Bookmaker News – Layers’ Sigh of Relief at England’s Survival

It’s not often UK and Irish bookmakers are united over wanting England to win a game of football but all the layers will surely be breathing a little easier after Jermaine Defoe‘s goal saw off Slovenia and propelled Fabio Capello‘s men into the last 16 of the World Cup. It’s been a tremendous tournament for the bookmakers so far, shock defeats for Spain, Germany and France and Italy’s failure to beat New Zealand have seen many multiple bets flounder but takings, estimated to rise above a billion pounds in total before the World Cup Final kicks-off, would have taken a big hit had England not reached the knockout stages. Punters’ interest in the UK will now be extended to Sunday at least and bookmakers will be praying for Steven Gerrard and his team-mates to make further inroads, though probably not to go all the way! William Hill reported that England’s failure to beat Algeria in their second group game led to their biggest-ever profit from a single international game of football, while Paddy Power profited by patriotic England supporters deserting their team in droves after two insipid performances. The Dublin-based bookmakers had larger liabilities on Slovenia!

Chancellor George Osborne‘s first budget hasn’t directly affacted the bookmaking industries but, under his drive to reduce Britain’s multi-billion pound deficit, it is almost inevitable that the future of the Tote will again be under scrutiny. Governments since 2001 have been striving to get the state-owned bookmakers off the books and now, it appears, the Cameron administration would be prepared to accept a knock-down price. The asking price is now rumoured to be around £200million but how interested parties, most of which would probably be current betting and gaming operators, would get any deal past the monopolies or competition commissions would be a sticking factor that has defeated more stable governments in the past. I wonder if they’d take a tenner if I offered to pay cash?

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