Cricket Spread Betting

Cricket is arguably the sport most suited to sports spread betting. It offers various cricket markets relating to aspects of team and individual player performance. Spread betting is a form of gambling where the more accurate the gamble, the more is won and the less accurate the more is lost.

 It differs from conventional betting in that the amount you can win or lose is dependent on the margin of your winning or losing bet. A bet is made against a 'spread' (or index), on whether the outcome will be above or below the spread. The amount won or lost depends on the level of the index at the end of the event. The spread represents the margin of the index firm.

Spread betting is the nearest thing in gambling to Bruce Forsyth's Play Your Cards Right. You face one question and the answer is higher or lower. The more frequently you are right the more you win. The more often you are wrong the more you lose. For sheer excitement it beats the straight win or lose scenario of fixed odds betting.

Sports spread betting challenges your skill, judgement and knowledge of sport. The spread betting bookmaker will make predictions on various aspects of sporting events. You then bet against whether that prediction has been pitched too high or too low. The predictions are presented in the form of two prices. This is known as the spread and you bet low (also known as a sell) at the first named price and if you wish to bet high (also known as a buy) you would do so at the second price.

For example, if someone asked you to guess their age, you might say somewhere between 35 and 38 years old. If you were betting on this prediction you would bet low at 35 years or bet high at 38 years.

Buy - Means you are betting that the higher value of a quote will be exceeded.

Sell - Means you are betting that the lower value of a quote will not be reached.

Spread - This is the difference between the Buy and Sell prices.

What you win or lose depends on the stake size you choose and how much you are right or wrong. Sporting Index might predict that the 1st goal in a match between Arsenal and Manchester United will be scored in the 36th minute and consequently set a spread of 35 - 37 minutes. A client who believes there is bound to be an early goal goes LOW at 35 minutes while another who thinks that both defences will be at their best goes HIGH at 37 minutes. If the 1st goal is scored in the 25th minute, the client who went LOW at 35 minutes wins 10 times his stake (35 minutes take away 25 minutes = 10) while the client who went HIGH at 37 minutes loses 12 times his stake.

Before you embark upon spread betting, make sure you understand the principals behind it. Be aware that winning at spread betting is about controlling the risks at a steady rate.