A spread betting calculator shows you the one thing fixed-odds bets never do: how far a bet can go against you. Total goals in a match is quoted at 2.6–2.9. Buy at 2.9 for £10 a goal and a 5-goal game wins you £21. A 1–0 loses you £19. A 0–0 loses £29, nearly three times your stake.
The free calculator above handles any sports spread: goals, corners, booking points, shirt numbers. Enter the quote, buy or sell, your stake per point and the result.
Spread betting calculator: buy or sell
Buy: profit = (result − buy price) × stake per point Sell: profit = (sell price − result) × stake per point
Buy if you think the result will beat the higher number. Sell if you think it’ll fall short of the lower one. The gap between the two, 0.3 goals in the example, is the spread firm’s margin. At £10 a goal it costs you £3 before a ball is kicked.
Sell at 2.6 instead and a 0–0 pays £26. But a 4–3 means 7 goals, 4.4 below where you need to be, and a £44 loss. The more the result moves, the more you win or lose. That’s the appeal, and the risk.
Booking points: a worked example
Booking points usually count 10 for a yellow card and 25 for a red. A derby is quoted at 38–42. You sell at 38 for £2 a point, expecting a quiet game. It isn’t: five yellows and one red make 75, and you lose (38 − 75) × £2 = £74. In open-ended markets like this, selling has no ceiling on the loss. That’s why many firms offer a stop loss, and the calculator has a box for one under “More options”.
Before you place one
Work out your worst realistic result first, then choose a stake per point you could afford at that result. Spread betting firms will ask for a deposit or credit limit that covers it. This page is about sports spreads only. Financial spread betting on shares and indices works on the same buy-and-sell principle but is a different product. For fixed-odds bets where the most you can lose is your stake, the bet calculator settles every type.
Spread bets can lose many times the stake. Only trade amounts you could cover at the worst result. BeGambleAware.org is free and confidential if it stops being fun.