Patriotic punt leaves bookies sweating

A massive, multi-million pound gamble on major triumphs for British sport this week threatens to inflict the biggest liabilities on the country's bookmakers since Frankie Dettori hammered them for almost £50m by winning all seven races at Ascot in September 1996. Will Hill are offering football betting odds of 10/1 that England's footballers will win their Euro 2008 qualifier in Russia, their rugby players will win the World Cup, and Lewis Hamilton will clinch the World Drivers' Championship on Sunday in the Brazil Grand Prix. And they are also quoting odds of 5/6 that Scotland's footballers will win their Euro 2008 qualifier against Georgia in midweek and 13/8 that they will win their Euro 2008 qualifying group - in the process eliminating either world champions Italy or France."Patriotic punters have their pockets packed with cash after lumping on England to beat Estonia and France in Euro 2008, and on Scotland to beat Ukraine last weekend - and we are expecting up to £10m to be gambled on the England treble and the Scottish football team this week - if they all win it will almost certainly be our worst day since Frankie landed the magnificent seven eleven years ago," said Hill's spokesman Graham Sharpe. With England's rugby players facing South Africa in the World Cup final, who beat them 36-0 earlier in the World Cup tournament, Will Hill offers 500/1 that England turn the tables and win 36-0, or 100/1 that they suffer exactly the same scoreline against them again. The World Cup semi-final between England and France was officially the biggest rugby betting match of all time, but that record has already been beaten by the final with four days to go. An England win will already cost Will Hill a £1.5 million pound payout, with 91% of bets to date placed on England. To put that into perspective, £1.5m in £5 notes if placed in a straight line would be over 117 times the height of the Eiffel Tower! The bookmaker continue to see money for Jonny Wilkinson being knighted before the 2011 World Cup cut from 100/1 to 20/1 as money pours in for England's talisman. The other special bet that has proved popular is the 11/4 that Jonny has a 100 per cent record in the final with place kicks. "We are bringing in 25 per cent extra staff to cope with the demand for telephone & Internet bets, and at its peak we are anticipating up to 100 bets per minute on the phone, 150 bets a minute on the internet and over 1.25m bets in our shops, with some £200m being staked on the three events nationwide - we calculate that up to half of the adult population will be having a flutter on one or more of the three events," said Sharpe. William Hill offers 20/1 that the footballers score their sixth consecutive 3-0 victory by beating Russia 3-0. Lewis Hamilton is 7/2 to wrap up the world title by winning Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix. Scotland hero James MacFadden is a 5/2 chance to score against Georgie; 11/2 to score the first goal and 50/1 to score a hat-trick. Wilkinson and Hamilton are going head to head in the race to win the BBC TV Sports Personality of the Year award. Will Hill makes Hamilton, who has been hot favourite since winning his first grand prix, a 1/4 shot, with Wilkinson, at one stage 100/1, now 4/1. England Specials:England To Lead At Any Point: 4/9 Yes 13/8 NoEngland Try: 1/2 Yes, 6/4 NoTo win the World Cup: 1/3 South Africa, 9/4 England500/1 England win 36-0100/1 S Africa win 36-0 Wilkinson Specials:20/1 (From 100/1) To be knighted Wilkinson Drop Goals: 4/6 None, 7/4 One, 13/2 Two, 25/1 Three or moreWilkinson To Score All The Points: 1/3 No, 9/4 YesWilkinson To Score A Try: 9/1Wilkinson 100% Kicks: 1/4 No, 11/4 Yes