Although Wednesday was not the most eventful day in the world of sport,  we still saw the remaining EFL Cup 2^nd round matches – with all three Premier League clubs who were in action progressing – along with the final Champions League qualifiers, which saw Rangers secure their return to the competition by beating PSV.

In The Hundred, London Spirit sent Welsh Fire crashing to a sixth defeat in six as they ran out comfortable 17-run winners on Wednesday night at Lord's, a victory that takes them top of the table with two games to play.

Among the other sport, the pre-US Open tennis continued, with both the men’s and women’s draws closer to forming with the final places being fought for in the qualifying stages, while in the basketball we saw the continuation of the European matches as part of World Cup qualification.

As usual, we look at three big winning spread bets from Wednesday’s action.

Please remember that unlike fixed odds betting, when spread betting losses can exceed deposits.

PSV V RANGERS – CROSS BOOKINGS (SETTLED AT 1500)

A managerial match-up between former Dutch playing legends in Ruud van Nistelrooy and Giovanni van Bronckhorst saw the latter celebrating, in what was a celebratory night for Rangers as their 1-0 victory allowed them to secure their spot in the Champions League group stages.

It was also a celebratory one for some spread betting punters, especially those who decided to buy on the cross-bookings market.

With PSV ending with 50 booking points (with 30 of these in the last 10 minutes of the match) and Rangers on 30, the cross bookings markets settled at 1,500 (50x30). With an opening spread of 850 – 970, punters who bought will have ended the evening with 530x their opening wager!

LONDON SPIRIT V WELSH FIRE  – LAUNCH! (SETTLED AT 860)

Dan Lawrence was the star for Spirit in an all-round display, showing his prowess with the bat by smashing three sixes in his 43 off 26 deliveries, before then taking 4-20 with his 20 balls of off-spin.

Lawrence's batting fireworks, along with handy contributions from Adam Rossington (32 off 20) and Ben McDermott (32 off 23) and some late hitting by Kieron Pollard (25no off 17) helped the hosts up to 156-6 batting first.

Punters who wagered on our special ‘Launch!’ market (highest individual batsman score x highest scoring over) would have been celebrating a significant win if they chose to sell on the opening spread of 1225 – 1325, with the 860 make-up meaning a 365x return!

FRANCE V CZECH REPUBLIC – CZECH REPUBLIC TO WIN 1^ST HALF (SETTLED AT 100)

With the basketball action seeing several match-ups in qualification between clear favourites and massive underdogs, one such match was the French team hosting the Czechs. Starting as overwhelmingly odds-on to grab the victory, the French team started slowly in the opening quarters, and this allowed the plucky Czechs to stay in with a chance of a shock victory.

With the half-time score at 42 – 38 and France trailing, savvy punters had a chance for significant profit with the ‘Team to Win 1^st Half’ market. The Czechs were available at a spread of 7.6 – 14.3, meaning the make-up of 100 left bettors with an 85.7x return on their opening stake!

Ultimately, the French side took over in the final two quarters and celebrated a comfortable 95-60 victory, but punters who had profited from the Czech’s spirited start would also have been sharing the joy.

Please note that these are examples of winning bets from the past week, and it is important to remember that spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital and can result in losses larger than your initial stake/deposit.