21-08-2006 William Hill reports record betting on this year's Big Brother

The bookmaker said a total of £6 million was gambled on the outcome of the show. Winner Pete Bennet cost William Hill over £1 million after being installed as favourite from near the outset, and a further £5,300 for falling down the stairs on arrival.

"As always Big Brother has been a rollercoaster ride with many highs, but for the bookies far more lows," said a spokesperson for William Hill. "We have done our boots on a weekly basis and probably need the both BB8 and BB9 to be won by outsiders to win back our losses."

In separate news, odds comparison site BetRescue has released the results of a survey which shows that British office workers gamble over £2 billion online while they are at work. Nearly 3 million adults admitted to using work computers for betting online, spending an average of £1,200 per year.