Vuvuzela Ban Not Likely Says Oddsmaker William Hill

At 16/1 odds, William Hill have indeed slashed the price on the noisy vuvuzela being officially banned at some stage during the World Cup Finals in the South Africa, but those odds are still relatively long.

World Cup chiefs on Monday insisted they would not be silencing the noisy vuvuzelas.

The plastic trumpets are being blamed for "ruining the World Cup atmosphere".

Officials say otherwise.

"Vuvuzelas are here to stay and will never be banned," said Rich Mkhondo, a spokesman for the local World Cup organising committee.

"People love the vuvuzelas around the world. Only a minority are against vuvuzelas. There has never been a consideration to ban vuvuzelas."

Chief organiser Danny Jordaan had not ruled out banning the most talked about instrument in this World Cup, according to a BBC report while Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk has banned them from his team's training sessions.

The bookies were offering odds of 50/1 on an official ban, but a run of support from Irish punters has forced Hills to slash their odds to 16/1.

'It appears to be people who don't normally attend or watch football matches live and would rather sit and watch games in silence who are objecting to the vuvuzela, but we don't think a ban is at all likely' said Hill's spokesman Tony Kenny, 'Besides it's a cultural thing in South Africa, and it would be more offensive to the natives if FIFA banned them."

Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher