In many cases, it'll balance the bets it makes on both sides of the trade, so that it's exposed to no risk and it collects the certain profit from the spread.
Possibly, though The Man in the High Castle and Mad Dogs both look better bets.
It is only well-managed, market-leading retailers, such as Kingfisher, that can afford to make such long-term bets – but it is encouraging that they are starting to do so.
The people running the world's big endowments don't like to make big macro bets about things such as the likelihood of a global cap-and-trade system being introduced, with the possibility of fossil fuel firms falling in value.
From the corporate, country and geopolitical perspective it's about where we are putting our bets.
A laziness grew up that meant that if the artistic directorship didn't really like a play they could always shove it on Upstairs, as a way of hedging their bets.
"If Saudi Arabia is starting to hedge its bets by developing solar capacity, this could change the fundamentals of the oil market," said James Leaton, CTI head of research.
Analysis: Labour and the Lib Dems are hedging their bets somewhat, by waiting for a review which will report after the election and whose outcome isn't known.
A high court judge has ordered Goldman Sachs to reveal how much profit it made on a deal that lost Libya's government more than $1bn when financial bets turned sour.
Over the past few years Sports Direct has also taken a number of bets on retail chains including Debenhams and Tesco via complex financial instruments known as put options.
