The pioneer a firm called IG Index has been at it for

The pioneer, a firm called IG Index, has been at it for nearly 20 years – but spread betting on sport is its fastest growing business.Traders in the City all have access to the latest quotes via their dealing terminals. All week, the page with the World Cup bets on has been among the five most widely used on the entire Reuters system. If you’re right, the bookmaker pays out your stake multiplied by the amount of points away from the result his estimate was If you’re wrong, you do the same In theory, the amount you can win, or lose, is limitless. William Hill said this week that it is to offer a spread betting service to its clients from July, entering a field that until now has been served only by three small specialist firms.The idea originated with City workers, gambling on movements in the stock market. You then bet on whether the actual result will be lower or higher than that “spread”. The essence of spread betting is that the bookmaker tells you roughly what he thinks the result will be – say 30 to 35 points scored in a rugby match. They also appear to have cut all water and electricity supplies to Sarajevo.France has suffered 37 fatalities among Unprofor troops and Britain 13 out of a total of 162..

It is not just on the pitch that rugby union is becoming more professional. Gamblers are taking it more seriously as they try a complex form of betting that allows you to gamble on any aspect of the World Cup that can be measured in numbers. Forget win or lose: how about betting on how many points the Underwoods will score in the tournament? Or when the trainer will come on to the field?
Welcome to spread betting. Long the preserve of City professionals, this relatively sophisticated form of betting is proving to be one of the year’s greatest fads.

They also fired artillery at apartment blocks in the city, killing three civilians and wounding 29, and sent four more shells into Tuzla. Bosnian Serb soldiers seized three big guns from a UN site 20 minutes after the deadline expired. Captain Jim Mitchell, a Nato spokesman in Naples, said 12 aircraft dropped 500lb and 1,000lb bombs on the site during the 45-minute raid yesterday morning. “The idea is to stop the loading of guns by depriving them of ammunition,” he said.The Bosnian Serb forces ignored another deadline yesterday for the removal of heavy weapons from the exclusion zone around Sarajevo.

Equally, limited air strikes against targets such as ammunition dumps make no real impact on the Bosnian Serb war effort and provoke them into acts such as the hostage-taking and bombing of civilians that occurred on Thursday and yesterday.Nato launched attacks for the second successive day yesterday after Bosnian Serb forces lashed out with their artillery at UN-protected Muslim “safe areas” on Thursday night. One senior UN source said that if Nato attacked more important targets than ammunition dumps, it would – apart from risking the lives of the hostages – destroy the fragile consensus that allows the UN to operate in the 70 per cent of Bosnia in Serb hands.It seems inconceivable that – if the captives are not harmed – Nato would consider a decisive strike against the Bosnian Serb command, since this would signal all-out war, render the UN’s mission impossible and cause a potentially catastrophic rift with Russia. The most immediate threat is not to British army units, which can and will defend themselves if attacked, but to the individual UN military observers, some of whom are dispersed in Bosnian Serb-held territory.The critical question now is whether the West has any real options for bringing more pressure on the Bosnian Serbs, other than those that would force the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers in Bosnia. There are, however, more than 300 in the Gorazde enclave which is surrounded by Bosnian Serb forces and could come under attack. “But if the international community is prepared to underwrite a continuance down this path [of escalation], we are prepared to do it.”Most of the 3,500 British troops in Bosnia are in the Muslim heartland and not at risk from any Bosnian Serb action. We stand by our line that they must be released unharmed,” one official said.

“We will have to present a report to the Security Council in the next few days,” he added.Earlier yesterday UN officials in Sarajevo suggested that safety of hostages could not be the only consideration of the international community.”The [potential] hostages were factored in … The UN Secretary-General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, said President Jacques Chirac telephoned him to say that he wanted a “new mandate for Unprofor and a new policy for Unprofor which would take into consideration the blue helmets on the ground” The UN chief did not say what the new policy would be. Last night the Defence Ministry in Paris said 21 French peace-keepers guarding a heavy weapons collection point had been seized and were being held hostage at a Serb control point outside Sarajevo.France, which has the largest UN troop contingent in Bosnia, last night threatened to withdraw its soldiers if the United Nations did not take measures to protect them. If the bombing starts again, I have been instructed to tell you that we will die for the sake of Nato.”Altogether, eight of the unarmed military observers were detained in Serb-held territory, 29 more are confined to quarters, and about 150 peace- keepers are blockaded into weapons collection sites. One Canadian captive – later identified as Captain Patrick Rechner, 32 – was shown speaking to his HQ by mobile telephone. He said: “If the bombing stops, we will be set free, otherwise we will be killed …