A spread to tempt the hungry punter

SPORT has long played a leading role in the plot to persuade good folk to risk their money on the vague promise that riches will result. Wagering on the strength and skill of men or the fleetness of animals goes back to the cradle of civilisation. Mankind has always been partial to a punt but I bet that no more concentrated assault on this primeval instinct will ever have been mounted in Britain than that which is about to burst upon us.

It could be argued that the National Lottery, which starts next month, does not have a lot to do with sport. If it was not for sport, however, the lottery may never have happened. The fact that sport would be a principal beneficiary was of prime importance to the lottery lobby that eventually ground down the government.

And sport may well be the uppermost thought in the minds of the old ladies who will soon be clamouring for the bright and flimsy lottery tickets in the shops and at the supermarket check-outs. There is the lure of becoming a multi-millionairess, of course, but the wickedness of such an ambition can be mitigated by the thought that your real motive is to assist good causes. The only puzzling aspect about it all is why it is necessary to give so much help to a rival concern. I refer to the football pools who, it was announced last week, have to be given parity with the National Lottery under the new Act. Pools coupons will now be available in the same shops and outlets, the age of those allowed to fill them in is reduced from 18 to 16, and the big prizes can be carried over in weeks when there are many draws. This will lead to pools jackpots reaching pounds 8m and, even before it gets into its stride, the lottery will find itself with very stiff competition for the nation's pocket money.

Neither can we expect all other forms of gambling to remain the same. Betting shops have been granted permission to seek customers more aggressively by revealing their interiors to passers-by and offering refreshment. Both that, and Sunday racing, will bring the bookmakers more opportunities than ever before to increase the allure of betting opportunities.

Even within the bookmaking fraternity, there is emerging a new form of betting that is capable of creating an interest in those who like a gamble that involves a degree of skill. The pickings may not be so grand but the challenge is undoubtedly more enjoyable than merely buying a ticket, or waiting for eight crosses to line up in the same column.

Spread betting is not a new concept but it has been slow in establishing itself. The difficulty is that spread betting is so complicated, and difficult to explain, that slow progress is all it can expect. There are three companies who offer the service - City Index, IG Index and Sporting Index - and the last named appear to be making the most concerted attempt to spread the word about what they claim is a fascinating way of pitting your wits against the book.

The theory is born of the City and is more akin to the buying and selling of shares in the stock market than the normal method of placing a bet at the odds offered by a bookmaker, a process in which you know exactly what you can win or lose. In spread betting, you will not know how much you have won or lost until the event is over.

Those running spread betting firms declare a number that represents their opinion on the outcome of a sporting event or an aspect of it - it could be the number of points scored in a rugby match, or goals at football, or runs in a cricket innings, or the number of favourites who will win at the races, or even on the winning margins.

Take rugby as an example. Their idea of the total number of points that will be scored in an international is, say, 30. They take a margin one point either side of that figure for themselves and offer you a spread of 29-31 points. If you think more than 31 points will be scored you buy at 31 points at a stake of your choice. If you think fewer points will be scored, you sell at 29. If the result is a total of 46 points and you bought at 31 you have won 15 times your stake. If you sold at 29 you have lost 17 times your stake.

Since the Index people update their spread during an event, you can cut losses or take profit at any time. This also applies to long-

running events like the FA Cup, and it is this flexibility that the spread-betters say gives them the edge over conventional betting.

In golf, the most popular bet is on the final finishing positions. If they think Nick Faldo is going to finish 22nd they will offer the spread 21-23 about him. If you think he is going to do better, you sell at the lower number. If he wins, you win 20 times your stake. If he finishes 50th you lose 29 times your stake. You undoubtedly get better prices for winning compared with the ordinary bookmaker but you also risk a heavier loss.

It is an advantage of spread betting that you can bet horses, jockeys, football teams, golfers to play badly without having to select a rival to beat them. This has drawn a loud protest from the trainer Jenny Pitman who says that this could be an enticement to malpractice. Sporting Index reply that they are merely giving the punter the chance to act like a bookmaker.

Compton Hellyer, one of the founders of Sporting Index, says: 'Yes, you can make money out of someone performing badly. But every time you bet on someone to win, you are betting on the others to lose. We are offering a greater range of opportunities for people to back their sporting judgement in many different ways. My impression is that people are fed up with backing horses who don't try and would prefer to put their money where their judgement is more the telling factor.'

Hellyer previously dealt in gold and silver futures and felt that dealing in sporting futures was more exciting. Now in their third year, Sporting Index had most of their early support from the City where spread betting was more readily understood. Now the City provide only 25 per cent of their 3,500 clients.

They operate from an office in Kennington, in London, where their resident sporting experts, surrounded by every sporting reference book and 15 televisions, are constantly updating their spreads via Teletext. During the World Cup they worked all night. Golf is their fastest growing sport. 'Most of our experts make extra money betting golf with Ladbrokes,' says Hellyer. 'The trick is never to bet until after the second round. Before that you are betting blind.'

Their biggest blunder so far was to offer the spread that 16-18 players would break par in The Open at Turnberry. The total was 39. But Wednesday's 1-1 draw at Wembley was kinder to them. Most punters expected a lot more goals. With so many simple ways of having a flutter now available, the spread merchants are going to have to work hard to get their rather complicated message across. But real gamblers like more of a run for their money than watching a number being pulled out of a hat.

PROCEEDS from the National Lottery were supposed to support the good causes of sport. So why did the British Olympic people launch a pounds 4m appeal last week? I thought this was precisely why we are having a lottery. Taking the begging bowl around too often will harm rather than help the cause.