Commercial feature – Sports spread betting is one area of gambling which is rapidly increasing in popularity. For many though, the questions which are being asked are: what is spread betting and why is it different to normal sports betting? Is it easy to make money? And arguably the most important question: is it easy to lose money?

Sports spread betting is based on a fairly simple premise of predicting whether the bookies have been too cautious or too ambitious with their sporting predictions. It is now possible to spread bet on nearly every major sporting event including sports such as football, rugby, cricket, golf and many more. Sports spread betting can include betting on anything including goals, runs, corners and even bookings.

If you’re going to make a spread bet on a golf tournament for example, here is how it works. If bookies predict Lee Westwood will finish between fifth and eighth place in the Open, the spread will be from five to eight. If you think he’ll finish higher you could bet £10 per place. So if he were to finish second you would win £30, because he finished three places better than the spread. By the same token if he finished tenth you’d lose £50 because he finished five places worse.

The same principle applies to all spread betting; you either ‘buy’ higher or better than the spread or ‘sell’ lower than the spread. You can bet on almost anything and many sports spread betting companies operate online.

The only thing to be careful about is if you bet a large stake on an outcome and you are wrong by a huge margin. For example, if you bet a £10 stake that Liverpool will beat Everton by two goals and the spread is 0.1 goals in Liverpool’s favour, you’d stand to win £19 if you were right. This is 1.9 goals above the spread. However if the Toffees triumph 6-0 you’d lose 5.9 multiplied by £10, so £59.

It is not only when you bet a fairly large amount per goal, runs in cricket or points in rugby, and you are way off the mark that large losses can be made. But if you bet sensibly and know your sport well, you can make a decent return. Many spread betting companies offer in-game betting so you can actually wait until the game has started and see how it’s going before making a decision.

The difference between sports spread betting and normal sports betting is that it often gives you the chance to use your knowledge to increase your winnings without being too specific. Rather than betting on how many runs England score, you could bet that they will score more or less than the spread. If the spread was 500-515 runs and you bet above at £1 per run and England score 700, then you’d win £185. Of course the same difference applied the other way would result in a loss. If you’re knowledgeable and not too careless you can still make a good return.

Spreading betting can result in losses that exceed your original deposit. Remember to bet responsibly.