April 26th, 2018

Alexander, Arthur or James? What do you think the name of the new Royal Baby will be? If you are right you could win a lot of money!

Useful words:
to gamble (v) or to bet on something (v) : parier sur, jouer sur, faire un pari sur
a gambler (n) : parieur, parieuse
a bet (n) : un pari
a bookmaker’s or betting shop : bookmaker, PMU
the odds (n pl) : la côte
 
The UK is a nation of gamblers – we love to gamble on anything and everything and the big betting shops make it possible. Most of the betting takes place in sport. If we can’t play the sport, we can at least be involved by watching it and betting on it. In fact, in the past, the word sportsman was used as a synonym for a gambler!

In 2017, over £ 13 billion was bet by the British public in betting shops (on the horses or on football results for example), on the Internet, in casinos and arcades, in Bingo halls or by buying lottery tickets. The money is so big that the National Lottery is the main sponsor of our Olympic sports team.

But we also love to gamble on other things which are called novelty bets and the big bookmakers will always offer odds. For example, we can gamble on what song will be Number One at Christmas; which actor will be the next James Bond; if it will snow or not on Christmas Day; whether the UK will vote yes or no in the referendum on Brexit (we know the answer to that one!); who will win a TV reality programme; whether the next Royal Baby will be a boy or a girl; and of course, what the name of the new Royal Baby will be!

At the time of writing, Arthur is the favourite with odds of 9/4. James follows with odds of 7/2 and Alexander is 10/1. If you decide to place a bet on Louis you could win more money as the odds are 20/1 !  But hurry, as the Palace will certainly announce the name very soon even if parents have, by law, 42 days after the birth to register the name (21 days in Scotland). Slightly longer than in France!