Here at The Sure Bettor, we’re always on the lookout for great ways to make a profit from betting. You may not have heard of spread betting but we’re going to have a look at it today.
What is spread betting?
Spread betting is the process of placing a bet on a market to move in a given direction. Your profit depends on how much the market moves. Fixed-odds betting has a win/loss outcome.
The bettor knows how much they’ll win or lose depending on the result of the event. In spread betting, you predict which way a market will go.
If you predict correctly your profit increases in relation to how far the market goes. If you pick the wrong way your loss will increase with how far the market moves.
Betting on the price to increase is called going ‘long’ and betting on the price to decrease is called going ‘short.’
As you can see it’s quite a risky method. Your losses can far exceed any profits and it’s almost a complete gamble whether a price will increase or decrease.
Spread betting investing
Spread betting can also be used as a way of investing. An investor can stake money on a share price increasing or decreasing, the same as a betting market.
As the investor never owns any of the stock there is no capital gains tax to be paid on any profit so it makes spread betting rather enticing.
According to Tom Ryan, Director of Barclays Stockbrokers ‘17% of active investors are now using spread betting platforms.’ This is no longer just a method for city brokers but for anyone interested in investing.
However, as we’ve already said it’s a rather risky strategy and very few spread bettors are successful in what they do!
Sporting Index, one of the leading sports spread betting companies, recently launched the first spread betting app on Google Play Store.
This just goes to show that spread betting is aimed at a very wide consumer base. According to Jamie Adams, Product Manager at Sporting Index, there are several ‘innovations in the pipeline.’
I’m surprised there is so much interest in spread betting and it will be interesting to see where the industry heads next due to its inherent risks.
To answer the main question of this article: Yes, you can make money spread betting but we don’t advise it. There are too many risks involved.
Matched betting is a better option…
In our honest and maybe slightly biased opinion matched betting is a much better way to make money online. There is no risk involved and all of our profits are tax-free. Granted, the winnings may not be as big as they can be in spread betting but our losses certainly won’t be painful.
If you’re looking for a great way to make a second income online matched betting is your answer. With expert help from sites like The Sure Bettor, you’ll be a pro in no time.
Sign up for a free trial today and see for yourself how awesome matched betting is. We’ll hopefully see you on the inside of the fastest growing matched betting community soon.