The Register®

Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/15/vendors_bet_on_england_fail/

Vendors bet on England World Cup fail

Offer money back if team wins

By Tony Smith

Posted in Hardware, 15th April 2010 14:55 GMT

Free whitepaper – Hands on with Hyper-V 3.0 and virtual machine movement

Firms are falling over themselves to cash in on the Fifa World Cup. TomTom [1] today was the latest manufacturer to pledge to refund the purchase price on one of its offerings if England wins the international soccer tournament.

By a TomTom Go 550 satnav between now and 8 June, and you'll get your money back if Rooney and Co. carry off the trophy.

Toshiba [2] has already made the same claim, promising to give anyone who buys one of its laptops or tellies the kit for free if England is victorious.

And Elgato [3], supplier of quality TV tuners to Mac users, has pledged to do likewise for buyers of its EyeTV Deluxe - reviewed here [4], by the way.

It's ironic, perhaps, that none of these companies are English, but then who are we to turn down the offer of free - sort of; you still have to pay for it in the first instance - kit?

Well if not us, how about bookie William Hill. It's offering odds [5] of five to one on an England win, the same odds it's offering Brazil. The favourite is Spain, with odds of four to one. The winner [6] in 2006, Italy, is on 12 to one. ®