What Is Cricket Spread Betting?
Spread betting in cricket is a form of betting where instead of betting on the fixed odds people are used to, you are betting on specific outcomes from performances, ODIs, T20 games, test matches or country fixtures.
Where spread betting differs from traditional fixed-odds betting is that you can win more money depending on how correct your prediction(s) may be. However, the more incorrect your bet is, the more you stand to lose. In some cases, this could mean losing more than the money you originally staked.
How Cricket Spread Betting Works
Here’s a quick rundown of how spread betting on cricket works. Let’s say England is facing Pakistan and SportSpread has predicted England is going to score between 300 (sell price) and 310 (buy price) runs.
You may have done your research and feel confident England will surpass the prediction of 310, therefore you decide to BUY at a stake of £10. Let's say your prediction is right and England surpasses SportsSpread’s prediction of 310 and scores 350 runs. With each run being bought at £10, and England scoring 40 more runs than SportsSpread predicted, you would have just won yourself £400 from your £10 stake. This is how it is worked out:
(Settled Price - Spread) x Stake
(350 - 310) x £10
40 x £10 = £400 Profit
Now, this is all great, but what if your prediction doesn’t work out? What would have happened if England only managed to achieve 280 runs?
(Settled Price - Spread) x Stake
(280 - 310) x £10
-30 x £10 = £300 Loss
Your £10 stake has turned into a £300 loss. Whilst you can win a lot more than you would with standard fixed-odds betting, you also risk the chance of losing far more than your stake.
Let’s have a look to see how the most popular cricket betting markets work.
The Difference Between Cricket Spread Betting & Fixed-Odds Betting
Spread Betting is becoming a popular form of sports betting because of the potential outcome in profits if your predictions are correct.
Fixed-odds betting gives you money on your return no matter how emphatic your prediction might be. Whereas spread betting rewards you on how correct you are. If you bet a team will score more than 200 runs, you will be awarded for every run past the amount you bet on.
In fixed-odds betting, if you were offered odds of 2/1 that a team was going to score more than 200 runs, you would be rewarded £20 on a £10 stake if you were right. With spread betting, if you BUY 200 runs at a stake of £10 and they score 250 runs, you will make a £500 profit.
One thing to be mindful of with spread betting is that if your prediction is incorrect, you stand to lose more than just the money you stake.
Most Popular Cricket Betting Markets
Supremacy Spreads
One of the most popular cricket markets you can bet on is called ‘Supremacy’ spread betting.
With Supremacy spread betting, you bet on the margin of victory. For a supremacy bet in cricket, the winning margin is calculated as one point for every run the team wins by, or 10 points per wicket that are won if the team is batting second.
One example of this would be if SportsSpread quoted England vs Pakistan with a supremacy price of 20 - 30 in an ODI. This price implies that SportsSpread traders believe England will beat Pakistan by 20 - 30 runs. You can then either BUY at 30 runs or SELL at 20 runs. If you BUY and England wins by 70 runs, then your return would work out as follows:
(Settled Price - BUY Price) x Stake
(70 - 30) x £10
40 x £10 = £400 Profit
However, if Pakistan wins by one wicket, 10 points will be awarded for every wicket that Pakistan wins by. This scenario would effectively be settled at -10 in terms of the England/Pakistan supremacy market. This means Buyers who are buying 30 at £10 would have the following result:
(Settled Price - BUY Price) x Stake
(-10 - 30) x £10
-40 x £10 = £400 Loss
View Cricket Markets
Batting Spreads
‘Batting Runs’ is based on the number of runs the named batsmen will score in either one inning, the duration of the match or throughout the series, there are many different batting markets to choose from.
An example of this would be SportsSpread quoting 50-55 for a named batsman’s runs in a match. Let’s say you decide to sell the spread with a £5 stake. If the batter is bowled out for 25 runs, the market would be settled at 25:
(SELL Price - Settled Price) x Stake
(50 - 25) x £5
25 x £5 = £125 Profit
If the named batsman were to be bowled out for 75 runs, you would make a loss of £125.
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Bowling Spreads
Similar to ‘Batsman Spreads’, there are three different markets for ‘Bowler Spreads’:
Series Wickets: A spread of how many wickets an individual bowler will take over the course of a series/match/innings.
Bowler Performance: Bowler performance can be bet on throughout a single test match. 10 points are awarded per wicket taken. A bonus of 25 points is given for a five-wicket haul.
Player Performance: Bet on a named player's performance throughout a one-day match. Players will be awarded 1 point per run, 10 points per catch, 20 points for every wicket taken and 25 points for stumping a player out.
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