Ross County beat Hibernian to win this season's Scottish League Cup<p>The Scottish Professional Football League has agreed a three-year deal with UK-based bookmaker Betfred to sponsor the new-style League Cup.<p>It is worth around £1m over three years.<p>This season's competition, won for the first time by Ross County, was sponsored by energy firm Utilita from the quarter-final stage onwards.<p>Next season, it will revert from a straight knock-out competition to a group-stage format in the first round.<p>Eight sections of five teams will play the round-robin, starting in July.<p>It will involve 38 clubs not involved in Champions League or Europa League qualifiers, plus the winners of the Highland League and Lowland League.<p>Betfred, which was established in Salford in 1967 but is now based in Warrington, is already the sponsor of the World Snooker Championship.<p>It is also heavily involved in the horse racing's Grand National and in greyhound racing.<p>The Scottish League Cup has previously been sponsored by Coca-Cola, Skol Lager, Bell's whisky, Co-operative Insurance and the QTS Group.<p>County defeated Hibernian 2-1 in this season's final at Hampden Park.