Bookmakers expect to strike Games gold

Bookies are predicting a £50m bonanza from the London Olympics as punters take to betting on the Games for the first time.

Traditionally, the Olympics hasn't been big business for UK bookmakers but they will be offering prices on each of the 36 sports, including cycling, for the first time. Mark Maydon, the commercial director at the Sporting Index Group, said: "Betting parlance has become inexorably woven into the media coverage of all sports – and the Olympics will be no different.

"When you add this to the boom in mobile betting, and the fact that London 2012 will be the first ever Olympics to offer public Wi-Fi access, the scope for spectators to have a bet on anything from the 100m final to the taekwondo heats will be like never before."