Pubs, bookmakers, breweries, media companies, travel agents, retailers and sportswear manufacturers are bracing themselves for an uplift in business over the next six weeks.

But when it comes to the punters themselves, what’s the best way to try and make money from betting on the World Cup?

Those who regularly bet on football will have been champing at the bit for the action to start since the end of the domestic action in May.

And even those who don’t normally punt on the beautiful game are likely to get involved as offices, cafes and social media networks buzz with discussions of how Colombia will cope without Falcao and whether Algeria can spring a surprise in Group F.

Most people will be more than familiar with the outright fixed odds World Cup betting options on offer such as the overall tournament winner, top goalscorer, group winners, prices on teams reaching the final, or odds on naming the correct finalists to compete on July 13 in Rio.

But when it comes to spread betting on the World Cup, just how do you untangle the zillions of prices on offer from the spread betting firms?

And what is the best way to manage your risk bearing in mind that unlike fixed odds betting, spread betting losses can exceed your stake should your bet go against you?

Well sit back, relax and read on for 10 ways to have some fun spread betting on the World Cup action.

1. Bet on how many goals, yellow cards, red cards, corners or penalties there will be in total
A great way to get an overall interest on all 64 games is to have a bet on how many goals, yellow cards, red cards, corners or penalties you think there will be across the whole competition.
For example, Spreadex think there will be between 154.75 and 157.25 goals scored in total. If you think there will be less, you’d sell at 154.75. If you think there will be more you’d buy at 157.25.
So if you bought £1 at 157.25 and there ended up being 180 goals, you’d make £22.75 ((180 – 157.25) x £1). But if there ended up being 140 goals, that £1 buy at 157.25 would lose £17.25 ((140 – 157.25) x £1).
The price is updated by the spread betting firms after every game meaning you can close out your bet at any point during the tournament to take a profit or cut a loss, or open up a new bet at any time during the action.

2. Bet on how many goals, bookings, corners or red cards there will be in each group
In similar fashion to above, you can bet on how many goals, bookings, corners, red cards or penalties scored you think there will be in each group.
Betting on these markets over a group only instead of the whole tournament means your bet is going to be a lot less volatile – i.e. you are unlikely to be able to win as much from a certain stake, but then it also means there is less downside should the bet go against you.
So in England’s group, Spreadex are predicting between 12.8 and 13.8 goals to be scored in total in the six games. If you bought for £1 at 13.8 then your worst case scenario could only possibly be every game ending 0-0 and therefore a £13.80 loss.
However, if 28 goals ended up being scored in those matches then the £1 buy at 13.8 would result in a £14.20 profit.

3. Bet on how far each country will progress in the tournament
The spread betting Outright Index offers each country a spread based on the following; 100 points awarded to the winner, 75 to the runner-up, 50 to losing semi-finalists, 25 to losing quarter-finalists and 10 to losing last 16 sides.
England, for example, have an Outright Index World Cup spread betting price of 17 – 20. So if you bought at 20 you’d need Roy’s Boys to get at least to the quarter-finals before you started making money.
However if you sold at 17 you’d need the Three Lions to exit at least at the last 16 stage to turn a profit.

4. Predict when the first 0-0, red card, penalty scored or 90th minute goal will occur
With the spreads you can bet on how many matches you think it will be until the tournament sees its first 0-0 draw, red card, headed goal, penalty scored, penalty missed, 90th minute goal or team scoring at least four goals in one match.
Think that England v Italy is destined to be goalless? Then you’d sell at 8.5 on the spreads as the Manaus clash is the seventh game on the fixtures list.

5. Predict the time of the fastest goal to be scored or earliest red card
Remember Bryan Robson’s goal for England against France after just 27 seconds in the 1982 World Cup? Well if you think there will be another equally as quick strike at some point in the World Cup you may want to sell on the 93 – 103 second spread offered by Spreadex for Time of Fastest Match Goal.
Should any game feature another 27 second strike, a £1 sell at 93 would turn a profit of £66 ((93 – 27) x £1). However, if the earliest goal doesn’t come until three minutes into a game then that £1 sell at 93 would end up losing £87 ((93 – 180) x £1).

6. Predict when each nation will concede its first goal
Spreadex’s ‘Backs to the Wall’ market lets you take on a spread for every country which is based on the number of minutes the firm’s sports traders think it will take for that nation to concede their first goal.
E.g. England’s ‘Backs to the Wall’ quote is 82 – 87 so if you think they’ll concede before the 82nd minute against Italy you’d sell at 82 but if you felt that they wouldn’t concede until the Uruguay match or beyond then you’d buy at 87.
So a £1 buy at 87 could return £93 if England’s first goal conceded came in the 90th minute of the Uruguay match ((180 – 87) x £1), however that same bet would lose £86 if they conceded in the first minute against Italy ((1-87) x £1).

7. Bet on each nation’s total tournament goals, corners, goals conceded or bookings
You can take an interest in each nation’s overall tournament performance by taking on a variety of Team Market Spreads including Total Team Goals, Bookings, Corners, Goals Conceded or Group Point amassed.
The Spreadex traders think England will score between 5.1 and 5.6 goals in total during the entire tournament.
If you think they’ll get at least six, you’d buy on the spread but if you felt they’d score five or fewer, then you’d sell.
So a £100 buy at 5.6 would return £240 if England went on to score eight in the competition ((8 – 5.6) x £100). However, if they only scored four in total, that bet would lose £160 ((4 – 5.6) x £100).

8. Bet on players’ Total Goal Minutes during the tournament
With football spread betting you can bet on Player Goal Minutes during a match – this is the minute of any goal scored by a player, aggregated. When spread betting on the World Cup you can play on these markets per game or also for the entire tournament.
So, for example, if Daniel Sturridge were to score three times in the tournament for England in the 25th, 55th and 80th minutes then his Tournament Player Goal Minutes would make-up at 160 (25 + 55 + 80).
Spreadex’s football traders have both Sturridge and Wayne Rooney’s Tournament Player Goal Minutes at 55 – 60. So if you felt either player’s goal minutes would total more than 60, you’d buy on the quote, but if you felt they were in for a barren tournament with no goals, you’d sell at 55.

9. World Cup Supremacy spread betting
One of the most popular football spread betting markets for punters to play on when betting on the matches themselves is the Goals Supremacy market.
This is where spread betting companies predict the winning margin of one team over another in goals. So for Italy v England, the Spreadex traders have the Supremacy as Italy/England 0 - 0.2.
Here the traders give Italy a very slender advantage, so if you felt England would win you would sell on the spread, but if you thought Italy would win you would buy at 0.2.
So a £100 sell would return £200 if England won 2-0 ((2 – 0) x £100) but would lose £100 if Italy won 1-0.

10. Spread betting on World Cup matches
Spread betting on football matches is one of the best ways to experience ‘in-play’ betting. On nearly all the markets, prices are updated constantly as the action unfolds meaning you can open or close bets at any time of the game. You can even opt to close part of a bet, either to take a profit or cut a loss, and leave the rest to run against the live prices.
Spread betting in-play on football matches offers a multitude of markets to play on from Bookings (10 points awarded per yellow card, 25 per red with a max of 35 per player), Shirt Numbers (shirt number of the goalscorers in a match, aggregated), Cross Corners (Team A corners multiplied by Team B corners) or Match Performance (spread based on 15 points per goal, 3 points per corner, 5 per yellow card, 15 per red card, 10 per penalty awarded, -25 for a goalless draw) to name but a few.
See our guide to football spread betting for more information.