Bookmakers in the Britain were thankful that punters, who appear to have been tipped off about the appointment of new England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, were so naive in their betting methods.
As Eriksson was confirmed as the new manager the hunt was on to discover who sparked a massive revision of odds on the Swede over a matter of hours last month. Hills have pointed the finger at sources close to the English FA or Eriksson.
On October 13th alarm bells went off at Hills' headquarters and the Tote, both of whom received calls from punters from the London area inquiring about how to open an account in order to place bets of around £500 on the Swede getting the job.
Other punters who normally bet tenners were throwing hundreds on the Lazio manager who was a 33 to 1 outsider at the time.
They suspended betting and for 20 minutes all they got was people ringing in trying to put money on Eriksson. An alternative theory is that a group of football writers, having learned who was at the top of the FA wish list, thought they'd make a killing. But would they be so stupid? Of course.
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