Czech gamblers lose millions in Ghana victory

Prague, June 17 (CTK) - Czech betters lost tens of millions of crowns after the Czech Republic suffered a sensational defeat of 0-2 with Ghana at the World Cup in Germany today, the betting shops told CTK.

After the Czech team easily defeated the US 3-0 in the first match of the World Cup, Czech betters became very optimistic and betted even more than the 50 million crowns for the first match, bookmakers told CTK.

Two biggest betting shops have announced record bets: 17 million crowns by Tipsport and 22 million crowns by Fortuna, CTK found.

According to Tipsport, 99 percent of betters believed that Czechs would not lose. A mere 200,000 crowns out of the 22 million betted on the match by Fortuna were paid for the victory of Ghana, the bookmakers said.

There were over 350,000 bets on the match, Fortuna's chief bookmaker Michal Hanak told CTK. "In the top hours, between 9 and 11 in the morning, we accepted 250 bets each second," Hanak said.

Over 80 percent of betters hoped that Czechs will win, while another 19 percent betted on either a victory or a draw. A mere one percent of Czech betters were of the view that Ghana would win. The odds were 6-1 for Ghana's victory at Tipsport.

(USD1 = 22.436 crowns)