Even the World Cup is fair game for fixers

Lord I wasn’t born a gambling man, as the Allman Brothers never sang.

I don’t have the gambling gene, in all honesty. The appeal of free money I can see — I might be atheistic about gambling but I’m not agnostic about money — but the lure of doubles and trebles, and laying some off and all that? Sorry, no habla the lingo: never mind those first-throw-in or first-yellow-card wagers, which seem even to this untutored eye a licence to corrupt.

But I was interested to see recently that there are serious concerns now about match-fixing in soccer, serious concerns which may include a current tournament in Brazil, an ongoing festival you might have noticed.