Azzuri win costly for tile shop

THEY sell their tiles, they even rooted for them in the World Cup, but Italy’s victory in Sunday’s World Cup final has cost one Dublin tile shop more than a grout or two.

Italian Tile and Stone Studio in Terenure ran a promotion whereby if anyone bought one of its products, the customer had the option of taking a discount on their purchase or gambling on paying the full price and securing a complete refund if the Azzurri won the title.

The promotion ran from the end of May to June 22 and with Sunday’s result, the shop now owes more than 100 customers a “five-figure” total for their confidence in the Italians.

Store manager Margot O’Gorman said: “The customers who took the discount will be kicking themselves. I will be in touch with everyone to whom we owe the refund in the next few days.”

She said the shop’s owner Luke Sweeney decided to run the promotion because of their name and the fact they sell Italian products.

“It was the obvious choice,” she said.

“We actually did root for them as well.”

Determined to maintain the Italian theme, the company has now started a promotion offering discounts on their tiles and the chance to win a week-long holiday for two in Tuscany.

Meanwhile, Paddy Power bookmakers has revealed it did not have a prosperous World Cup, barely breaking even between the bets taken in and wins paid out — and Italy was to blame for much of their misfortune.

Paddy Power said they took €40 million in bets throughout the tournament, but paid out almost the same figure to winning punters.

The company said it lost €250,000 on Italy winning, and added that the Azzurri’s 2-0 win over Ghana also cost them a large amount of money because so many people backed the Italians to beat the African side.

Paddy Power had priced the Azzurri at 14-1 before the tournament began, but those odds plummeted to 4-5 favourites ahead of the final.