Select Your Ideal Spread Betting Market Whatever your favourite sport is there’s a good chance that you have the opportunity to have a little flutter on it. Every week many of us make a number of bets on the various Premier League and other football matches that are taking place across the country, while a lot of people are also partial to making a bet on the horses, too. Golf is one sport that draws plenty of betting interest and although the 2010 Ryder Cup has been and gone, that doesn’t mean that your golf spread betting opportunities are over. Previously you may have only had a flutter on a golfing event via fixed-odds betting. You can make a bet like this on any one of the dozens of tournaments that take place throughout the year and in the past a huge amount of money has been wagered on Tiger Woods to win and thus he entered the vast majority of tournaments as the clear favourite. The golfing world is changing, though, as since his return to the sport Woods hasn’t achieved the same sort of domination he did previously. While the sport itself is changing, so is the way that you can bet on it. With sports spread betting there are a huge amount of markets that you can bet on that vary tremendously and all help to make the golfing action that bit more exciting. You can have a flutter on where you expect a specific player to finish on Sunday afternoon when the four days of action comes to an end, as well as the number of shots under par that you believe a specific golfer will be after 72 holes. Whatever spread bet you decide to make, there are a few things that you need to know. If you haven’t had a taste of spread betting in the past then before you head online to register with one of the Internet spread betting companies, it’s important that you get your head around the ins and outs of this form of betting. Spread betting differs from fixed-odds betting in many ways, with one of the main differences being that in spread betting the more right you are the more money you’ll win. Sound intriguing? When looking through the various golf betting markets you’ll be presented with a number of different spreads. The spread is the prediction that the bookie is making in regards to a specific event. So if you were betting on the US Masters, there would be a number of spreads concerning where specific golfers would be expected to finish. It would then be up to you to decide how accurate you think the prediction that has been made by the bookmaker is and whether it has been pitched too high or too low and then bet accordingly. Lee Westwood is one of the finest golfers in Europe right now and you may want to back up your support for the English golfer with a spread bet. Given Westwood’s strong performances in majors in recent years, it’s likely that the Englishman will be expected to go well at the next US Masters in Augusta. Therefore, the bookie will make a spread that reflects the golfer’s recent finishes in tournaments around the world. The spread for Lee Westwood’s finish at the Masters could be between tenth and fifth. It would then be up to you to decide whether you want to buy or sell, which will depend on how high you think Westwood will finish. Given the Englishman’s form over the past couple of years, you may think Westwood will finish fourth or better and therefore you’d make this bet and sell at the lower end of the spread. The amount of money you’d win if Westwood did indeed finish fourth or better would depend on your stake and the difference between the spread and the actual result. If you bet £10 and Westwood finished third, then you’d win £20. In spread betting, though, the more you’re right the more money you win, so if the Englishman lifted the trophy at Augusta, you’d win £40 and thus if you made this bet you’d be cheering for Westwood until his last putt on Sunday afternoon. The other option you have in this market is to buy at the higher end of the spread, which would mean you’d win if Westwood finished outside the top ten. This is a much safer bet, as the maximum money you stand to lose is £100, which would only be the case if Westwood did win the tournament. However, if you incorrectly sold at the lower end of the spread, you could potentially lose a much larger sum of money, particularly if the Englishman didn’t find form in the US and missed the cut. When looking through the spread betting markets online it’s important that you take into account the level of risk you’re taking on and how much money you could lose if events really went against you. Just like in fixed-odds betting where you can minimise your risk by only staking a small amount of money, in spread betting the same can be achieved by choosing a market that is fairly low risk. Golf is just one of a number of sports that you can make a spread bet on and if you plumped for football then the amount of goals to be scored in 90 minutes would be a fairly safe market. If the spread was between two and three and you bought at the higher end of the spread, even if the match was a goalless draw you wouldn’t lose too much money. As football matches in which the goal tally reaches double figures are also rare occurrences, then if you sold at the lower end of the spread your bank balance shouldn’t take too much of a hit. As long as you have the risk involved in spread betting in the back of your mind then this form of gambling can be a great way to make any sporting event that bit more exciting. There would be few things better than cheering on a British winner at a golfing major than knowing that it will earn you a few quid too! Spreading betting can result in losses that exceed your original deposit. Remember to bet responsibly.   [ Back ]