Spreads Review of the Year 2021

What a great sporting year 2021 proved to be, with the delayed Euros and Olympic Games added to an all-English Champions League final, a thrilling Premier League championship race, cricket’s T20 World Cup and the most amazing F1 title race in recent memory.

Throw in the emergence of teenager Emma Raducanu from unknown to Grand Slam winner, Rachel Blackmore shining in both the Grand National and at Cheltenham, a record-breaking Ryder Cup and Tom Brady rolling back the years at the Super Bowl, and 2021 really was a sporting year to remember.

While we enjoyed the action from our armchairs, where were the best opportunities to make some money? We take a look at the biggest spread betting winners from the biggest sporting events of 2021.

Were you on any of these? If not why not?! And more importantly, what can be learnt to try and ensure you’re on the biggest winners of 2022 when we revisit this in a year’s time?

January

Event: Darts World Championship

Date: 03.01.21
Market: Dave Chisnall v Gary Anderson (Highest Checkout x Total 180s)
Make-up: 4420
Initial spread: 3538-3683
Potential profit: 737 x initial stake

Gerwyn Price won his first world title with a resounding 7-3 win over two-time champ Gary Anderson. The former rugby pro showed a few nerves before he finally got over the line, missing 11 match darts before 12^th time was a charm, but he finally claimed the title and £500,000 1^st prize, replacing Michael van Gerwen as world number one after seven years in the process.

It was Anderson’s semi-final win over Dave Chisnall on January 2^nd where the big money was won though, with buyers of the Highest Checkout x Total 180s market making 737 times their bet. Both players hit 13 maximums, while Chizzy fired in a maximum 170 checkout for good measure.

February

Event: Super Bowl

Date: 07.02.21
Market: Kansas City v Buffalo: Kansas City Launch! (longest pass x longest run from scrimmage)
Make-up: 3550
Initial spread: 1130-1280
Potential profit: 2270 x initial stake

Tom Brady proved like a fine wine he improves with age, winning his 7^th Super Bowl in his first season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after 20 years in New England. The 43-year-old became the oldest man ever to play in a Super Bowl and has now won more Super Bowls than any NFL franchise. Despite starting as underdogs against the reigning champions, Brady guided the Bucs to a comfortable 31-9 victory.

It was in the AFC Championship game on January 25^th that we found our biggest NFL winner, buying the Kansas City Launch! market. The Chiefs beat the Bills 38-24 to make it to the Super Bowl, and Chiefs Launch! buyers made 2270 times their bet.

March

Event: Cheltenham Festival

Date: 16.03.21-19.03.21
Market: Squared Numbers (winning number of each horse multiplied by itself, then aggregated) – 19.03.21
Make-up: 1209
Initial spread: 705-780
Potential profit: 429 x initial stake

Rachel Blackmore was the leading jockey at the Cheltenham Festival, riding six winners including Honeysuckle in the Champion Hurdle on the opening afternoon. She almost added the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Jack Kennedy on Minella Indo pipping her mount A Plus Tard. That was a 1-2 for trainer Henry de Bromhead, who landed a unique treble, adding the Champion Chase to the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup.

Our biggest winning spread bet was in the Squared Numbers market on the Friday of the festival, when a succession of high numbered winners saw a make-up more than 400 points higher than the spread.

March

Event: Six Nations Championship

Date: 06.02.21-26.03.21
Market: Wales v England Match Multi-Points (1^st half points x 2^nd half points) – 27.02.21
Make-up: 1023
Initial spread: 389-428
Potential profit: 595 x initial stake

Wales won the Six Nations Championship in a rollercoaster final week that saw their Grand Slam hopes dashed by defeat in France, but Scotland go to Paris six days later to claim an unlikely victory and end French hopes of pipping Wales to the title.

It was Wales’s thumping of England where we saw our biggest Six Nations spread winner, buying the Match Multi-Points market and seeing Wales turn a 17-14 half-time lead into a resounding 40-24 victory, banking those buyers a profit of 595 times their bet.

April

Event: Grand National

Date: 10.04.21
Market: Irish Trained Specials 100-60-30-20-10-5 (Index paying 100 points to 1^st, 60 to 2^nd, 30 to 3^rd, 20 to 4^th, 10 to 5^th, 5 to 6^th on each race)
Make-up: 220
Initial spread: 49-57
Potential profit: 163 x initial stake

Just three weeks after claiming the top jockey title at Cheltenham, Rachel Blackmore was at it again, becoming the first female jockey to win the Grand National, flying home on 11/1 shot Minella Times. It was another 1-2 for Henry De Bromhead, with 100/1 Balko Des Flos 2^nd.

Our biggest spread winner took advantage of De Bromhead’s amazing day, buying the performance of Irish horses. They filled the first five places, with Any Second Now (15/2), Burrows Saint (9-1) and Farclas (16-1) taking the minor places to give buyers almost the maximum profit, 163 times their stake.

May

Event: World Snooker Championship

Date: 17.04/21-03.05.21
Market: Judd Trump v Dave Gilbert Frame 10 Multi-Points (Trump total points x Gilbert total points) – 26.04.21
Make-up: 4884
Initial spread: 1361-1511
Potential profit: 3373 x initial stake

Mark Selby claimed his fourth world title with a high quality 18-15 victory over Shaun Murphy in front of the first capacity crowd at a British sporting event in more than a year. The Jester from Leicester led 14-11 going into the final session, and while Murphy rallied from 17-13 to 17-15, Selby remained calm and is now behind only all-time greats Stephen Hendry (7) and Ray Reardon, Steve Davis and Ronnie O’Sullivan (all 6) in number of world titles won in the modern era.

It was in the 2^nd Round clash between Judd Trump and Dave Gilbert we found our biggest spread bet winner of the tournament, buying Multi-Points in Frame 10. Trump took the frame 74-66, giving a massive market make-up of 4884 and a profit of 3373 times their bet.

May

Event: Premier League title

Date: 12.09.20- 11.05.21
Market: Man United v Southampton Shirts x Bookings (total shirt numbers of goalscorers x total booking points) – 02.02.21
Make-up: 17700
Initial spread: 1425-1625
Potential profit: 16075 x initial stake

Manchester City were confirmed as Premier League champions for the third time in four years when closest rivals Manchester United were beaten by Leicester. That left City 10 points clear and with United only having three games left, the title was theirs. City went on to win the title by 12 points, rounding off the season with a 5-0 thrashing of Everton that saw Sergio Aguero come on for a late cameo in his final appearance and grab two goals.

Across the season, the biggest spread betting winner pocketed 16,075 times their stake with a buy in the Shirts x Bookings market in the Manchester United v Southampton game. United thrashed the Saints 9-0, and the visitors had two players sent off among a flurry of cards in an amazing match.

May

Event: Champions League Final

Date: 29.05.21
Market: Match Performance (awards 15 points for a goal, 3 for a corner, 5 for a yellow card, 15 for a red, 10 for a penalty, -25 for a 0-0 draw)
Make-up: 42
Initial spread: 83-88
Potential profit: 41 x initial stake

Kai Havertz scored the only goal of the game as Chelsea and Manchester City largely cancelled each other out in a disappointing all English final.

Unsurprisingly, our biggest spread winner came from a seller who saw this war of attrition coming. Selling the Match Performance garnered a profit of 41 times the bet as the London side shut the final down.

July

Event: Euro 2020

Date: 11.06.21 – 11.07.21
Market: Euro 2020 Quarter-Finals TV Specials Group Corner Bonanza (aggregate of multiplying the total corners in each Euro 2020 QF together) – 02/07/21+ 03/07/21
Make-up: 16800
Initial spread: 6050-6850
Potential profit: 9950 x initial stake

After a year’s delay, Euro 2020 finally got underway in June, and it was Italy who had the first and last say in who would win this title. Roberto Mancini’s men won the opening match 3-0 against Turkey, were arguably the most impressive team throughout the month-long competition, before also winning the final match of the tournament, beating England 3-2 on penalties at Wembley after the two teams had played out a 1-1 draw.

Our biggest spread winner took advantage of the Corner Bonanza market that was made up of the four corner totals over the quarter-final games all multiplied together. There was only five corners in England’s 4-0 win over Ukraine, but the other three games more than made up for that, with 15 in the 1-1 draw between Spain and Switzerland, 14 in Italy’s 2-1 over Belgium and 16 in Denmark’s 2-1 win over the Czech Republic. Multiplying those together resulted in a make-up of 16,800, a profit of 9950 times the stake.

July

Event: Tokyo Olympics

Date: 23.07.21 – 08.08.21
Market: Olympic Football Men’s Sunday Group (8) Total Goal Mins (total goal minutes over all the day’s men’s Olympic football matches) – 25.07.21
Make-up: 1494
Initial spread: 1076-1176
Potential profit: 318 x initial stake

Delayed due to Covid, and held mainly in empty stadia or in front of much reduced capacities, the Tokyo Olympics were still a resounding success, with memorable performances and achievements in sports old and new. Team GB managed a total of 65 medals – 22 gold, 21 silver, 22 bronze – to finish 4^th in the medal table.

Our biggest spread betting winner was found early in the men’s football tournament, with buyers of Total Goal Minutes across the whole day’s action making a profit of 318 times their bet. On the day in question, France beat South Africa 4-3, South Korea put four past Romania and Germany and Honduras both came out on top by the odd goal in five.

September

Event: Women’s US Open Final – Emma Raducanu v Leylah Fernandez

Date: 11.09.21
Market: Set 1 Cross Points (Total Set 1 Raducanu points x Total Set 1 Fernandez points)
Make-up: 1634
Initial spread: 1002-1077
Potential profit: 557 x initial stake

Emma Raducanu became the first qualifier in the Open era to win a Grand Slam with an amazing run at the US Open. The 18 year old from Kent became the first British female to win a Grand Slam in 44 years, and did so without dropping a set. Raducanu took the title by defeating Canada’s Leylah Fernandez 6-4 6-3.

In an explosive encounter, neither of these teenage surprise finalists took a backward step, and as both racked up the points, buyers of Cross Points started to see their profits mount up. Raducanu won 43 points to Fernandez’s 38 as she took the 1^st set, rewarding Cross Points buyers with a profit of 557 times their initial stake.

September

Event: Ryder Cup

Date: 26.09.21
Market: Dustin Johnson Player Performance (50 points for winning an individual match, 50 points if part of the winning team, 100 points if top individual scorer, -50 if player scores zero points)
Make-up: 400
Initial spread: 129-149
Potential profit: 251 x initial stake

Team USA regained the Ryder Cup in record-breaking fashion with a 19-9 victory at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. The hosts dominated from the off, leading 6-2 after Friday’s foursomes and fourballs and 11-5 going into Sunday, leaving themselves needing just 3½ points from the 12 singles matches.

Star of the show was Dustin Johnson, who became the first American since 1979 to win all five matches and in doing so won buyers of his Player Performance 251 times their stake.

November

Event: T20 World Cup Final

Date: 14.11.21
Market: Australia/Opposition
Make-up: 330
Initial spread: 80-100
Potential profit: 230 x initial stake

Australia claimed the only major title that had previously eluded them, winning the T20 World Cup for the first time by beating New Zealand by 8 wickets in the final. Mitchell Marsh was the unlikely hero, smashing an unbeaten 77 from 50 balls to surpass the Black Caps’ 173 with seven balls to spare.

That result added to the biggest spread betting win we saw on the T20 World Cup, with buyers of the Australia/Opposition supremacy making 230 times their bet. The Aussies were thumped by eight wickets by England in the group stage, but won every other game to ultimately come out on top.

December

Event: F1 World Championship finale – Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Date: 12.12.21
Market: Carloz Sainz Race Index (Index paying 100 points to 1^st, 80 to 2^nd, 60 to 3^rd, 40 to 4^th, 30 to 5^th, 25 to 6^th, 20 to 7^th, 15 to 8^th, 10 to 9^th and 5 to 10^th)
Make-up: 60
Initial spread: 25-29
Potential profit: 31 x initial stake

Max Verstappen claimed his first F1 World Championship with a thrilling last lap overtaking manoeuvre to deny race leader Lewis Hamilton his record 8^th title. In one of the all-time great seasons, Verstappen was a lock to win the title with three races remaining, but Hamilton battled back, winning back-to-back races at tracks thought to favour the Red Bull, to go into the final race in Abu Dhabi dead level.

Our biggest spreads winner on the F1 season finale was actually buying the performance of 3^rd place finisher Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard had to finish 5^th or better to make a profit for buyers of his Race Index, and his podium finish saw buyers pocket 31 times their stake.