What does spread mean in betting?

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To make successful bets on the websites of betting companies, you need to know the basic terms. One of these terms is “spread”. In this review, we will talk about the features of the spread of sports betting. Well, if you already know all about it, you can check out one of the legal bookmakers in the UK – https://superbetting.com/review/888bet-review/ .

In simple terms, the spread is the range of outcomes that are considered the most likely outcome in a particular event. Usually, in the line, the spread is indicated as two numbers with a hyphen between them. For example, a football team may have points spread of 80–82.

Most often, bookmakers give low odds for a clear favorite, so betting on his clear victory is uninteresting and unprofitable from the point of view of the players. At the same time, it happens that the probability of a clear victory for an outsider with a rhyme is small, so making such a bet is also dangerous. For such cases,bets with a handicap (point spread bet) were invented, which are offered by bookmakers. The bookmakers not on Gamstop make it possible to bet on the advantage or margin for one of the teams. Such bets help even out the odds for teams with different chances of winning.

  • What is point spread betting?

When standard fixed odds are defined for a bet, the player either wins or loses. Spread bets have slightly different requirements – the player must predict whether the result will be more or less than what the bookmaker puts. Thus, the closer the prediction of the player regarding the event and the result, the more money he will win. However, there is quite a lot to lose here, because the more the player errs in his values, the more he loses.

  • Five reasons to make a spread bet

  • The more the player is right, the more his winnings will be;
  • Bookmakers always offer excellent spread markets;
  • Increasing the number of betting options available;
  • The player always has the opportunity to close their bets to lock in profits, even before the start of the event.

  • How bookmakers determine the spread

To determine the spread bookmakers must calculate what they think is the most likely outcome for a particular event. This process usually takes a long time and requires intensive work of analysts, as there are many markets in every sport, some of which are very specialized. Once experts have determined the most likely outcome for an event, a margin of safety needs to be created around that likely outcome. Typically, such a reserve is from 2% to 10% of the likely outcome – the amount of the margin depends on the event and the market. This margin is the spread.

  • What is the risk of spread betting

Many players like to bet large enough on the spread that they are exposed to large potential losses. Before making such bets, it is important to make sure that you know exactly how much you can lose without any problems if you fail. In spread bets, the risk of losing a lot of money is especially high.

  • Types of spreads in sports betting

The two most popular types of spreads are minus and plus.

  1. A negative spread (for example, “minus 12.5 points”) is a very popular form – it means that the team on which the bookmaker sets such a spread must win with a difference that will remain positive if the value specified in the spread is subtracted from it. If the spread value is “Minus 12.5 points”, then the team must score a minimum of 13 points to secure an advantage even after deducting the spread handicap value from this amount.
  1. The spread with a plus value works in the same way. A positive spread indicates a handicap that must be added to the final score by the outsider. If after that the score of the match turns out to be in favor of the outsider, the plus spread will win, if not, then the bet loses. If the spread value is “plus 12.5 points”, then the team must lose by no more than 12 points or win the match for the bet to play.

  • Which sports are covered by spread betting?

Spread betting can be wagered on most sports, but despite this, the markets available for spread betting are very different from the fixed odds market. There are point spread options for college football, NBA games, NFL games and other sports.

In football, bets are common on goal minutes (the total number of minutes in which there are goals), on the total number of selected minutes in which a player scores a goal, and on player shirt numbers (the total number of shirt numbers each player wears).

Spread betting is also popular in the horse racing playing field – here they usually bet on winning tickets or on performance. In addition to sports, spread betting is also popular in the financial market.

  • Conclusion

Thus, spread bets represent the range of outcomes that the bookmaker considers the most likely outcome for a particular event. This type of bet can bring not only big profits but also large losses, so spread betting is not recommended for beginners – this type of bet is more suitable for professional bettors who make multiple bets.