LONDON -- Among the many reasons to like London is that, if you want to place a bet on any of a seemingly endless variety of sporting propositions, it's perfectly legal and you don't have to walk far to do it.

There are two betting shops within a block of the hotel for the NFL media -- the Marriott Marble Arch, not far from the famous "Speaker's Corner" in Hyde Park, where, on Sundays, orators may speak their minds on any subject, bearing in mind that they are subject to merciless heckling from their listeners.

Hmmm, wonder if it's merely coincidence that the league put us writers nearby...

At any rate, there are no bargains to be had for New England fans looking to pay for their trip to London by wagering on the Patriots to beat the Bucs on Sunday.

"We pretty much mirror the Las Vegas line," said Martin McMullan, working one of the betting windows at the Ladbroke's office on Edgeware Road.

If you want to bet on the Patriots simply to win the game, you'd have to put up 12 pounds to win just 1.

If you want to bet against the spread, at odds of 11-10, you'd have to give 15 points if you want the Pats. That's a big number -- the biggest on the NFL board this weekend, in fact -- although New England fans may not be worried about it, considering that the Bucs are 0-6 and the Pats routed the winless Tennessee Titans last Sunday in Foxboro, 59-0.

Martin also noted that the odds on the Patriots to win the Super Bowl currently are 7-1 (the Saints are the favorites at the moment, at 4-1) and the odds on the Pats to win the AFC are 7-2, with the Colts being favored at 5-2.

Unlike in the States, where betting on football dwarfs the amounts wagered on other sports, horse racing remains the most popular sport among British "punters." Although, Martin said, football -- that would be soccer to you Yanks -- is very close, and that younger bettors are much more likely to wager on football than horses.

He said that there is less wagering on American football now than there used to be.

"It peaked in the '90s," he said, possibly because that's when London had a team -- the Monarchs -- in the World League of American Football.

As for the fact that there are no legal sports books in the U.S. outside of Las Vegas, Martin said he found that "strange."