A DOTING dad has placed a bet on his 15-year-old daughter becoming more popular than pop star Justin Bieber.

Bookmakers William Hill gave Karim Ullah odds of 1000-1 for his daughter Shakila to become the first person to reach 100million followers on Twitter.

Mr Ullah placed a £10 bet and has pledged to donate all his winnings to the charity Barnardos.

He said: “I know no one has 50million followers on Twitter yet which, of course, makes reaching 100million followers an incredibly ambitious target.

“However, I’m confident that Shakila’s going to be doing a lot of interesting things as a singer and musician, which will create a real buzz. She has begun tweeting regularly and over the last few months has been getting more and more followers.”

Newport Free Grammar School student Shakila, who has ambitions to be a successful performing artist, has only been using Twitter for just over a year.

She currently has just under 2,000 followers – so quite a way to go to topple Justin Bieber from his lofty 44 million perch.

Shakila said: “I’d love to have many more followers on Twitter as I want more people to listen to my music. I’ve noticed so many more people are following me on Twitter after I started tweeting a lot more – and I hope that trend will continue.

“I really enjoy tweeting about so many different things, especially quotes to inspire my followers. It would be absolutely fantastic if I can connect with more people on Twitter.”

The teenager has been busking at the Saracens Head in Dunmow every Sunday and is gearing up to release two more singles over the next 12 months. She has already penned an Olympic-inspired track and a song for Help for Heroes in the past two years.

A William Hill spokesman told the Reporter the bet was placed on Monday. He said: “Shakila will have to have a meteoric rise in order to trouble the likes of Bieber and Gaga, but she appears to be on the cusp of something big. We could be readying the winnings in the next year or so.”

Follow @1Shakila on Twitter to add momentum to her ambitious quest.