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BY ANTONIA SENIOR
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What's the betting on a hat-trick from Alan Shearer?
Photograph: PA ©
THIS afternoon Belgium and Sweden kick off Euro 2000, a three-week football festival. As the 16 teams vie to be the best in Europe, the bookmakers will have a field day. Ladbrokes estimates that betting on the tournament will generate a turnover of £100 million in the UK alone.
For those armchair pundits intending to put their money where their clichés come from, there are more methods than ever before to bet on the event, each with different tax liabilities. If you are determined to risk your cash on the vagaries of a football match, you may as well ensure that you lose it in the most tax-efficient manner possible.
Graham Sharpe, a spokesman for William Hill, says: "Punters now have the option when they place bets of determining exactly what level of tax deductions they want to pay." Different tax structures have arisen because the growth of telephone and Internet gambling has allowed offshore bookmakers to do business in the UK. They are not subject to government tax or duty and so the benefits of this are passed on to the punters.
At present bookmakers in the UK pay a 6.75 per cent betting duty on their total turn-over. This is passed on to the punters in the form of a 9 per cent deduction, which includes administration costs and a levy to help to fund horse racing. The 9 per cent can either be paid on the stake or on winnings. It is up to you to decide at which end you pay it.
The alternative to paying 9 per cent tax is either to bet over the telephone or on the Internet. A UK telephone account will charge 9 per cent but an offshore company will charge only around 3 per cent for administration, and most Internet accounts are tax-free. If you bet with an offshore company, make sure it is a reputable operation because any winnings on sporting events are not legally enforceable.
There has been a general exodus of major UK bookmakers to offshore sites. All the big names, such as William Hill, Ladbrokes and Coral, have overseas operations. This exodus, which prompted the Government's review of the archaic UK tax system, started last year when the Gibraltar-based Victor Chandler International began offering UK punters a telephone service with a 3 per cent levy.
But, whichever method you choose, it is worth shopping around. A trawl of Internet-based bookies can produce a range of odds. For example, if Alan Shearer defies his critics and becomes top scorer of the competition, some bookies will pay out at 12-1 while others will return only 9-1.
Spread betting is one type of gambling that is fast growing in popularity. It is a high-risk, high-thrills way of betting on football. If the prospect of watching Belgium taking on Sweden leaves you cold, your interest may be more engaged if you stand to lose a fortune on the number of touchline throw-ins taken.
Spread betting originated as a way for City types to gamble on the movement of financial markets, but it is a growing force in sports gambling. It has retained its City links by being regulated by the Securities and Futures Authority. But it is a tax-efficient method of gambling because the spread-betting companies pick up any tax liabilities.
Spread betting appears to be complicated to an outsider, primarily because it has its own terminology with its roots on the City trading floors.
The man in a pub watching a football match and shouting into his mobile phone "sell Beckham at 150, and go long on red cards" is part of a club anybody can join - if they have the money and the risk tolerance.
Fixed-odds betting is simple. You put £1 on Alan Shearer to be top scorer at 10-1 and, if he succeeds, you will get £10 back. You know exactly how much you stand to win and how much you will lose.
But spread-betters attempt to out-guess the predictions of the experts at the company. IG Index, for example, believes that the total number of goals scored in Euro 2000 will be between 70.5 and 73. The difference separating the two figures is called the spread. If you believe that the company's prediction is optimistic, you will sell at 70.5 for a fixed sum per goal, and if you think there will be more goals than 73, you will buy.
Say that Euro 2000 turns out to be a bumper tournament for goals scored, and the total number comes to 100. If you had sold at 70.5, at £10 a goal, you would have lost £295 - the difference between the actual number of goals and the price you sold at, multiplied by your stake. If you had bought at 73, you would have won £270.
The company makes its money from the spread, and absorbs any betting duty within that. With most companies you can choose to put a stop on your losses, either by being offered a bigger spread or by having a limit on your winnings. IG Index, for example, will not allow you to win or lose more than 25 times your stake on the total goals market, unless you want to have all the stops removed.
The range of bets is huge in the spread-betting market, at Spreadex, IG Index, William Hill Index, Sporting Index and City Index. You can bet on the number of red cards issued by referees; the fastest goal scored; and even the number of times the ball hits the crossbar throughout the course of the competition.
Because losses can be heavy the companies will make sure that you have sufficient funds before you open an account with them. Spread-betting is not for the faint-hearted, but neither is following England, with the prospect of another penalty shoot-out looming.
Links
What's the betting on a hat-trick from Alan Shearer?
Photograph: PA ©
THIS afternoon Belgium and Sweden kick off Euro 2000, a three-week football festival. As the 16 teams vie to be the best in Europe, the bookmakers will have a field day. Ladbrokes estimates that betting on the tournament will generate a turnover of £100 million in the UK alone.
For those armchair pundits intending to put their money where their clichés come from, there are more methods than ever before to bet on the event, each with different tax liabilities. If you are determined to risk your cash on the vagaries of a football match, you may as well ensure that you lose it in the most tax-efficient manner possible.
Graham Sharpe, a spokesman for William Hill, says: "Punters now have the option when they place bets of determining exactly what level of tax deductions they want to pay." Different tax structures have arisen because the growth of telephone and Internet gambling has allowed offshore bookmakers to do business in the UK. They are not subject to government tax or duty and so the benefits of this are passed on to the punters.
At present bookmakers in the UK pay a 6.75 per cent betting duty on their total turn-over. This is passed on to the punters in the form of a 9 per cent deduction, which includes administration costs and a levy to help to fund horse racing. The 9 per cent can either be paid on the stake or on winnings. It is up to you to decide at which end you pay it.
The alternative to paying 9 per cent tax is either to bet over the telephone or on the Internet. A UK telephone account will charge 9 per cent but an offshore company will charge only around 3 per cent for administration, and most Internet accounts are tax-free. If you bet with an offshore company, make sure it is a reputable operation because any winnings on sporting events are not legally enforceable.
There has been a general exodus of major UK bookmakers to offshore sites. All the big names, such as William Hill, Ladbrokes and Coral, have overseas operations. This exodus, which prompted the Government's review of the archaic UK tax system, started last year when the Gibraltar-based Victor Chandler International began offering UK punters a telephone service with a 3 per cent levy.
But, whichever method you choose, it is worth shopping around. A trawl of Internet-based bookies can produce a range of odds. For example, if Alan Shearer defies his critics and becomes top scorer of the competition, some bookies will pay out at 12-1 while others will return only 9-1.
Spread betting is one type of gambling that is fast growing in popularity. It is a high-risk, high-thrills way of betting on football. If the prospect of watching Belgium taking on Sweden leaves you cold, your interest may be more engaged if you stand to lose a fortune on the number of touchline throw-ins taken.
Spread betting originated as a way for City types to gamble on the movement of financial markets, but it is a growing force in sports gambling. It has retained its City links by being regulated by the Securities and Futures Authority. But it is a tax-efficient method of gambling because the spread-betting companies pick up any tax liabilities.
Spread betting appears to be complicated to an outsider, primarily because it has its own terminology with its roots on the City trading floors.
The man in a pub watching a football match and shouting into his mobile phone "sell Beckham at 150, and go long on red cards" is part of a club anybody can join - if they have the money and the risk tolerance.
Fixed-odds betting is simple. You put £1 on Alan Shearer to be top scorer at 10-1 and, if he succeeds, you will get £10 back. You know exactly how much you stand to win and how much you will lose.
But spread-betters attempt to out-guess the predictions of the experts at the company. IG Index, for example, believes that the total number of goals scored in Euro 2000 will be between 70.5 and 73. The difference separating the two figures is called the spread. If you believe that the company's prediction is optimistic, you will sell at 70.5 for a fixed sum per goal, and if you think there will be more goals than 73, you will buy.
Say that Euro 2000 turns out to be a bumper tournament for goals scored, and the total number comes to 100. If you had sold at 70.5, at £10 a goal, you would have lost £295 - the difference between the actual number of goals and the price you sold at, multiplied by your stake. If you had bought at 73, you would have won £270.
The company makes its money from the spread, and absorbs any betting duty within that. With most companies you can choose to put a stop on your losses, either by being offered a bigger spread or by having a limit on your winnings. IG Index, for example, will not allow you to win or lose more than 25 times your stake on the total goals market, unless you want to have all the stops removed.
The range of bets is huge in the spread-betting market, at Spreadex, IG Index, William Hill Index, Sporting Index and City Index. You can bet on the number of red cards issued by referees; the fastest goal scored; and even the number of times the ball hits the crossbar throughout the course of the competition.
Because losses can be heavy the companies will make sure that you have sufficient funds before you open an account with them. Spread-betting is not for the faint-hearted, but neither is following England, with the prospect of another penalty shoot-out looming.