Bookies Pay Out On "That" Goal

Bets on Lampard scoring will be honoured

With the repercussions of England’s stinging 4-1 World Cup defeat by Germany still reverberating around the internet, major online bookies in the UK have confirmed that they are honouring bets that Frank Lampard would score a goal in the match.

Millions of television viewers watched the slo-mo replay of a Lampard shot that clearly rolled over the line and into the net, apparently unseen by match officials. Photographs of the critical second have since been widely published. Had it been awarded, the goal would have meant that England and Germany would have gone into the second half of the game drawn.

Bookmakers have seized the opportunity to provide some form of consolation for England fans by classifying the midfielder's effort as a true goal.

William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe said: "Even [FIFA president] Sepp Blatter knows Lampard scored so we have already begun paying out to punters who backed him to do so at odds of 10/3 (4.33). It will cost us a six figure sum."

Ladbrokes was one of the bookmakers to have offered a 'Geoff Hurst special' market with odds of 10/1 on a strike from an England player going in off the crossbar, and the company also paid out for it.

Spokesman Nick Weinberg said: "It was the most popular special market prior to kick off. Everybody could see that it was in apart from the men that mattered most."