Some people think that there is more money to be made by buying the betting firms than by placing bets with them. Suppose you thought that your favourite spread betting firm itself was onto a winner (or a loser) and you wanted to back your judgement.
If you thought that the underlying operator of your Capital Spreads or InterTrader spread betting platform was onto a winner, you might take a punt on London Capital Group shares — but you would most likely have to place the bet with one of the non-LCG spread betting providers.
Alternatively you might bet on the InterTrader brand itself rather than on the underlying platform provider, by taking a punt on the brand owner Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment.
If you thought that IG Index was doing something right (or wrong), you might place a bet on IG Group, but you might not find it available for trading in your IG Index account itself so you would have to place the bet with one of the other spread betting companies.
Of course, I’m not recommending that you place any of these bets… or not. I’m just telling you that you can.
Disclaimer: this posting is for general education only; it is not trading advice.