Royal baby sparks retail boom

There's nothing like a royal baby to lift a nation's spirits and those of its retailers, who are hoping to cash in on Prince William and Catherine's new arrival this month.

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Any moment now a new royal baby will be born to Prince William and his wife, Kate.

And in Britain, people are betting a lot of money on the gender, the name and pretty much everything else.

British retailers are expected to make close to $400 million from the event.

More than half of that will come from on memoribilia alone.

"Since we've launched out mini collection, out very subtle royal collection, we've had a huge response," says store owner Laura Tenison.

"In fact a couple of the lines have sold out this first weekend that we've put them in our stores."

Punters are also laying bets on the baby's name at the rate of 1,000 a day.

"This market is huge, we're pressing northwards of 300,000 pounds to date," says Rory Scott, a Paddy Power Betting Agent.

"[That's] 30-40 per cent up on the royal wedding a couple of years ago."

Topping the list for a female name is Alexandra, after the wife of King Edward the seventh.

For boys, James is the bookies' favourite.

The arrival date, the weight, and the hair colour of the baby are also open for bets.

The soon-to-be Prince or Princess of Cambridge will be born at St Mary's hospital in Central London.

The official due date is Saturday.

But punters are convinced Kate will give birth in the next two days.


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2 min read

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Updated

By Brett Mason

Source: SBS


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