For many gamblers, in fact the mass majority of them, sports betting is something done just for a bit of fun. It's easy and very straight forward: I'll bet this team wins over that one. Done. The bets are placed at the bookmakers either online or on the High Street, and depending on the odds given on each team the winner will take home the money he or she originally bet plus a percentage on top of that. The loser simply does't get the original bet back and goes home with a lighter wallet than when he started out.



Spread betting can seem like a much more complicated way of gambling for people like this, in particular gamblers who are new to the world of sports bets, but it can be every bit as simple as regular betting. The difference is that spread betting makes the odds higher and the chances of winning not so black and white.

A Second Dimension

In a regular gamble on a two-team game, for example, people would choose one team over the other to win, and if they are right they win money. If they are wrong, they lose their bet. In many instances, however, it is fairly obvious which team will win and which will lose. This can happen with any kind of tournament where the more talented teams are split into different pools to compete with the less fortunate teams; if a very strong team is pitted against one who barely made it into the tournament, straight forward betting becomes not only dull but the paybacks are minimal as well.

Complicated or Enhanced?

To make the gambling process more interesting and to make sure the punters come in for their usual bookmaker tickets, spread betting gives the gamblers something else to consider instead of whether one team is better than the other. In these instances, the bookmaker decides on a 'spread' number, for example 7 in an American football game.

The underdog and the strong team are blatantly posted, and gamblers may bet on either side, deciding to 'take' or 'give' the posted point spread. By betting on the team most likely to lose, the gambler is taking the points, and if the spread plus the final score of that team is higher than the expected winner, the gambler has won the bet. Conversely, if the gambler bets on the expected winner, the end score of that team minus the spread must still be higher than the points of the underdog team.

Spread betting piques the interest of the seasoned gambler where the outcome of the game is seemingly fairly cut and dried; if you're tired of the usual win-or-lose bets then it couldn't hurt to dip your hand into the spread betting pool.