Online Gambling Users Offered Odds On Scorching Summer

Punters could have a flutter on the British weather for the rest of the summer.

Bookmakers will be liable to make a multi-million pound payout if the UK eclipses its highest-ever temperature this summer.

William Hill says the odds on the current record of 38.5 degrees Celsius being topped have shortened from an original price of 10/1 to 8/1.

Meanwhile, online gambling site users fancying a flutter on the prospect of it getting warmer than 100 degrees Fahrenheit are now offered odds of 4/1, in from 10/1.

"We have been taking hundreds of bets of up to £1,000 on temperatures hitting the famous 100 degrees Fahrenheit mark," explains the firm's spokesman Rupert Adams.

However, he adds there are "a few spoilsports who think we have already had the hottest day of the year".

Punters looking for a quick return on their stake may wish to bet - at evens - that the coming weekend will see the highest temperature of 2010 so far recorded.

Earlier this month, William Hill offered odds of 4/1 that the top average warmth - set in 2006 - would be beaten this year.