Featured Articles / Joe Dyer / 10 June 2008 / Leave a comment

Home bettors £2m in black as Italians suffer double-whammy

They may not be represented in the tournament but dispassionate UK and Ireland punters are helping to ease the credit crunch - by cleaning up during the first three days of the European Championships.

Home bettors, ruled by their heads rather than their hearts for once, are over £2million pounds in profit on Betfair's Euro 2008 markets.

Their European counterparts however are having less luck, with Italian punters in particular having more reason to crying than most. Not only did The Azzurri suffer a shock 3-0 defeat against the Dutch, but Betfair's Italian customers were almost £½million out of pocket after the World Champions' match with Marco van Basten's side. Their punters are almost £600,000 down for the tournament so far.

Compared to UK and Ireland customers, the rest of Europe has overall losses of £50,000 on Euro 2008 markets. And Betfair punters from the rest of the world are also showing a lack of knowledge about European football, down almost £2million, with Asia performing particularly badly.

Betfair's Director of Football Paul Witten, said: "Home Nation punters often bet emotionally and back their own countries to win. But having missed out on qualification for Euro 2008, UK and Ireland customers are betting with their heads rather than their hearts - and it seems to be doing the trick.

"The rest of Europe meanwhile is showing strong support for their own teams which is great when you win. But a 3-0 defeat like Italy suffered against Holland meant there were plenty of Italian tears before bedtime.

"All in all though, it's great news for our UK and Ireland customers who finally have something to cheer this summer. Their countries might not be competing in Austria and Switzerland, but they are in net profit in the betting markets."