Coral betting suspends betting on Queen abdicating at Christmas

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...broadcast.html

Bookies suspend betting on Queen announcing abdication in Christmas broadcast

Coral said it had decided to close its book on the Queen abdicating after a rash of bets in the past 24 hours, but Buckingham Palace laughs off rumour

Bookies have suspended betting on the Queen, pictured making last year's Christmas broadcast, abdicating in this year's speech to the nation

The bookmaker Coral has suspended betting on the Queen announcing her abdication in this year's Christmas Day broadcast.

The betting firm said it had decided to close the market after an "unusual" rash of wagers which "instantly set alarm bells ringing".

Sources close to the Queen, however, laughed off suggestions that she might abdicate, saying it was "just not true".

At about midday today, Coral had several online inquiries for the odds it would offer on the Queen abdicating in her Christmas message. It began with a £200 bet, followed by several smaller bets in quick succession.

The bookmaker said the queries were "so specific" and so close together that it smelled a rat.

It had offered odds of 10-1 on the Queen abdicating during the Christmas message.

The speech to the nation has already been pre-recorded by the BBC, leading to suspicions that people with inside knowledge, either from Buckingham Palace or the TV camera crew, might have acted on leaked information.

Nicola McGeady, a spokesman for Coral, said: "Throughout the year there has been major speculation about the Queen’s future but today’s gamble has really caught us by surprise.

“As far as we are concerned there’s no smoke without fire when bets like this come through all in succession, so we have decided to be safe rather than sorry and pull the plug on the market."

A Royal source told the Telegraph: "If the Queen was going to make a major announcement, she wouldn't do it in a pre-recorded speech that is shown in the South Pacific Commonwealth realms several hours before it is shown here.

"It would mean the end of her reign would officially be announced in Tuvalu, rather than in London. So no, it's not true."

It is not the first time Coral has suspended betting on the Queen abdicating. In January it temporarily closed the market after a £200 wager was placed in Windsor on a 2014 abdication, which followed reports that the Prince of Wales was taking on more of her duties.

Meanwhile William Hill slashed the odds on the Queen's speech being the most watched TV programme on Christmas Day from 100/1 to 7/1 and cut the odds on an abdication announcement this year from 16/1 to 5/1.

Don't believe it myself but an interesting bit of news anyway.

Hope it's not true anyway, especially with next September being the time when she passes Queen-Empress Victoria as longest reigning.

Thoughts?

[scottish]

don't care about any of them

but regarding the last bet, does that mean it's 7/1 that it IS the most watched, or 7/1 that it isn't?

[GommeInc]

If she did it wouldn't be a shock. She's proving to be a bit useless now. She doesn't talk to the Commonwealth as much as she should and being Head of State she doesn't seem to go to important events. Still can't get my head round why she didn't take the short trip to Queen Fabiolas funeral - Belgians were disgusted and quite a lot of British people (rightly so).