Spread Betting

A Question of Class

Ok I'm at absolute base level here with little understanding and no experience yet of punting on spreads. To give you some background on me Ive been betting on sports for years but have been doing it a lot more seriously over the last year or 2 and doing pretty well. The main sport I punt on is rugby but I also gamble on GAA, soccer and golf. About 70% of my betting is done on rugby and of that over 70% is on handicap markets. Occassionally I bet on total points scored or total tries scored but I never bet on first tryscorer, alternative handicaps, last team to score or any market where I feel the bookie has an increased edge.

You can see my rugby bets from this season here http://forum.planet-rugby.com/viewforum.php?f=3 and on the Rugby Betting Thread but you probably have an idea of what type of punter I am now

I signed up with this crowd https://www.sportsspread.com//Default.aspx after stumbling accross them online. I didn't lodge any money, intending to do some research on spreads first. They did send me a 30 euro no deposit bonus yesterday though so I guess thats set my ass in motion , while they aslo offerered me a 100 euro bonus once Ive bet that amount.

My first thoughts [apologies again for my ignorance] when looking into spread betting is that the bookies keep all the likely outcomes for themselves the greedy bastards. Like when I bet on a handicap market the bookie draws a line and I can gamble either side of it. For example looking at the Wales/Australia match I can bet on Aus[-3] @ 10/11 or Wales[-3]
@ 10/11 with most sites. However with spread betting the bookie keeps the likely outcomes for themselves and forces the punter to bet outside that range yes? I just looked at the market for the same match on Sports Spread and you can sell under 3 points or buy over 5 points which makes it much harder than bettiing on a straight handicap. The other issue I have at this stage is that you are not rewarded with increased odds the further away from the "spread" you get. For example if I bet on Australia to beat the 5 point spread with 1 euro a point I receive the same odds on the first point[Australia 6 up] as the
10th when in reality the latter happening is far less likely

So Im obviously clueless here bout what Im dealing with and would welcome and advice opinions from those in the know. I wont be diving in too heavy for a long time if ever. What are the pros/cons of spreads compared to handicap betting and what are the house's margins like?

Thank you in advance

luckystrike23

my main thing are financials but my understanding is that providers balance positions by moving the spread - that is their way to encouraging action on one side or the other. Firms also tend to have more buys on the favourite so somtimes it pays to back the underdog. This may be interesting -> http://www.financial-spread-betting.com/sports/Point-spreadbetting.html

okidoki987

One of the massive advantages of spread betting is you can get all the upside, if you don't have any t/p o/r s/l in place.
So if Australia win by 30 points, you win 25 times you stake (30-5).
One of the downsides is you are liable for all the downside, again unless you have some s/l in place.
The early prices on a rugby match are normally the best time to get on as the spreads and fixed odds come into line after they have taken all the bets and by Friday there should be little difference between the fixed odds firm 10/11 your pick and the spread bets.
Also don't forget you can trade in/out at anytime and in running.
Never limit yourself to one spread betting company as you are paying away the spread (their margin) every time.
Sportindex.com is the biggest.

FinTrade

ouch... sports spread betting

mickey1979

Go with SportingIndex very volatile betting