Germany’s convincing defeat of the England football team at the World Cup in South Africa over the weekend was good news for UK bookies, who could have faced pay-outs of up to GBP 50 million had England won, widespread media reports indicate.
Many UK punters placed patriotic bets on England winning through to the finals, but Germany’s impressive 4 – 0 win put paid to their dreams and payouts.
One of the nations largest bookies, William Hill plc, would have faced GBP7 million in payouts on an English win, spokesman Graham Sharp noted in a statement, commenting : “It was the result we feared” that could have been a new betting payout record.