juangbarranco

Hi there. I'm a professional comic book artist -non english speaker- and I have some trouble with the script I'm currently working with. At a point, a certain character -an ex professional football player- says this: 'till i got booted from the league for taking the spread on our season opener'. Ok then, I know what the word 'spread' means, but I guess in this case the meaning of the whole expression, 'taking the spread' is alien to me because I don't understand what it means. It's football slang? Can someone help me with this one? I can't reach my writer nor the editor and it's kind of urgent. I'd be really grateful.

Thanks in advance!!

una

hi there

I'm not into gambling myself but i'm sure taking the spread has something to do with betting. Don't know exactly what it means but i guess the footballer fixed his match to make some money out of it.

hope it helps

magduta

hi juangbarranco!

I am prettey sure una is wright. I`ve made a little search and I found this:
Spread betting is a form of gambling on the outcome of any event where the more accurate the gamble, the more is won and conversely the less accurate the more is lost. A bet is made against a 'spread' (or index), on whether the outcome will be above or below the spread. The amount won or lost depends on the level of the index at the end of the event. The spread represents the index firms margin.
fot more info click here
Spread betting - encyclopedia article about Spread betting.
I`ll get back to you if I find something more accurate

juangbarranco

Thank you to both of you! I take from this that the footballer did gamble on the outcome of the game, wich is illegal, and that's why he was booted from the team. I guessed it was something like this, but I wasn't 100% sure. Big thanks again :D:D.

Best wishes

Juan G. Barranco