The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with baby George
Bookmakers are paying out six figure sums to punters following the birth of Britain's royal baby.
Leading company William Hill have revealed guessing the name of Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge - who was born to parents Prince William and Duchess Catherine on Monday (22.07.13) - proved very popular with the public, who rushed to place odds on the name George as soon as it was announced the royal heir was a boy.
However, the blow was softened thanks to the misconception the couple would be having a girl, with the vast majority of punters placing bets on a future queen in the months running up to the birth.
William Hill spokesperson Joey Crilly said after the big name reveal yesterday evening (24.07.13): "Yes, George has been incredibly popular with our punters in the last 24 to 48 hours but the pregnancy has lasted a lot longer than that and up until Monday the majority of the betting was for a girl.
"We are paying out a six figure sum to winning punters but the Royal Baby betting has been so popular that we have enough to get in a bottle of bubbly to wet the baby's head tonight."
George ended as the 2/1 favourite, just ahead of James and Louis. William Hill took 3,400 bets on the name George, with 25 of them amounting to three-figure sums and the biggest bet of £500 placed on Tuesday.
A total of 45,000 bets were placed on the baby name in general.
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