Spain are all the rage for South Africa 2010 glory after final prediction
Paddypower are offering all readers a £100 free bet on the Final World Cup games
Forget all of the expert analysis and professional pundits offering up their predictions on whether Spain or Holland will win the World Cup final, punters are instead putting their faith in psychic octopus Paul.
According to bookmakers Paddy Power, the “Paul Effect” has turned the betting market on its head, with more punters backing Spain since the famous octopus gave his verdict, whereas before Paul’s announcement Holland was the more favoured result.
Prior to the cephalopod’s prediction on Spain winning Sunday's Johannesburg decider Paddy Power had seen 54% of bets going on the Dutch winning the game. But since the psychic prediction, Spain has been the most popular bet with 56% of the wagers placed since Paul gave his verdict!
“Whilst the shrewdies and big money punters are firmly backing Spain, Holland had been the more popular bet amongst the casual punters in terms of number of bets placed," said Paddy Power spokesman Darren Haines.
"But since Paul’s prediction on a Spain win we’ve taken more bets on the Spanish for the first time since the final line-up was known.”
Anyone who had followed Paul’s psychic predictions since the start of South Africa 2010 would have netted a tidy sum.
Beginning with a one pound bet on Germany’s opening win over Australia, correctly predicted by Paul, and placing the accumulated winnings onto Paul’s next five selections would have netted a tidy £292.77 so far.
And should Paul’s prediction of a Spain win on Sunday also come true, the original £1 will have rolled over to an impressive total of £613.77.
Haines added: “£613.77 for an original £1 stake shows fantastic form – there won’t be many of the so called experts that will have performed better than Paul at this World Cup and he’s clearly the cephalopod to follow.”
The Oberhausen-based octopus has also picked out Germany to win the third-place play-off ahead of Uruguay.