Bubble bets swamp bookies
Bookmakers have taken more than stg£100,000 in bets on Bubble to win Big Brother after a newspaper backed him to win, it emerged today.
Coral alone took £100,000 in a day in on Bubble - real name Paul Ferguson - and has now cut its odds on him winning from 5-1 to 2-1 joint favourite with Brian Dowling.
Nine out of 10 bets Coral took on who would win the Channel 4 show were for Bubble, the 25-year-old ex-pub manager from Surbiton, Surrey.
A Coral spokeswoman Hilary Spooner said: ‘‘We didn’t know what hit us. It’s the biggest Big Brother gamble yet.’’
Ladbrokes reported that it had taken around stg£10,000 in bets following a story in a British tabloid yesterday which backed Bubble as the candidate who deserved to win and shortened its odds from 9-2 to 7-2 second favourite.
William Hill shortened its odds to 11-2 but still has gay Brian well ahead at 8-11 on. And Big Brother’s official bookie, Paddy Power, shifted Bubble from 7-1 to 4-1.
