One of the interesting aspects of spread betting is that a book can be conducted on a number of different areas. In football, you can have spread betting markets on total goals, or total corners, for example. I notice in the upcoming six nations rugby tournament that there is a spread betting market for the prediction on the total shirt numbers of try-scorers scored by England in the Six-Nations. This spread by the way is 68-73.

Other spreads include the prediction on the aggregate distance of all successful kicks at goal (including Drop Goals) for England in the Six-Nations (measured in meters). The spread for this market is 660-680. Good luck in guessing that one with any accuracy.

More traditional spreads include the total tries scored by England in the Six-Nations – 7.7 – 8.2 and the total points scored by England in the Six-Nations – 96 – 100.

Spread betting has become extremely popular with millions often outlayed on tournaments such as the six nations. You would be amazed at what spreads bookmakers can think up these days. The total shirt number is not by any means a new idea. For some popular events, you can bet on spreads for crowd numbers, the number of arrests (inside the ground) and the amount of injury time added at the end of a match just to name a few.

Of course, the standard spreads of winning margins, total scores and the number of penalties are still the most popular in rugby, and probably the easiest to predict.

The six nations rugby tournament is a highlight of the rugby season (apart from the World Cup, of course) and spread betting is certainly one of the more popular forms on betting on this tournament. Six nations spread betting – what are your tips?