Get ready to spread bet the Olympics

Next summer, arm yourself with a mobile phone and a spread betting account and you might get to see some of the world's top athletes at the Olympics and go home with a profit, says Tim Bennett.

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No matter which country hosts the Olympic games, one thing about it is always a given it's an expensive day out.

Sure, we Brits have the advantage of not having to stump up for a flight to, say, Beijing or Sydney this year, but opening ceremony seats range up to around £2,000, while anyone hoping to catch the men's 100m sprint final will pay up to £725 - or about £75 a second. Best time that trip to the (no doubt overcrowded) bars and loos carefully! And that's before considering the cost of getting there, paying for lunch and so on. Luckily for spread betters, there will be plenty of chances to make some money on the side.

Just now, specific Olympic spread bets are thin on the ground many firms are holding back on releasing spreads until nearer the time. At several brokers you can place a bet on the total number of medals you think team GB will pick up, but not a lot else.

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However, this is a space worth watching as the Olympics offers a feast of potential money-making opportunities. For example, in Beijing one of the most closely watched events by sports enthusiasts and betters alike was the men's 100m. Anyone who sold the finishing time short cleaned up when Usain Bolt stormed home in an eye-popping 9.69 seconds. But there will be plenty of other events to choose from too - "we will be going with a full market on every gold medal event" says Neil Evans of Centrebet.com in the FT.

So, start doing your homework, keep an eye on the sports betting brokers' websites and "make sports even more interesting by having a little flutter". Who knows armed with a mobile phone and a spread betting account you might get to see some of the world's top athletes live and go home with a profit!

Tim Bennett

Tim graduated with a history degree from Cambridge University in 1989 and, after a year of travelling, joined the financial services firm Ernst and Young in 1990, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1994.

He then moved into financial markets training, designing and running a variety of courses at graduate level and beyond for a range of organisations including the Securities and Investment Institute and UBS. He joined MoneyWeek in 2007.

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