Everyone in England reacted with horror on Sunday after a missed call robbed Frank Lampard of a goal against Germany. Everyone, that is, except the bookies.

English bookmakers were on the hook for more than $100 million had England gone on to win the World Cup. That would have been the biggest payout ever in the history of British bookmaking, according to London bookmaker William Hill PLC.

Sports gamblers are wagering more money than ever on this World Cup, takingadvantage of more in-game and remote betting options, and more widespread TV and Internet access.

Even before the tournament reaches the quarterfinals, many Las Vegas, U.K. and South African sports books have seen as much action as they did through the entire 2006 World Cup. Many anticipate at least a doubling of the total handle from that tournament, although the event still pales in comparison with bigger U.S. sports events like the Super Bowl. (The biggest World Cup match-ups draw about as much action in the U.S. as low-tier NFL games, American sports-book directors say.)

William Hill is expecting this to be the first sports tournament to see $2 billion turnover in British bookmaking history. It has been doing so well that bookmakers paid out to bettors who had put money on Mr. Lampard's scoring a goal on Sunday, even though the record will show that he went goal-less.

'Volume is up 30% [from the 2006 World Cup] and profits are well up at this stage due to the unpredictable early results,' said Michael Carlton, the CEO of Victor Chandler International Ltd., based in Gibraltar.

Mr. Carlton said that in-game betting options like the number of yellow cards or corner kicks in any 15-minute period of a game have accounted for more than half of total World Cup-related bets at Victor Chandler.

'The books have been doing very, very well,' says the Las Vegas Hilton's sports-book director, Jay Kournegay.

'The tax man is going to get his money this year, that's for sure,' said Les Kourie of Kourie Racing and Sport, the only licensed sports book in the Monte Casino in Johannesburg.

To the delight of bookmakers, gamblers are betting with their hearts. The single biggest bet so far placed at William Hill in London was $220,000 on France to win the World Cup. France failed to make it out of the opening round.

'People in their own countries are going to be patriotic,' said Graham Sharpe of William Hill. 'People were even betting on New Zealand.'

To promote the World Cup, Las Vegas casinos have been screening matches outside their sports books -- in their cabaret theaters, for example -- and offering long lists of proposition bets on everything from whether a red card will be handed out during a given game to whether a hat-trick will be scored.

But bookies say the extra hype surrounding this year's event has also led to the rise of 'anti-soccer fans' roaming the Strip, grumbling about ties, low scores and such.

William Hill had been offering 5-to-1 odds that video technology would be introduced by FIFA before the next World Cup. After Sunday's games, the odds are now 3-to-1.

Will Connors / Hannah Karp

• everyone [´evriwʌn] pron.=everybody 每人 (初中英语单词)
• horror [´hɔrə] n.恐怖；战栗 (初中英语单词)
• advantage [əd´vɑ:ntidʒ] n.优势；利益 (初中英语单词)
• remote [ri´məut] a.遥远的；偏僻的 (初中英语单词)
• comparison [kəm´pærisən] n.比较；对照；比喻 (初中英语单词)
• international [,intə´næʃənəl] a.国际的，世界的 (初中英语单词)
• director [di´rektə] n.指导者；....长；导演 (初中英语单词)
• opening [´əupəniŋ] n.开放；开端 a.开始的 (初中英语单词)
• promote [prə´məut] vt.促进；发扬；助长 (初中英语单词)
• tournament [´tuənəmənt] n.比赛，锦标赛 (高中英语单词)
• anticipate [æn´tisipeit] vt.预期；指望；期待 (高中英语单词)
• billion [´biljən] num.万亿 (高中英语单词)
• offering [´ɔfəriŋ] n.提供；礼物；捐献 (高中英语单词)
• proposition [,prɔpə´ziʃən] n.提议；主张；陈述 (高中英语单词)
• surrounding [sə´raundiŋ] n.周围的事物 (高中英语单词)
• widespread [´waidspred] a.广布的；普遍的 (英语四级单词)
• victor [´viktə] n.&a.胜利者(的) (英语四级单词)
• graham [´greiəm] a.&n.用全麦粉做的 (英语四级单词)
• bookmaker [´buk,meikə] n.靴匠；制靴厂 (英语六级单词)
• taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)