Betting Terminology

• Balance: the amount of money in your account.
• Buy: if you think the final result will be higher than the price quoted, you would buy the market.
• Buying price: the higher of the two prices that make up the spread; this is the price that we offer you if you wish to buy.
• Close: stopping your bet before the market has settled in order to reduce your loss or take a profit.
• Hedge: to place a bet against your existing position in order to reduce your exposure.
• In play / in-running: betting on a market while the event is taking place, as opposed to placing your bet before the start.
• Index: a market with allocated points for each potential result. With an index in a football match, for example, a team is awarded 25 points for a win, 10 points for a draw and 0 points for a loss.
• Jolly: the favourite; typically refers to the favourite in a horse race.
• Long: if you have placed a buy bet, you are said to be long of a market. You want the makeup to be high.
• Long term: a market on a series of events rather than an individual event. The market on who will win the Premier League, for example, is a long term market.
• Make-up: the final result of an event. If a football match finishes 3-0, the make-up of the total goals market is 3.
• Margin: additional money that we ask you to deposit to cover the potential loss of existing position.
• Match bet: a market between two players or two teams where you bet on the margin of victory.
• Market suspended: occasionally markets will be temporarily unavailable for trade. We say in this case that the market is suspended.
• Max make-up: the highest possible result that a market can settle at. Occasionally this is determined by the structure of the market (e.g. the max make-up in a 100 Index is 100). Occasionally this is specified arbitrarily to reduce the volatility of the market (e.g. the max make-up in a national hunt horse racing match bet is 15 lengths).
• Mid-point: the half-way point between the buy price and sell price. If the spread is 7-9, the midpoint is 8. This is what we believe the “true price” to be.
• Min make-up: the lowest possible result that a market can settle at.
• Monkey: an old horse racing term for £500.
• Multi corners: the number or corners in the first half multiplied by the numbers of corners in the second half.
• Non-runner: a horse, team or individual that does not contest the event having originally been entered. The presence of a non-runner may necessitate the market being re-priced- if this happens in a horse racing event it is called a Rule 4.
• Open position: a bet that has not yet been settled.
• Performance (index): a market which aggregates points for various metrics within the event. A football performance index, for example, might award a team points for wins, goals, and corners while penalising them for yellow and red cards.
• Pony: an old horse racing term for £25.
• Rule 4: see non-runner.
• Sell: if you think the final result will be lower than the price quoted, you would sell the market.
• Selling price: the lower of the two prices that make up the spread, this is the price that we offer you if you wish to sell.
• Settlement: the final result of the market once the event is finished.
• Short: if you have placed a sell bet, you are said to be short of a market. You want the makeup to be low.
• Spread: the difference between the buying price and the selling price.
• Spread-free: a promotional offer which allows you to trade at the mid-point of the buying price and the selling price. If the spread of a batsman’s runs was 46-50, a spread-free bet would allow you to either buy or sell at 48.
• Shirts: a market where you bet on the aggregate shirt numbers of any players who score a goal or a try.
• Stake: the amount you bet per point.
• Supremacy: a market where you bet on the margin of victory.
• Tick: 1/10th of a point.
• Your choice: also known as “pick ‘em”, a supremacy bet where we think the competitors are equally matched. You can “pick” the favourite.

Now that you’re familiar with all the spread-betting ‘lingo’, it’s time to put your knowledge to the test and start betting with the best firm around.

Just click here to apply for your account, or call us on 08082349709 (UK) or 1800624624 (IRE)