Here's a market that clients have been going crazy for, Time of the First Throw-in. Only in a World Cup could this market prove so interesting and provide some really freak results. But if volatility is your thing (and it's certainly Mrs Mole's thing) then this is the bet for you. One punter's World Cup got a whole lot more exciting than ours when he bought the first throw-in at 90 seconds for £15 in Wednesday's Honduras v Chile Group H game. Honduras got the first Latin American derby off and running. And running was the optimum word as Chile ran early rings round their opponents. 90 seconds had passed when Chile's Fernandez bent and dipped a nice free-kick onto the roof of the net (no ball trouble for him). The client was now making £15 a second, which is almost as much as BP are currently losing! Four minutes had passed when the first card came out and still there was no sign of the ball going over the touchline. This was dreamland. A couple of stoppages and the clock was up 08.14 when the Jabulani was finally put out for a throw. 494 seconds the make-up, a £6,060 profit from eight minutes of watching football. Now that's almost better than sex!

USA over England, North Korea's 1-0 triumph over Italy, Senegal v France. Ok, it might not have been the biggest World Cup shock of all time but when you think of how Spain have been talked up then it's pretty close. Especially when the commentator for the game likens them to the Brazil 1970 team when they began that Mexico assault. And just at the time when Jonathan Pearce made that comment one client bought Spain over in our Total Goal Minutes Supremacy market against Switzerland at 89 for £40 (one team's TGMs against another). Initially the signs looked good for our man as Spain passed the ball around just like the aforementioned Brazil side. Del Bosque's men were in total control of the game but were incredibly wasteful in front of goal and when Gelson Fernandes scored the most violent goal ever on 52 minutes, the punter now had the proverbial mountain to climb. But on came Fernando Torres to help him carry his tent after the Liverpool man was introduced for the final half hour. Despite some real chances for Fernando he might have struggled on the ascent as he showed he was still well away from full fitness. Spain blew chance after chance and when the ref blew his whistle the client had done £5,640, but this World Cup had finally come to life.

Vuvuzela 2010 Where have all the goals gone? Buyers of Tournament Goals will be hoping for a flurry this weekend. The lowest tally for a 64 game tournament is 147 and that's in real danger of being beaten if our revised quote of 142-144 is anything to go by. It's down 17.5 points from our opening price. The tourney's still young but will the goals finally come?

F1 Lewis Hamilton's win at the Canadian Grand Prix last weekend means that he now leads the World Championship for the first time since he won the title back in 2008. But can he stay there? He's now up two points to 38-41 on our Championship Index but he's got the top trio of Webber, Vettel and Button hot on his heels and they're trading at 30-33. This season's got all the makings of a classic.


YouTube Based Banter

I love the Guardian's Lego recreation of the England USA game. While Kim Jong-il's training methods aren't as utilitarian as you might think.