Flurry of Bets on a White Christmas

Chance of snow: The odds for snow on Christmas Day have already been slashed

Bookmakers could face massive payouts this winter after a flurry of bets have been placed on Britain having a white Christmas.

The odds for snow on Christmas Day have already been slashed for England, Wales and Scotland after a spate of betting, Ladbrokes said.Punters also have an extra chance to win a big cash bonus this year because, for the first time, they can bet on Christmas Day temperatures being the coldest in living history.This follows long-range predictions that a big chill is on the way, but forecasters warned that it is still far too early to predict the weather over the festive period.Jeremy Plester, a spokesman for the PA WeatherCentre, said: "We cannot forecast anything for Christmas at this stage. Maybe on December 15 we might start to have an idea of what is going to happen.''The unreliability of long-range forecasts has not, however, deterred punters from placing their bets.Karl Williams, for Ladbrokes, said: "The Great British public love betting on the weather almost as much as they love talking about it, and we have seen a stack of cash so far.

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"It is only the second week of November so God knows what it will be like next month.''Odds on a white Christmas in London have been cut from 8/1 to 5/1, in Cardiff and Bristol from 7/1 to 5/1, and in Glasgow from 6/1 to 4/1.At odds of 25/1, punters can also bet on whether temperatures on Christmas Day will plummet below minus 18.3°C, the lowest Christmas Day temperature since measurements began. It was recorded in Gainford in County Durham in 1878.In comparison, it was positively tropical on Christmas Day last year, with temperatures in London reaching 6°C.There was snow in some areas, though, with snowfall in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Manchester forcing Ladbrokes to pay out more than £500,000. A white Christmas next month would be the seventh in 12 years.It used to be a rare occurrence in Britain, with only one recorded  in 1980  between 1971 and 1992, but between 1993 and 2003, five white Christmases were recorded.Mr Williams said: "They introduced electric street lighting in London in 1878, but it's debatable whether we will have enough money to put in the meter at our headquarters in Harrow if we have to pay out this year.''A bet of 14/1 can also be laid on record-breaking temperatures throughout the winter in England and Wales, or at 11/1 for Scotland.Current records are: minus 26.1°C for England, recorded in Newport in January 1982, minus 23.3°C for Wales, recorded in Rhayader in January 1940, and minus 27.2°C for Scotland, recorded both in Braemar and Altnaharra in January 1982.The lowest temperature recorded last winter throughout the UK was minus 15.2°C in Kinbrace, Sutherland, in Scotland.

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