Betting news source: The Desert Sun - http://www.thedesertsun.com/
Frightening: Who places $200 on pirate costumes?
Debra Gruszecki
The Desert Sun
October 29, 2006
When the temperatures cool, and in some places, leaves shrivel to a crisp, children often look for a sure thing when choosing a Halloween costume.
The usual cast of characters tend to pop up year-after-year: Harry Potter. Batman. Something "funny." Anything "Star Wars."
But this year, gaming analysts with BetUs.com, an online sports betting Web site that's licensed and bonded in Canada and Costa Rica, are laying odds on who will wear what this Halloween.
The site, which employs over 500 people and offers service to more than 100,000 clients, has tended to divert from mainstream sports betting to roll the cyberspace dice on such oddities as the nuptials of celebrity couples, films & TV, trials, pop culture - even whether George Clooney will run for president.
This time, the week is reserved for Halloween regalia.
Analysts with the Web site have posted 200-to-1 odds that children will walk right past a Flash Gordon costume to morph into Spiderman or a princess. And that far more women will choose a "sexy" costume over some homespun garb such as Dorothy's gingham in "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz."
And the guys would rather dress up as a pimp, pirate or superhero than the sequins-studded Elvis, who drew odds of 35-to-1.
Thinking about dressing up as a character in the Matrix?
Well, you might stand alone.
Analysts posted 60-to-1 odds this look will be popular this Halloween.
William Thompson, a public administration professor with the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, said this kind of wagering is considered manmade and is not allowed in casinos.
But online sites located off-shore and on foreign soil have free rein, and Thompson said their betting activities indirectly help casino business across the board in the United States.
"It keeps people interested in gaming,'' he said.
Tom Tucker, executive director of the Compulsive Gambling Institute, Palm Springs, called the site "nonsense."
"It's an additional way of getting people's money,'' he said. Tucker called Halloween betting a way to hook those on the fringe of becoming problem gamblers or catch the eye of - and ultimately hook - kids.
"Years ago, the New York Racing Authority came out with a comic book for kids on how to handicap horses,'' he said. This seems to have a similar approach. "They are subliminally, or not subliminally, targeting young people."
The general atmosphere for gambling is enhanced when you have things like this that people can bet on, Thompson added, predicting: "I think Elmo is going to win. And dressing up like a (St. Louis) Cardinal has to be 3:1." |
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