While conservative sports bettors are still exclusively placing wagers on the 1X2 market, the punters with an unconventional approach to free betting are looking for ways to outsmart the bookies and exploring new betting options known to a limited number of people. One of the newest betting types used by sports punters is called spread betting and this article is meant to get you acquainted with this extremely attractive wagering type and give you an expert insight into the world of spread betting.

Spread betting is many ways similar to buying and selling shares on the stock market, with the only difference that it is the sports expertise and not the economic one that can help you stay in the green. In spread betting your pay-off will not only depend on whether you are right or wrong but rather on how right or wrong you are. The bigger the accuracy of your bet the more money you stand to earn and vice versa.

The spread is the expected value specified by the bookmaker and you are basically betting whether the final score will be above or below the spread. Let’s say that the bookmaker expects that a game will produce between 12 and 13 corners and they set the spread to 12-13. If you believe there will be more than 13 corners, you can “take the points” and buy at £10 a point at 13. If the game produces more than 13 corners, you will receive £10 for every corner after the 13th, but if there are, for example 8 corners, you will lose (13-8) x £10=£50.

This example clearly shows that a risk involved with spread betting is far greater than with usual betting, but it is the prospect of big winnings that draws bettors to this betting type. You stand to lose much more than your initial stake if you are wrong, but, on the other hand, if you are right you can expect a hefty payout. This is exactly why spread betting is slowly becoming the favourite betting style for high rollers, while it is perfectly clear that amateur bettors and the ones with small bankroll should be very careful when taking on spread betting.

With spread betting you can bet on the number of points in an American football or basketball game, number of games in a tennis match or number of goals in a football game, meaning that you can put your expertise on certain sport to a very good use. Excitement is guaranteed here since there is every chance that you will be celebrating fifth or sixth goal your team scores in a game just as you have celebrated the first, since every goal will bring you more money. Having said this, if you plan to bet on how many goals a team will score in a game, be sure to only back those teams that continue attacking even when they are well in front.

Considering that nowadays more than a million sports bettors regularly use spread betting as part of their betting strategy, it is a bit surprising that top online bookmakers have yet to offer spread betting markets. The biggest bookmakers that allow sports spread betting are Sporting Index, Extrabet and Spreadex.