is financial spread betting legal in the u s 
the majority of u s based brokers do not offer spread betting as it may be illegal or subject to overt regulatory scrutiny in many u s states as a result spread betting is largely a non u s activity the bottom linespread betting is a form of speculating or betting on which direction a financial market might go without actually owning the underlying security the bettor instead is wagering on the security s likely change in price a spread betting company quotes both the bid and ask price or the spread and investors wager on whether the price of the security will fall short of the bid or surpass the ask 