Baltimore Sun
LONDON -- Some day, by the year 2030, when the U.S. Congress is in
joint session for the State of the Union address, the president will be
announced and in she will walk. Her name will be Britney Spears.
Wanna bet?
Some people do, and the gambling houses of Britain are only too glad to
take the money of anybody willing to plunk down a British pound or two
on a President Britney -- or just about anything else they can think to
bet on.
If someone wants to wager that his or her grandmother will live to 100,
it`s not hard to find a bookmaker who will give odds. Someone thinks
Elvis will shake up Wimbledon and make an appearance at the tennis
finals? There`s a gambling house to take the bet. Some people put up
money on how many sips of water the chancellor will take while
addressing the House of Commons.
"Novelty betting," as it has become known, is on the increase in
Britain. Sometimes, the bookmakers will come up with the offbeat bets;
other times it`s the gamblers who come up with some event -- or
nonevent -- and approach the gambling houses for odds.
"If I lived in a vault and based what was going on outside solely on
the bets we get, I`d think I live in a very strange country," said
Warren Lush, the chief oddsmaker at Ladbrokes Limited., which has about
2,000 betting houses in Britain. "I`d also know a lot of what`s going
on, both in terms of trends and specific events, even before the
newspapers."
The novelty betting is a reflection of British society, and the picture is not always encouraging.
European awards for artworks and literature are popular sources of
novelty bets but Britons are increasingly eager to bet on what they
know best: reality TV shows such as the British versions of "American
Idol" and "Big Brother."
"I don`t want to be the one to call it the dumbing-down of Britain,"
Lush said. "But I think it`s the dumbing-down of Britain."
For years, people have bet on English football -- soccer -- and for
longer than that on horses and dogs, where wagers can be placed in any
of about 8,000 betting houses, such as Ladbrokes, scattered around the
country.
The willingness of bookmakers to accept novelty bets roughly coincides
with the boom in Internet gambling and other opportunities to lose
money.
Spin the gerbil
A gambling channel called Avago, part of the Sky satellite service,
offers a number of games people can play on their television via their
remote control. Included: Gerbil Roulette, in which the rodents are
spun on a wheel while betters put money on which number house they`ll
stagger into.
Nobody seems certain, though, precisely when novelty betting began,
though Rupert Adams of the gambling house William Hill, said he`d wager
it began when a man named David Threlfall walked into one of the
company`s shops in 1961, wanting to bet on man walking on the moon
before 1970.
He was laughed at and ridiculed -- and given 1,000-1 odds for his 10-pound bet.
In 1969, he collected his 10,000 pounds.
(For some idea of how loud the laughter may have been, consider: The
odds of Britney Spears capturing the White House -- she`s pretty sure
she`s a Republican, by the way -- were put at 500-1, far better than
the odds of man on the moon.)
Such wagering still makes up only a small fraction of the profits for
the gambling houses, but the proportion has been increasing. Gambling
houses say they don`t have public statistics on how much money is bet
on novelty bets, but "Pop Idol," the British version of "American
Idol," has been a hit with gamblers (or "punters") wanting to put down
a bet (or a "flutter") on who might be voted off and who might win.
"I`d say that, easily, the market has doubled since reality television
became so big," Lush said. "I`m not sure what that says about British
society, but I`m sure it says something -- and probably something
unfavorable."
The bookmakers nearly took a bath in red ink on last month`s "Celebrity
Big Brother" when viewers bet in big numbers on Kenzie, a one-named kid
rapper, to win the day.
Unluckily for the bettors, Bez, a one-named self-confessed drug abuser
who used to dance with the band "Happy Mondays," was the winner; Kenzie
was runner-up.
"The punters are a mixed bag," said Adams of William Hill. "Some want
to go for the outrageous odds and win a lot for a little. Others will
go for the favorites and try to win a little with a lot."
Perhaps the most popular novelty bet has become popular enough that
it`s really not much of a novelty any longer: living to 100.
People bet mostly on their grandmothers making it to the century mark,
but others bet on themselves, hoping for a nice payoff should they get
there. The bad news is the payoff isn`t what it used to be; the good
news is more people are reaching that age.
