Today, many bookmakers in the United States (the rating of the best of them can be found on Meta.reviews) offer betting on the spread. In this article, you will learn what it is.
The concept of a spread came to sports betting from the financial exchange, where the difference between the best purchase price and the best selling price of an asset (stocks, currency, commodities, precious metals) is called.
In bookmakers, the term Point Spread refers to the difference in points (as well as goals or pucks scored) between the two teams playing in a match. In European companies, the analogues of spreads are bets on handicaps, where the difference in score also plays an important role.
Why spreads are popular in the U.S.
Bets on sports such as baseball, basketball and American football have traditionally been popular in American bookmakers.
It is worth saying that betting on the main outcome in these sports disciplines is not always interesting, as often the teams that play each other have too big a difference in class. Therefore bookmakers offer low odds on the success of the favourites and the underdogs have little chance of winning, so there is no point in betting on them.
Because of this situation, betting on point difference (goals, pucks) was introduced, with which the favourite must win for the bettor to succeed.
Types of spreads in sports betting
Spreads can be either plus or minus. With a minus, or negative, spread (e.g. -12.5 points), the team on which the bet is placed must win with a score difference that is positive even if you subtract from it the value of the spread. In our case, it must be a win with a difference of 13 points or more. This would allow the winner to retain the advantage even when the spread is subtracted from his score.
Plus (or positive) spread is a number to be added to the final score of the underdog. If, after this process, the score of the match turns out to be winning for the underdog, the positive spread wins, otherwise, the bet loses. For example, if a player bets on -12.5 points spread for one of the basketball teams in a game, it means that it must concede no more than 12 points or win the game for the bet to hit.
Summary
Bets on spreads in basketball, baseball and American football look much more interesting than traditional bets on the outcomes. Also, they can make good profits if done right. However, making such bets still requires experience and the ability to analyze matches, so beginners should practise on other types of bets first.