Betting on royal baby hots up in UK
26 March 2015 1:20 AM GMT
Betting on the gender and name of Britain’s royal baby is hotting up as the due date for Kate Middleton’s second pregnancy nears.
Bookies slashed odds on Prince William and Kate’s next baby being a girl called Princess Alice.
Online bookies Betfair Sportsbook cut their odds on the name Alice from 8/1 to 3/1 following a rush of bets in the last 24 hours.
Alice is a traditional British royal name and is the middle name of Princess Anne and Prince Edward’s daughter Lady Louise.
But a senior British royal has not been given this name since Queen Victoria chose it for her second daughter Princess Alice.
Other girls names still in the running are Elizabeth at 5/1, Charlotte at 11/2 and Victoria at 12/1, according to the ‘Daily Mirror’.
The birth of Prince George’s sibling is scheduled for the Lindo Wing of St. Mary’s Hospital in central London in about a month’s time, as was the case when he was born in July 2013.
Bookmakers find that backing for a boy and girl this time has been fairly evenly split but a huge 85 per cent of people think the baby will be blonde.
Prince George, now 20-months-old, has golden locks just like his dad had at that age, despite Kate being a brunette.
Novelties and Politics Trader for Betfair, Cormac Dowling, said: “The public love a royal announcement and we’re expecting the arrival to be the novelty betting heat of the year.
“Elizabeth had been the clear favourite until an unexpected rush of support for Alice over the last 24 hours and we’ve been forced to slash the price from 8/1 to 3/1.”
Kate will carry out her last official engagement this Friday before going on maternity leave.
Bookies slashed odds on Prince William and Kate’s next baby being a girl called Princess Alice.
Online bookies Betfair Sportsbook cut their odds on the name Alice from 8/1 to 3/1 following a rush of bets in the last 24 hours.
Alice is a traditional British royal name and is the middle name of Princess Anne and Prince Edward’s daughter Lady Louise.
But a senior British royal has not been given this name since Queen Victoria chose it for her second daughter Princess Alice.
Other girls names still in the running are Elizabeth at 5/1, Charlotte at 11/2 and Victoria at 12/1, according to the ‘Daily Mirror’.
The birth of Prince George’s sibling is scheduled for the Lindo Wing of St. Mary’s Hospital in central London in about a month’s time, as was the case when he was born in July 2013.
Bookmakers find that backing for a boy and girl this time has been fairly evenly split but a huge 85 per cent of people think the baby will be blonde.
Prince George, now 20-months-old, has golden locks just like his dad had at that age, despite Kate being a brunette.
Novelties and Politics Trader for Betfair, Cormac Dowling, said: “The public love a royal announcement and we’re expecting the arrival to be the novelty betting heat of the year.
“Elizabeth had been the clear favourite until an unexpected rush of support for Alice over the last 24 hours and we’ve been forced to slash the price from 8/1 to 3/1.”
Kate will carry out her last official engagement this Friday before going on maternity leave.
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