While the world (or parts of it, anyway) awaits the birth of the royal baby with baited breath, bookies are making some serious dough every day that the infant bides its time. There are bets on every possible variable in the birth of William and Kate’s offspring – from the date, to the gender and name. If you search heard enough, you’d probably find someone to take your wager on whether the little one will be born with hair or not. Although we’re not entirely sure how that would be verified.

Scenes Outside St. Mary's Hospital
Odds are, Becks will face a disappointment.

Bookies say bets on the name, sex and date of the first child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are drawing a record number of wagers for a non-sports market, worth over £1 million (1.1 million euros) so far. Gary Burton, from the Coral betting company, explained for AFP that the event as created the biggest novelty market ever. In case you’re wondering, Alexandra and James are the leading predictions for the little one’s name. David, despite David Beckham’s hopes, isn’t really a contender.

Scenes Outside St. Mary's Hospital
The patriotic souvenir trade is also booming.

"We did the pope, we did reality TV and this is by far the biggest we have had. It's getting busier and busier the more it goes on and the more coverage it gets." Coral is having a field day with this, with £500,000 in bets so far. The bookies at William Hill are also doing pretty well, with the company having attracted over £100,000 on the various royal baby stats. Obviously, the position of “third in line of the throne” comes with a long list of expectations, but we don’t think winning or losing bets for feverish gamblers is in the job description. However it turns out though, there will be winners and losers as always. We just hope the little one comes in time for the Queen’s holiday – apparently, she’s getting restless.

Scenes outside St. Mary's Hospital
Alexandra and Charlotte are winning the girls' names race.