The Twenty20 World Cup has arrived and, for a game that has taken the world by storm in recent years, almost went under the radar. The tournament is being hosted by the West Indies and could offer some great value when it comes to spread betting markets. If you are going to bet the spreads on this competition, you really do need to keep your wits about you, and to really understand what you are betting.

A good example of this is the following spread betting option (SportingIndex):

A prediction on the lowest ‘1st 6 Overs’ team score in the competition. Note: Innings reduced to less than 6 overs and innings where a winning run chase is achieved do not count.

This spread is taken over all games in the tournaments and will be paid on the team that scores the lowest total in the first six overs over the match – either batting first or batting second. The spread for this bet is 22-23 – if you bet over then you get paid for every run over 23. If you bet under then you get paid for every run under 22.

Spread betting can be confusing so be sure to read the conditions attached to each bet very clearly. Take the following bet:

Aggregate total of runs scored where teams are all out for less than 100 runs. For example, team is all-out for 82. Result for this market will be 18. Note: Applies to all 27 matches played in the tournament. Where a match has no official result but there is a settlement for this particular market as determined by Sporting Index then this settlement will count for long term purposes. Where there is no official result and no settlement for this particular market then an allocation will apply. The allocation will be 2 per game.

What is important to note about this spread is that it is based on an aggregate of the differences between 100 and the team’s score below 100. In the example, the value used towards the aggregate is 18. However, also make a note of the non-result games. Non-result games will have 2 runs added to the aggregate.

Considering there are 27 matches, the current spread of 60-68 seems rather low. It is also a fairly wide spread as well. Spread betting can be a challenging form of betting – the rewards can be great but so too the losses. If you enjoy getting into statistics then spread betting on events like the World Twenty20 Cup could be right up your alley – otherwise – tread cautiously.