Financial Spread betting has thrived since the dotcom crash. The concept was launched in 1974 by IG Index so that investors could punt on the gold price without all the expense of buying bullion at a time of penal exchange controls. Popular spread bets were originally based upon performances of the Financial Times, Dow Jones Index and other financial barometers. The purpose was to hedge investment positions and the betting was largely confined to those in the financial community.

City Index joined the market in 1983 and several others such as Financial Spreads, Stock Market Spreads, Cantor Index and Spreadex opened shop during the dotcom boom. There are now a dozen firms offering spread betting services in the UK.

The spread betting industry is now a multi-million pound industry and there are more than 100,000 spread betting account holders in the UK alone and firms multiplying simultaneously. According to research by tradindex, 90% of spread betters are male, half live in south-east England, and they have an average income of £50,000.

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