Scots are canny bet

Spread betting

THIS is the first World Cup where the spread companies are a major player on the gambling front and they have reacted by establishing a huge array of markets.

These range from "fun" bets - where the chance of research is impossible and the quote is in the thousands - to the standard bets for numbers of goals, corners etc. If you think of a spread bet they're ahead of you. Sporting Index even have a quote for the number of times the stretcher is used so sadists and/or masochists can enjoy/hate cheer/boo serious injuries for a month.

In the overall World Cup indices, as with the fixed odds, Brazil have long been favourites but they would have to reach the final before any profit is guaranteed so unless you are convinced they are so superior, the only way to side with them is to take a profit after the group stage. This could be done with any team you fancy as their quotes will rise after the group stage.

A canny, patriotic bet is Scotland to finish second (or better - we can dream) in the Group indices. The downside is just one point (assuming they beat Morocco - we can keep dreaming) with a nice profit if they do manage to qualify for the second round.

The braver can do the opposite - where the risk is high and the rewards small - by selling all those teams we seem to automatically look down on, like Iran, Japan, South Korea and Tunisia.

With that wager especially, but all bets, remember the simple spread bet mantra - the more you're right, the more you win; the more you're wrong, the more you lose.