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World Cup betting likely to touch billion pounds

(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-05-30 06:40

"People now bet, sitting at home, during the match watching it on TV," said Vaughan Williams from Nottingham Trent University.

"They used to bet just once before the match but now they can bet during it and there are so many things to bet on."

Graham Sharpe, media spokesman for the William Hill bookmakers, said betting had also become more popular in recent years owing to the variety of events people could put a wager on.

"People who have never before had an interest in who wins the 2.30 at Sandown (race course) can now bet on reality TV and football," he said.

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney is a major doubt to play any part for Sven-Goran Eriksson's team with a broken foot and the uncertainty has been reflected in the number of bets placed in recent weeks.

England still hope the 20-year-old might be available for the later stages of the tournament but he is odds-on to miss the whole thing according to William Hill.

The surprise presence of Arsenal striker Theo Walcott, who has yet to make his Premier League debut, has already made up for Rooney's injury as far as the bookmakers are concerned.

"We've been taking bets from everything from Theo Walcott taking his driving test to winning the Golden Boot," Sharpe said. "He is attracting just as much interest as we would have expected Rooney to do."

Competitive odds

Vaughan Williams says betting is now an integral part of the leisure experience in Britain, with punters making more money than ever before owing to the removal of tax and the competitive odds set by rival bookmakers.

Ladbrokes, another British bookmaker, says it handles more than one million bets a day in its shops and has two million registered online customers in more than 200 countries who are offered bets in 18 currencies.

Critics say the continual growth of betting is worrying, however, not just for the individual but for the sport as well.

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