Financial gambling can be high risk but high reward

Financial gambling is not what many people associate with gambling at all but the very fact that a number of bookmakers offer the facility should tell you that it is something that people do. Not all bookmakers offer financial gambling but Ladbrokes, Paddy Power and Party Gaming are three that do; Party offer their financial gambling through Intertrader which is part of the group. The most common form of gambling on the stock markets is called spread betting and it is simply a bet on whether the stock market you have chosen will move up or down; but it can be high risk high reward gambling as you do not know in advance how much you are gambling. In spread betting you place a stake which can be as little as €1 but it is placed per “point” the value of which depends on the stock market but for example on the London FTSE one point is equivalent to a whole number despite the market actually being quoted to 1 decimal place. If therefore, you believe the FTSE will increase you place a bet at so much a point and if indeed the market rises then you win your stake multiplied by the number of points that the market has risen and of course if you got it wrong you could lose your stake multiplied by the drop in points of the market. There is no time limit on the bets so this form of financial gambling is open ended but there will generally be a daily charge for keeping the bet open. Financial gambling can be great fun and very profitable.