What is an Alternate Spread in Sports Betting for Beginners?

[shanz]

What is an Alternate Spread?
An alternate spread is a type of bet you can make on sports games. It's different from the regular point spread because it lets you choose a different number of points (or goals in soccer) for your bet. This can make your bet safer or riskier.

Imagine there's a soccer game between Manchester United and Liverpool.

Regular Spread:
Manchester United needs to win by exactly 1 goal.

Alternate Spreads in Sport Betting:
You can bet that Manchester United will win by more than 2 goals.
Or you can bet that Manchester United will win by just 1 goal, or even lose by up to 1 goal.

How It Works
When you choose an alternate spread, the chances of winning (odds) change. Here’s an example:

Manchester United, -2 goals, +300
This means Manchester United must win by more than 2 goals.
If you bet $100, you could win $300 because it’s harder to win by 3 or more goals.

Manchester United, +1 goal, -200
This means Manchester United can win, draw, or even lose by 1 goal.
If you bet $100, you might win $50 because it’s easier to win, draw, or lose by just 1 goal.

Why Use Alternate Spreads in betting?
Higher Rewards for Riskier Bets (Personally I don't recommend it): If you think Manchester United will win by a lot, you can choose a bigger spread for a higher payout.
Safer Bets for Lower Rewards: If you want a safer bet, you can choose a smaller spread. You’ll win less money, but it’s more safe for beginners.

By using alternate spreads, you can tailor your bets based on how confident you are in a team's performance. For example, if you believe Liverpool will dominate the game, you might choose an alternate spread where they need to win by more goals to get a higher payout. If you think the game will be close, you might choose a spread that allows for a narrow win or even a small loss, making your bet safer.

Remember, gambling can be risky. Only wager what you can afford to lose and gamble responsibly. If you feel you’re losing control, seek help.

[Charles-Tim]

One thing we should always know about bookies is that all odds are set in a way that the match will not likely favour the punters. If it favors this time it may not favour next time. Handicap can be used but it has to be selected wisely. But I am surprised this is a topic of discussion because there are so many other odds on betting sites that people can also choose from.

[Doan9269]

Maybe i should also think of it in this direction that the kind of betting strategy we use can also be determined by saying its an alternate spread or not, though as OP have already spoken that this may involved taking more risk on sports betting for instance as well as going for winning opportunity at the cause of the use of an alternate spread, which is more attributed to sport betting most.

[kevinvance]

An alternate spread in sports betting allows you to adjust the point spread in favor of either team, offering different odds. It gives you more flexibility, but often at the cost of either higher risk or reduced payout, depending on how much you shift the line.

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

Considering that gambling in general has it own risk, sport betting as well having it own game advantage and disadvantages, we cannot also in most cases commit ourselves to doing alternate spread all because we want to have increased chances of winning big, while at the cost or expense of taking more higher risk on winning, many wouldn't like to go by this idea or pattern in their gambling.

[bitterguy28]

we cannot also in most cases commit ourselves to doing alternate spread all because we want to have increased chances of winning big, while at the cost or expense of taking more higher risk on winning, many wouldn't like to go by this idea or pattern in their gambling.

you should analyze each match carefully and look what is the state of the team as well as the players and what are their chances if you are confident with your analysis then you can take the risk and do the alternate spread which will give you higher returns

i would not recommend doing this all the time as it has been established that it is risky and may cause you huge losses even if there is a chance of huge winning

[Agbe]

With what I can deduce from your writeup it is thesame thing as your regular betting I don't see any thing different from it is just another rebranded way of collecting money from people, the so called alternate betting there's nothing special about it weather a club win or lose by two goals or more are all in your regular betting options

[Zed0X]

~
Manchester United, +1 goal, -200
This means Manchester United can win, draw, or even lose by 1 goal.
If you bet $100, you might win $50 because it’s easier to win, draw, or lose by just 1 goal.

In this example, how are you still going to win if they lose by one goal? With a +1 handicap, that will result in a draw. It's a different case if they lose by a goal but with a handicap is +2, you would still win that but the odds are lower for sure.

[Wiwo]

One thing we should always know about bookies is that all odds are set in a way that the match will not likely favour the punters. If it favors this time it may not favour next time. Handicap can be used but it has to be selected wisely. But I am surprised this is a topic of discussion because there are so many other odds on betting sites that people can also choose from.

On few occasions that I bet using the handicap, it was out of mistake, the reason is because I dislike betting with that line of bet, I will rather go for a bet that give me straight winning odds.

And where is select a team to win, and not to predict other events within the match to win point such that it will give me extra stress to get the right predictions.

[Charles-Tim]

On few occasions that I bet using the handicap, it was out of mistake, the reason is because I dislike betting with that line of bet, I will rather go for a bet that give me straight winning odds.

I also prefer to go for straight win. I think the reason some people go for handicap is when a strong club is playing with a club that is not strong. The old for the strong club will be very low in a way the straight win odd may discouraged the bettor. But if go for handicap, they may see the odd to be encouraging and go for it.

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

Just as some may consider taking much of the bests on a particular game riskier or more simpler, we have to understand more of our individuality in taking risk for placing bet as well as our preferences also, gambling is more of getting used to what we like doing, this is more visible to us when we are making use of the best pattern we see that works for us without any hesitation for using it each time we are gambling.

[DragonF]

Gambling is tricky; odds do not determine whether an option is easy or difficult. What appears to be a difficult option with a high odds may become the game's outcome, and it will play out smoothly. If game outcomes were predetermined by odds, then small odds would always win, but this is not the case.