The World Cup semi final game between Germany and Spain in Durban, South Africa on July 7 has sure gained a lot of attention around the world and even more so now that somebody has placed a €500,000 bet on Germany winning the game at odds of 10/11.

Bookmaker William Hill reported on July 6 that the company has taken in its largest ever World Cup bet with the €500,000 wager. Graham Sharpe, a spokesman for the betting agency stated that it’s a massive bet, especially since Paul the octopus has predicted that Spain will take the match.

Paul is a “psychic” octopus from Germany who has taken that nation by storm as it has correctly predicted the winner so far in all of Germany’s 2010 World Cup games. However, there’s bad news for German fans as the eight-armed creature recently picked a mussel from a jar that had the Spanish flag on it instead of the German one.

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It seems that Paul is quite adept at picking the winner when it comes to Germany’s matches as his owners say he’s right about 75 per cent of the time. This includes forecasting Germany’s loss to Serbia in the group stages. The octopus has become such a popular figure this summer that his prediction ahead of the semi final was shown live on German television.

However, it’s obvious the person who bet the €500,000 is hoping that Paul’s predictive powers aren’t exactly perfect. For instance, in the 2008 European Championship, he picked Germany to beat Spain in the final, but Spain ended up taking the trophy home with a 1-0 win.

Sharpe said he can’t recall anyone ever making a bet this large on a World Cup game before and if the bet pays off, the winner will rake in a cool 454,000 euros in profit. He added that Germany was the only result his company was worried about in the event, and the huge bet from a client based in Europe means they’ll now be supporting anyone else but them.

There have been some other large bets made with William Hill on this year’s tournament as they have taken wagers of €100,000 and €80,000 on Germany to win its fourth World Cup and one of €75,000 for them to knock off Spain in the semi final.

Sharpe said the Germans have really made a good impression on bettors, especially after slamming in four goals in each game against Australia, England, and Argentina and they’re now the favourites to win the Cup on July 11.

It’s not too late to get into the action with William Hill as the company offers its new customers free bets of £30 when a new account is opened through BetonWorldCup2010.com. Just sign-up an account here to claim your free bets.

The latest 2010 World Cup betting odds from William Hill to win the World Cup tournament as of 17:00 BST on July 6 were: Germany 15/8, Spain 2/1, Holland 11/5, and Uruguay 12/1.

Germany has played Spain 20 times in the past and have won eight, lost six and drawn six of them.

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