Spread betting in sport can take three main forms, namely Total Number Bets, Supremacy and Match Bets, and Performance Index Bets. Being able to predict the number of goals in football, runs in cricket, points in rugby, shots in golf has seen sports betting at online betting sites offering in-running spreads boom in recent times.

Spread betting, however, is not confined to sports involving scores; it can also be used in horse betting. Take Derby Day at Epsom as an example; a quote for the favourites index is 64-68, with 25 points awarded for a winning favourite, 10 points for a second place and 5 for a third. If you believe that at least three favourites will win, with perhaps a second or third somewhere, this will clearly be above 68 – so you buy a certain amount per point at 68. Alternatively, if you believe that the favourites will struggle, you sell at a certain amount per point at 64. Assume that two favourites win along with two second places and one third. This adds up to 75 (25+25+10+10+5). If your per unit amount the minimum stake of $1, you would make $7 by buying at 68, but lose $11 if you bought at 64.

These returns sound minimal, but consider that a miserly $1 per unit was nominated, and the spread was quite close to the result. If one of those second places had run first, and the unit price was bumped up to $5, the return for buying at 68 would be $110 – and the loss at 64 would be $130. Obviously the more correct, confident and wise that you are, the more your potential earnings.

Sporting Index were the first online betting site to offer real online betting of the spread betting format. Betting online as a form of off track betting has become very popular, and sports betting online has become quite common among spread betting professionals. Spread betting is not of course, exclusively limited to sports betting, with many financial institutions reaping the benefits of spread betting such as shorting stocks in all its tax-free glory.

The common edict pronounced alongside spread betting is that the more right you are, the more you win; the more wrong you are, the more you lose. By linking wins and losses directly with the accuracy of the prediction, spread betting allows professionals and those who have a deeper understanding of the game the opportunity for much higher profits – whether it be horse betting, financial spread betting or straight score-line betting.