Many people enjoy a bet now and then and the Internet is now the place to have a flutter. There are many websites that offer you the chance to enjoy some fixed-odds betting, but few sites give you the opportunity to try your hand at spread betting. This form of gambling is not that well-known among casual gamblers, but more and more people are starting to discover the excitement associated with it.

Spread betting companies offer customers markets in a number of different fields, but sports betting is the most popular. For many years people have enjoyed betting on major sporting events such as the Grand National and completing the weekly pools. Now though, you can bet on a whole number of sporting situations across a range of different sports, from football and horse racing to golf, darts and athletics.

These sports spread betting markets offer plenty of variation in the betting you can do and are more interesting than the traditional fixed-odds markets. They also give punters the chance to win a lot of money when making a small bet and as you can start with stakes as little as 10p, you can slowly build your understanding of how spreading betting works.

The concept behind spread betting is that the bookmaker predicts what will happen in a certain situation, such as the number of runs a batsman will make in a cricket match. The bookie may predict that England captain Andrew Strauss will make between 80 and 87 runs and this is the spread they will set.

It’s then down to you to decide whether he will score more or less runs and in turn, either buy or sell. If you think he will score fewer runs you can sell at 80 and make money if you’re correct. So if Strauss went on to make just 30 runs and you bet £1, you would make a tidy £50 profit. However, if he actually scored 100 runs you would lose £20, as in spread betting you can lose more than your original stake.

There are many different sporting markets in which you can spread bet, with each sport offering a number of different opportunities. For this Premier League season you can bet on the number of points you think each team will accumulate over the course of the campaign.

You can also bet in-play, with multi-corners just one example of the huge choice of betting opportunities available online. With spread betting you can even create your own bets and pick two players to take each other on, regardless of whether they’re playing each other.

Within spread betting some markets are more volatile than others and if you’re looking to limit your risk you can choose one at the lower end of the scale. Total goals in a football match is an example of one of these. If you’re still concerned about losing you can opt for a stop-loss account and cap the downside of any bet.

Whatever level you’re comfortable with, you can find a sport betting market on the web that suits you and have a flutter to your heart’s content.

Spreading betting can result in losses that exceed your original deposit. Remember to bet responsibly.