You are here:  

The growth of financial betting

The huge growth in online betting has been such that there now a growing number of punters entering the burgeoning financial betting market. While the initial growth of online betting was focused around gamblers betting on the outcome of horse racing, football, basketball and ice hockey, it now seems as though there isn’t many things punters can’t bet on, from betting on their favourite television shows to the names of future royal babies.

From online casinos and thousands of slot machine games to in-play betting, the betting industry has been consistently evolving over the past decade, and the growing interest in financial betting has seen a number of online bookmakers now offering odds on the financial markets.

While some would argue the whole concept of gambling was based purely on luck, there is a growing number of people who refute that suggestion and insist luck has nothing to do with it, pointing instead to the role maths can play in betting. In regular betting, though, no matter how much research a punter does before making a bet, the outcome usually comes down to the roll of a dice, the drop of a ball, injury to a star player or a change in weather conditions on the day of an event.

This is the main difference in financial betting, which is approached in a more cerebral way - especially when dealing with international money or stock markets. While researching the form of a horse or a football team is important to a punter, knowing the fluctuations of a market is essential to anyone betting on the financial markets. While a number of factors can affect the outcome of a sporting event, local or national issues all play a huge role in how financial markets fluctuate throughout a year.

As with all online betting, there is no such thing as a betting certainty. The financial markets can behave in a similar way to a sporting team; enjoying good times and bad times throughout a year. There is a general feeling, however, that the element of risk is less in financial betting. Traders can usually estimate their returns and therefore work out whether they are in-line to win or lose, allowing an element of control about each individual stake.

While online casinos are as popular as ever, financial betting has become more and more attractive with some punters who believe they have more control over their bets. That’s not to say online casinos and online betting will become less popular in the face of the growth of financial betting, but there is definitely a new and attractive option for online betting fans.

The growth in popularity in financial betting has seen some mainstream bookmakers enter the market. For example, bet365's Financials offers beginners the chance to learn the ropes. The site shows in-depth graphs and statistics of the market fluctuations, offering players the chance to review the moving odds, statistical odds throughout the day in order to monitor the trends in the markets.