What is sports spread betting?

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1 GETTINGSTARTED Welcome to the Sporting Index Training Academy, your guide to getting started in the world of sports spread betting written by Karl Chief Suntay, our spread betting coach. It really is straight forward once you get the hang of it. As soon as you ve mastered the skill and enjoyed the thrill of your first spread bet, you ll wonder what took you so long to get involved!

2 2 What is sports spread betting? Basically, we make a prediction on the outcome of all sorts of events and you decide whether we are too high or too low in our prediction. A simple, fun example would be guessing someone s weight. Our traders might make a prediction say between 100 and 104 kilos, it is up to you to try to guess if it is too high or too low. If you went high, or bought, for say 1 a kilo and it turns out the person weighs 110 kilos you would win 6. what you bought at 104 kilos However, if the person tips the scales at 99 kilos you would lose 5 as their weight is 5 kilos less than the 104 you bought at. what you bought at 104 kilos actual weight 99 kilos you lose the difference x your stake 5 kilos (104-99) 1 total loss 5 So, that s the basic principle behind it. Now let s look at how to open an account and how to place your first sports spread bet with Sporting Index. actual weight 110 kilos you win the difference x your stake 6 kilos ( ) 1 total profit 6

3 3 Step 1. Applying for an account 1 Before placing a bet with us, you need to have opened an account. You can do this by simply clicking on the Apply Now link at the top right of our home page. It will just take you a few minutes to register and once your application has been accepted you can place a bet in a few simple steps. Step 2. Logging in You must enter your account number and password in order to log in. You set up your own password during the application process; we will give you a unique account number when your application has been accepted. 2 Step 3. Depositing Funds In order to place a bet you must deposit enough money in your account to cover your exposure, unless you have a credit limit which allows you to start betting straight away. 3

4 PLACINGBETS Follow these six simple steps for trouble-free bet placement.

5 5 Step 1 1 On the left side of the home page you will find the list of sports that we have betting markets on at the current time. Step 2 Let s say you want to bet on Chelsea v Arsenal, a televised Premier League match. Click on your chosen sport to view the individual bets on offer, in this example Football UK. Step 3 2 Next select Live Matches and Chelsea v Arsenal. You are now presented with all the markets for this game such as Total Goals, Corners, Bookings, etc. 3

6 6 Step 4 4 You may decide that, with these two teams bursting with international talent, the game should be full of attacking football and possibly corners, so you decide to buy corners in the game. The price as you can see is displayed as a two way spread here it is corners. This means we expect 10 or 11 corners in the game. As you think there will be more you go high, or buy, at 11. So simply click on buy on the right hand side of the price, and the bet placement window on the right will show your bet. 5 Step 5 Then simply enter your stake (say 10 a goal) and click place bet. Step 6 Once the bet is accepted you will see a 'bet confirmation' screen with a unique bet reference number. Your bet has now been placed. 6

7 7 By the way, don t worry if some of the jargon and bet names seem confusing at first when you go to a bet, just hover over the (i ) icon next to it and it will explain the bet to you. We also have a Jargon Buster section on our website that you can check out at any time. There s a link to it within the Training Centre. Keeping tabs on your open bets You can check your open bets at any time by clicking the Open Bets tab at the top of the bet placement panel on the right hand side of the screen. This displays all your open bets and gives you the option to close a bet should you wish to do so at any time.

8 8 You now sit back and watch the match, hoping for an exciting, end-to-end affair full of goal mouth action. Remember, in our example you have gone high on (bought) the number of corners at 11 for 10 a corner. If it turned out to be a classic with loads of attacking football yielding 14 corners you would win 30 you bought corners at 11 and as there were 14 you win the difference multiplied by your stake of 10. what you bought at 11 corners actual result 14 corners you win the difference x your stake 3 corners (14-11) 10 total profit 30 If there were only 11 corners you would break even. what you bought at 11 corners actual result 11 corners no difference x your stake 0 corners (11-11) 10 no profit or loss 0 But for every corner less than 11 you would lose 10. So 9 corners in the game would mean you lose 20. what you bought at 11 corners actual result 9 corners you lose the difference x your stake 2 corners (11-9) 10 total loss 20

9 9 It s as simple as that if you feel you are ready to place your first bet then why not apply for a Sporting Index account now? APPLYNOW Please ensure you understand the risks with sports spread betting as it involves a higher level of risk and you can lose more than your original stake. Remember to bet responsibly. Sporting Index is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. If you would like to learn more, then read on as we will now go through betting in-play, one of the most exciting features of betting with Sporting Index.

10 BETTINGIN-PLAY You should now know the basics of sports spread betting, but the real fun starts with the exciting world of in-play betting!

11 11 Not only does in-play betting add to the excitement of a live event, but if things go your way it can sometimes be more profitable to take your money and run than letting the bet ride out to its conclusion. The same can be said of course if things don t go exactly as planned it can be better to close out of your bet and take a small loss instead of a potentially larger one. One of the best things about spread betting is being able to wait on placing a bet until you have a feel for how a game is going before getting involved. Alternatively you may want to manage a bet in-play as we update prices throughout a game, letting you dip in and out of a bet whenever you feel like it. This allows you to take an early profit or cut a loss should things go for or against you.

12 12 How it works Here s an example. Let s say you think that a rugby match between England and France is going to be high scoring. One way to profit from your opinion is to buy points our Total Points market is a bet on how many points are scored in a game in total. As an example, in a particular England v France game our spread was 33-36, meaning we expect between 33 and 36 points. You decide to buy total points at 36 for 10 a point. If the game starts in a blur of attacking rugby and France race to a lead inside the first 20 minutes, the chances are that total points will easily exceed the original figure of 36 that you bought at.

13 13 In a live match our traders will move the price to reflect what is happening in the game with 27 points already on the board the new Total Points spread might be meaning we expect about another 22 points in the game. So, as you bought at 36 you can now close out of your bet at 48 to lock in a profit. Think of it like buying or selling shares, or any other commodity you bought at 36, now you can sell at 48 and you make the profit in between it s as simple as that. You might do this if you are happy to take a 12 point profit because you think the game will settle down and points may not be as plentiful as they were in the first 20 minutes. If on the other hand you feel there are plenty more points to be scored in the game, you can just let the bet run. With 27 points already on the board there s a low chance of you losing money on this bet and there could well be many more points! what you bought at you can close at 36 points 48 points you win the difference x your stake 12 points (48-36) 10 total profit 120

14 14 Closing the bet To close your bet and take your profit, simply click on Open Bets and this will show you your bet on the game with your buy at 36 for 10 a point and also show the latest price of the bet. It shows that at the moment the bet is 120 in profit as the current price is You have the option to Take Profit which will close out your bet at 48 simply click on Take Profit and you pocket a guaranteed 120. So no matter how the game finishes you will have won 120 or 12 times your stake of 10. If the match did settle down and less than 48 points were actually scored, then you have even more reason to feel pleased with yourself.

15 15 Placing a bet in-play Of course you can always just wait until a game starts to see how it looks before placing a bet. In fact you can sometimes get a better price by doing so as our prices continuously change during a game. Amazingly we now take over 50% of our bets after an event has started, in-running or in-play as we call it. Let s look at the supremacy market on a clash between Manchester United and Newcastle. This is a bet on how much we expect one team to beat the other by. Before the game the Sporting Index price on the supremacy market might have been in favour of United.

16 16 How can we think there will be 1.9 goals? Well, we don t. It is simply our expectation based on the historical average for the supremacy (amongst other factors such as team selection, recent form etc). If the last five games between Manchester United and Newcastle had seen United win four with scorelines of 4-0, 2-0, 3-1 and 2-1, and the fifth match being a 1-1 draw, then the average United supremacy would have been 1.8 goals. We frame our supremacy market around this average hence in favour of United. Put another way we expect United to beat Newcastle by around 2 goals (but on average just under 2).

17 17 Anyway, you decide that Man Utd will win but 1.9 supremacy is too high (maybe reasoning that Newcastle have improved of late) so sit and watch the game without betting. Although United may have been the better side, at half time it was scoreless and our supremacy prices might now be something like , meaning we have revised our expectations downwards that United might just win by a single goal. what you bought at 0.9 goals actual result 6-0 you win the difference x your stake 5.1 goals (6-0.9) 20 total profit 102 You now think that this is a more attractive level as you can see Manchester United scoring at least one, if not two in the second half and you decide to buy at 0.9 for 20 a goal. As it turned out, United destroyed Newcastle 6-0 in the second half, you win 5.1 times your stake or 102 that s 20 more profit by placing your bet in-play than at the start of the game.

18 18 So as you can see, mastering the art of in-play betting can add a great deal to your betting enjoyment. There is nothing like the feeling of calling a game right, be it points in rugby, runs in cricket or bookings in a football game, placing a bet and watching it come in. To learn more about the different markets we offer and how to bet on them why not check out our online Spread Betting Demo or have a read of The Guide which has loads of useful hints and tips. Links to both can be found on our Training Centre homepage. Ready to get started? Then why not apply for a Sporting Index account now! APPLYNOW