England's performances at the World Cup may not have convinced many that they are capable of winning the trophy but it will not stop British bookmakers from taking a £50million (US$96.1 million) hammering should they do so.
Mike Dillon, PR Director of Ladbrokes, said on Thursday that despite being a proud Englishman if it came to the day of the final and England were in it he knows what result he would prefer.
"I would rather they lost actually," said Dillon, allowing his head to overrule his heart.
Dillon added that the team that would be a big winner should they go all the way was not surprisingly 40/1 outsiders Ukraine but instead a team with a blueblood pedigree in the tournament.
"Italy would be the best result for the industry," said Dillon, who was hoping they progressed at Ukraine's expense yesterday in Hamburg.
Dillon revealed that this World Cup and the amount bet on it didn't bear comparison even with the one in 2002.
"One billion pounds has been bet on this World Cup, not just with us but with the industry as a whole," he said.
"Why so much more than previous World Cups? Because now you can bet in play so to speak. That is to say, in the past most bets on the World Cup were placed prior to the tournament and people sat back and watched it. Now with the ability to bet in play you can have a bet with 10 minutes remaining of the match or even closer to the end. In short there is a market for everything. One of the most popular is the number of red and yellow cards issued during a match," he said.
"I would imagine anyone who went big on the Portugal and Netherlands match will be on holiday by now!" added Dillon, referring to the World Cup record 16 yellows and four reds handed out by Russian referee Valentin Ivanov in their second round match.
Dillon, who was responsible for bringing Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson into horse racing which resulted in the Group One recordbreaking exploits of his miler Rock of Gibraltar, said that punters had taken to the breadth of choice of bets with alacrity.
"From their living rooms to the betting shops there are bets being placed on matches in play virtually every minute. The punters have embraced it really enthusiastically," he said.
The scope for placing bets stretches to silly bets as Dillon demonstrated with England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson and the WAGS (wives and girlfriends) of the England squad the butt of most of them.
"You can bet on whether Sven is going to propose to Nancy DelOllio (his long-time girlfriend) or it is 66/1 for the WAGS to release We Are the Champions if England win the World Cup. Also it is 50/1 for Sven to admit that he made a mistake in only taking four strikers to the finals," he said.
"It [football] is the global sport," he explained. "The rest [other events] are small potatoes."
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