How do you bet on bookings?

You can have a spread bet on the bookings market with any of the big four spread-betting firms – Sporting Index, IG Sport, Cantor Index and Cantor Sport.

So is it just a bet on how many bookings there will be in a game?

No, it’s actually a bet on bookings and sendings-off. But it’s an index bet, which means points are awarded for every yellow and red card.

You what?

Every yellow card is worth 10pts and every red card is worth 25pts. So when you see a bookie’s spread of, for example, 40-44 for bookings in a Newcastle vs Aston Villa game, it doesn’t mean the bookies think there will be between 40 and 44 bookings in the game.