Loans
As spread betting allows you to take position in almost any market it also allows you to bet on any directions those markets may be moving, meaning that as much as you can profit from rising prises by going long, you can also increase the value of your portfolio in bear market by going short. So if you think a particular company is not doing very well and are convinced that in the foreseeable future its price is going to go down, you may actually sell the stock, i.e. go short on that one, wait for the price to decline and buy it back later at lower level, pocketing the difference.