Spread betting - how, why and when?

Spread betting is quite simply the most exciting way to bet and provides people the incentive to back their own instincts and judgements. In its simplest form, it is a game of higher and lower - much like Bruce Forsyth's Play Your Cards Right. Punters look at a prediction and then must decide whether they should bet higher or lower. The more you are right, the more you win, but conversely, the more you are wrong, the more you lose.

Firstly, we will look at the basics of 'how to spread bet'…

The first thing a spread betting punter must consider before betting on any event is where the 'spread' is pitched. The 'spread' is the range that covers the point at which a punter can bet lower (sell) to that at which he can bet higher (buy). I'll give you a simple example of how spread betting works…

A man can see a field in the distance and asks the farmer how many sheep are in the field. The farmer isn't sure, but guesses somewhere between 52-55 sheep. This is the spread and the man must decide whether he thinks the farmer has pitched his prediction too low or too high. He decides that there must be more than 55 so buys (bets higher) at that figure. When they get to the field they realise that there are actually 72, which means the man has made a profit of 17 times his imaginary stake (72-55=17).

This sounds very simple and it really is. Learning how to spread bet is purely working out whether you want to go higher or lower on the predicted figure. But why should people bother, when they can simply go down to their local bookies?