Gamblers Place Wagers on Saddam's Demise
A lot of us are taking part in NCAA office pools (I'm winning mine so far), but there are some folks willing to wager on a life-or-death proposition- Saddam's. I just wish that I'd thought of this myself.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - While pundits around the globe speculated on the fate of Saddam Hussein, others were putting money on it.
Offering wagers on the outcome of the war in Iraq (news - web sites) has been scorned as distasteful by major bookmakers from London to Las Vegas, but several Web sites are giving gamblers the opportunity to put money on whether Saddam will survive.On the Web site Tradesports.com, people can buy contracts for $10 on future events, such as the Academy Awards (news - web sites), and trade them.
On Friday, as rumors swirled through financial markets that Saddam had been killed, futures reflecting the chance that Saddam would not be leader of Iraq by the end of March rose to 79 percent, from 65 percent earlier in the day, and from about 20 percent earlier this month, according to Tradesports.com.
"The majority of our people come from the financial and trading community and they use the very same skills they use in their day jobs," Tradesports.com Chief Executive John Delaney said. Gamblers have traded over $1 million in contracts on Saddam's fate since the proposition was posted in September, he said.
Of course, there likely will not be any upsets if you play Saddam's pool....
