The World Cup is coming, and quite a few big name gadget peddlers are cashing in on punters’ patriotic tendencies with money back offers. The premise is simple: buy a gizmo, and if England wins, you get the full cost refunded.
For multinational manufacturers, it’s a calculated bet of course, spread across nations, but we’ve broken down the odds to see if they’re worth a flutter. Should you just head down the bookies instead, and buy all the gadgets you could need with your winnings instead?
Money back offers only pay back the money you put down (in the cases below, for a gadget) so put simply, you’ll get a better deal simply placing a bet – just no toy at the end regardless. But how much do you need to place to win everything up for grabs right now? We explain below, and tot up how much you could win if you just bet the price of each on England winning the Jules Rimet.
All of the calculations below are with today’s best odds on Oddschecker for England to win the World Cup, 13/2 at bwin.
Elagto EyeTV DTT
Price: £79.95
Buy Elgato’s superb Elagto EyeTV DTT tuner for Mac or PC before 11 June, and the German company will pay back the price if England scoop the World Cup. At 13/2, you’d need to spend just £12.30 to win that much, so if you’re an England fan dead certain of a 1966 repeat, placing a bet online would be a cheap way of securing yourself one very useful piece of kit. Of course, if you bet £79.95 on those odds, you’d take home £519.68 instead.
World Cup: Sony unveils 3D plans
TomTom Go Live seriesPrice: from £192.92
TomTom’s feeling a bit more ambitious, and offering a full refund on all its connected Go Live satnavs bought before 8 June (It readily admits it’s covering its risk by offering equivalent deals in Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Holland, Portugal, South Africa and Spain) if England wins the World Cup. The cheapest model, the TomTom Go Live 550, costs £192.92 on Amazon right now, meaning you’d have to place a bet of £29.68 to win its worth at the bookies. Not a bad price for a top notch PND, no, but you could win £1,253.98 if you bet on England to triumph with the cost of a Go Live 550 instead.
Toshiba laptops and TVs
Price : from £418.25
Toshiba’s going all out with its “England Expects” deal. Buy any Toshiba laptop with an Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 processor, or a full HD Regza TV that’s 32-inches or larger, before 10 June, and the Japanese gadget giant will refund the full cost for you (Though you’ll have to register here, and claim it within 21 days) if England wins the World Cup. On the low end, the cheapest gizmo up for grabs this way is a Toshiba Satellite L500 Core i3 machine for £418.25. You’d have to bet £64.35 to win that much on England, while if you can forgo the laptop entirely, you can win a whopping £2,718.63, which will get you a brand new top end MacBook Pro with money left over (£919.63 if you’re asking).
If you’re really confident of England’s World Cup victory though, you could forgo buying the most expensive Toshiba telly in the offer, the Toshiba Regza 55SV685DB (Amazon price £2,431.78) and stick £374.12 on the three lions instead. Oh, and if you bet the full price on England and the team delivers, you’ll win a massive £15,806.57. That’s more than enough to keep you in gadgets for a decade, and pay for a VIP trip to Brazil for the World Cup in 2014. The question is: do you feel lucky?
Keen on a World Cup flutter? Let us know what you’ll be wagering your hard earned on below.
