread betting and join seasoned punters who regularly buy and sell spreads.