Spain now pays 6/4 odds to win the Euro 2008 following their defeat of Italy.  Germany also has 6/4 odds of winning.

Spain beat Italy 4-2 in a penalty shootout after a highly tactical Euro 2008 clash on Sunday to set them up with a semi-final against Russia.

Cesc Fabregas coolly slotted home the decisive penalty after goalkeeper Iker Casillas had saved two of Italy's spot kicks.

It is the first time Spain have reached the semi-finals of a major tournament since they got to the final of the European championships in 1984.

They are the only one of the group winners to make it to the final four after Portugal, Croatia and Netherlands were knocked out of the tournament.

Spain was determined to win their first championship since 1964.

"What we have to do is is break this spell and end the curse of the quarter finals," Spanish net-minder Iker Casillas explained prior to the game. "Italy are the favourites for this and Spain have a disadvantage, despite having done very well in the group stage.

"They are favourites because of their history, because they have played in more finals, have more trophies and because Spain have not won the European Championships for a very long time.

"We have to enjoy the atmosphere that will be there and carry on playing as well as we have done in the group. We will also know that Italy will always be Italy."

Thus far, the Spain vs. Italy Euro 2008 game has drawn the most interest from the gambling public as determined by Gambling911.com traffic.

Sportingbet was offering Euro 2008 betting with hundreds of options available plus a 20 per cent signup bonus available to Gambling911.com readers.  In addition to make both Spain and Germany the 6/4 favorites, Russia was listed with 7/2 odds and Turkey 10/1 odds. 

Ironically, Sportingbet may have made a wise move staying in Turkey following the arrest of some key personnel there earlier in the month.  Internet gambling group Sportingbet said it had no immediate plans to pull out of Turkey, its third biggest market, despite struggling to discover why two employees had been thrown into an Istanbul jail.

The assurance means they will continue to take bets on the Turkey team for the Euro 2008, with an expected high volume. 

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Alistair Prescott, Gambling911.com

Originally published June 22, 2008 6:02 pm EST