"They are not used to losing money it seems. They take it harder, get very upset," said Martin Blackburn, the sports betting manager at the Metelitsa casino on Novy Arbat, where the customers are about 90 percent Russian. "The English, they've been losing money for years, so they don't get so worried."
While Moscow bettors' interest in the World Cup was tepid at first, Blackburn said Tuesday the pace has picked up to 100 bets on each of last weekend's quarterfinal matches. The Russian clientele -- "young professionals" -- typically wager between $40 and $100 on a single team to win a single game.
"There is a big learning curve here," said Blackburn, 26, who worked for about five years in British betting shops. "But this is tremendous for us. It stimulates interest beyond just horse racing."
From London, the world's sports betting capital, the news from World Cup '94 is also good. At Britain's biggest gambling operation, Ladbrokes, officials report a record high level of interest.
"Even though England is not in this tournament, we are still surpassing totals we had in Italy '90," said Ian Wassell, Ladbrokes' press officer. "This has been far more exciting than Italy, with the combination of high scoring and a lot more yellow cards being given out."
At Ladbrokes, which operates 2,000 betting shops throughout Britain, the experts were caught unawares by Bulgaria's stunning upset of defending world champion Germany in Sunday's quarterfinal match.
"The Bulgarians weren't fancied by anybody," said Wassell. At the start of the World Cup on June 17, Ladbrokes had Bulgaria at 50-1 to win. Now, the Bulgarians are at 7-1.
Of the four teams in the semifinal -- Brazil, Sweden, Italy and Bulgaria -- it is the Bulgarians who are attracting the small-time, sentimental bettors, Wassell said in London.
"The fact that they are an underdog and then the excitement of the Bulgarian people with their usually humdrum lives --the people in Britain hear that and take it to heart," said Wassell.
At Metelitsa, Moscow's biggest sports betting parlor, most gamblers take a measured approach.
"They bet the favorites, Brazil and Germany," said Blackburn, adding that nationalism rarely seemed a factor.
Russia's Oleg Salenko, who soared to fame with five goals in the game against Cameroon and holds the overall scoring lead with six, has yet to attract a wager at Metelitsa, said Blackburn, citing the lack of Russian chauvinism.
"Nobody has bet on him to be the top World Cup goal scorer," he said. "Literally no one," even when Russia was still in the competition.
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