Sports betting online today is more accessible than ever, particularly with the boom of P2P betting and spread betting for the professional.

Placing a bet online is a multistage process. Firstly, you must open an account with a bookmaker of choice – this may be marked with a ‘register’ or ‘sign-up’ button. It is always advisable to choose a bookmaker that offers free bets to new customers for obvious reasons. These are not a gimmick and will be honoured. The online betting site will give you a form to fill out, and request a username/password for future use.

You will then be required to deposit funds. If you are keen on spread betting, please consult the betting site’s rules for stop/loss limits and such. From now on, we will deal with fixed odds betting, using a generalised online betting site offering online horse betting as an example.

All online betting sites have an account section where you are able to deposit funds. Normally this is done via a safe credit card transaction, although alternative methods are available. Paypal, as a general rule, is no longer accepted by betting sites as it creates a wider scope for fraud.

Say you want to place a bet on the Grand National. Go back to the betting site’s home page – normally it will have a Grand National section, or otherwise choose horse racing from the main navigation menu. Pick from one of the betting types available. Of course, you should have performed some research beforehand.

If you choose to have an each way bet on a horse, you are basically betting on it to finish in the first five places (normally four, but most online betting sites make exceptions for the Grand National). An each way bet is twice the cost of a standard bet, because the stake goes on the horse both to win and to be placed. It is not always a bad idea to take an early price as you are guaranteed that this will be the price that you bet on the horse, even if the odds drop at a later stage before being closed at the starting price (SP).

If you are fortunate enough to have a win, you can access your account via the menu and be able to withdraw funds. Some online betting sites are faster at transferring funds than others, and this should be researched before you choose a site. If you are living in the UK, for example, it might be a better option to choose an English sports betting site in order to have funds processed more quickly.