LONDON, May 31: British bookmakers are accepting World Cup wagers on everything from how often players strip their tops off, to the number of hairstyles England captain David Beckham will sport during the tournament.

William Hill has odds of 4-7 that Beckham, whose ever-changing hairstyle has included a mohawk and a shaven head, will wear two or more different looks during the Cup and odds of 13-2 that he wears golden boots in his opening game.

Bookies estimate the Cup will generate around 250 million pounds ($370 million) in betting turnover in the UK alone.

Paul Austin, spokesman for London spread-betting firm IG Index, said the World Cup, which kicked off in South Korea on Friday, was attracting many weird and arcane bets.

IG is taking bets on when England striker Michael Owen will score his first goal — and where that goal would come in the run of goals through the tournament: the smart money is on Owen kicking somewhere between the 75th and 80th goal of the Cup.

For the statistical geeks, it is also letting people bet on the sum of all the minutes in which goals are scored during all World Cup matches — so that the sum of a goal scored in the 30th minute and another scored in the 50th minute would be 80. In the entire Cup, it is wagering on a total sum of 8,200-8,400.

Cantor Index is offering an “injury bet”, in which gamblers predict how many players have to be carried off on a stretcher. It believes 145 to 155 players will exit the Cup this way.

England punters are desperately hoping that Beckham, returning to the game after nursing a broken foot for seven weeks, will not be one of them.—Reuters