Intro to Spread Betting on Horse Racing

What is Spread Betting?

Spread betting is quite different from betting with your local bookmaker. At your bookie you place a wager on a fixed odds event and know exactly how much you stand to win if you chose correctly. Equally you know that the most you can possibly lose if everything goes wrong is your stake.

When placing a spread bet the amount you stand to win or lose is determined by how right, or how wrong you are. Take a look at the following example provided by Sporting Index:

The Cheltenham Gold Cup - Day 4

We quoted the Martin Pipe trained Therealbandit at 13-16 points.
50pts are awarded for the horse coming first, 30pts for coming second, 20pts for coming third, 10pts for coming fourth and 0pts for any other position.

Sell (Go Low) at 13 if you believe the horse failed to run into a place.

Buy (Go High) at 16 if you believe the horse finished in the 1st three.

The way a spread bet works is that you bet an amount per point, lets assume you choose to bet £5 per point.

Therealbandit eventually finished 7th scoring 0 points. If you had correctly predicted this outcome and SOLD Therealbandit @ 13 points your profit would be:

(13 - 0) x £5 = £65

However, when you predict incorrectly your losses can be volatile. If we assume you thought Therealbandit would run well and you decided to BUY @ 16 points your loss would be:

(0 - 16) X £5 = -£80

As you can see, a loss of £80 is significantly more than the £5 you were betting per point. It is therefore a good idea to work what your maximum downside is (where possible) and adjust your stake per point accordingly.

Spread Betting Markets for Horse Racing

There are a variety of markets available to horse racing spread bettors. As we saw above there is the standard index that awards points for how well a horse runs, here are some of the other markets:

• Favourites - Predict how well the favourites will run at a given meeting
• Starting Prices - Predict the total starting prices of all winners at a meeting
• Distances - Predict the total winning distances in all races at a meeting

You will often find many other markets based on how well a particular jockey will do at a race meeting, how the top weights will fair and other novelty markets.

Profiting with Horse Racing Spread Bets

Spread betting is really just another kind of gamble that will ultimately lead to the uninformed losing money. However, if you put the time and effort into choosing the right kind of bet for the right selection then spread betting can become a useful addition to the pro punters armoury.

For example, using the reports found on Tipping League you might discover that a tipster often tips favourites that end up finishing out of the places. This would obviously not be a sign of a very good tipster, but you may still be able to profit from this information! Provided this trend holds true you MIGHT be able to profit by SELLING this selection in the spread bet markets.

Similarly, you might find a tipster that is regularly tipping big price horses that make it into the places and even win - we have a couple of these on Tipping League. In this case the spread could be quite low, therefore if it fails to run well the maximum downside isn't too great, but if it manages to run into a decent place there could be a good profit potential.

You should thoroughly test these concepts for fun without staking real money to begin with. As spread betting is VERY RISKY, especially for the uninitiated and inexperienced, see how you get on using pretend money and if you do well ease yourself into to real markets. When done correctly it can be rewarding financially and provide much excitement.

Never bet more than you can afford to lose

Getting Started

As mentioned earlier, your next step on the road to becoming a seasoned spread bettor should be to get to grips with how it all works by heading over to the the "Play for Fun!" area at Sporting Index, one of the biggest, best and most well respected spread betting companies around.

Take a different perspective on your regular punting - check out the spread betting markets on offer from Sporting Index, the World Leaders in Sports Spread Betting. Free £100 cash for new clients after opening an account* and placing 5 bets, risking £20 on each bet.** They also run regular offers for all clients.

*Credit and suitability checks, **terms and conditions apply. See site for details about an account with Sporting Index. Sports spread betting is high risk and is not suitable for everyone. You can lose more than your original stake, so make sure you understand the risks involved and only bet with money you can afford to lose. Sporting Index is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

Once you have got to grips with the basics you may be able to increase your profitability by trading at the leading spread betting exchange, Cantor Spreadfair. Just a Betfair have revolutionised the fixed odds betting world, Cantor Spreadfair are doing the same for spread betting.

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