Example: Total Runs in Cricket

If England win the toss to bat against South Africa at the Oval, Sporting Index might predict the total number of runs they score at 350. Their spread would be 325-350:

If you think the pitch is good for scoring and England are on form to score heavily, you would go higher (buy) at 350 for your stake of £2 per run. If England go on to score 416 runs in their 1st innings, you would have won (416 - 350) x £2 = £132.

Alternatively, if you thought England would have done poorly you would go lower (sell) at 325. You would have lost 91 times your stake (i.e. £182). You could have limited your loss by opening a limited risk account.

Example: Rugby Supremacy Market

Sporting Index might predict the England Rugby team to beat France by around 8 points, as a result they will quote a supremacy of 7 - 10 points.

If you thought England would win by a margin of more than 10 points you would go high (buy) at 10 for the stake of your choice, in this case, £5.

If, for example, it turned out to be a tight match, with England scraping home 11 - 6, the supremacy would be 5. As a result you would have lost 5 times your stake
(10 - 5) x your stake
= 5 x £5
= £25 loss

Alternatively, if you thought England would win by fewer points, or even lose, you would go lower (sell) at 7.

Where points, runs or goals cannot measure the success of a certain sporting event the spread betting bookies have come up with an ingenious method to measure success. They use a Performance Index, assigning possible events with a number of points, enabling them to make quotes on a variety of other sporting events.

Example: Racing Favourites Index

In racing, for example, they award different number of points to the winner, runner-up, third place and so on. The Racing Favourites Index measures how the favourites perform in each race at a particular meeting. A winning favourite is awarded 25 points, a second place 10 points and a third place 5 points.

At an Ascot jumps meeting, the favourites quote might be 56 - 60 points:

If you had a good look at the form and decided that the favourites should perform better than we predicted you would go high (buy) at 60 for £5. In the end two of the favourites won, two came second while one ran on into third. On the basis of the scoring system, the result (make up) was 75 (25 x 2 + 10 x 2 + 5).

Had you bought at 60 you would have won 15 times your stake.
15 x £2 = £30

Example: Total Bookings in a Football Match

A typical scoring system for the total bookings in a football match would be
- 10 points for a yellow card
- 25 points for a red card
If a player receives a yellow card and then a second yellow card i.e. red card then he is awarded 10 + 25 = 35 points.

In the Rangers v Celtic Old Firm derby, Sporting Index might offer a Bookings quote of 54-58. Meaning they expect around 3 yellow cards and a red card:

You think that this is under estimating the usual violence on the pitch and expect at another red card. That would make 2 red cards (25 points each) and 3 yellow cards (10 points each) = 80 points in total, so you decide to buy £5 per point at 58. If, you thought this would be a well-behaved match you would sell at £5 per point at 54.

It may turn out to be great match with only two yellow cards (total make-up 20 points). If you BOUGHT £5 at 58 you would lose (58 - 20) x £5 = £190, but if you SOLD £5 at 54 you would win (54 - 20) x £5 = £170.

Remember - You always BUY at the higher quote and SELL at our lower quote.