Thursday, July 07, 2005
Betting!!!
Looks like a promising investment!
Narendra Nag
Hindusthan Times
New Delhi, July 4, 2005
Bets are on Dumbledore dyings
Dumbledore is going to die. But before die-hard Harry Potter fans commit hara-kiri, know that our source isn’t J.K. Rowling or a bootleg copy of her latest book, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
It’s Blue Square, a British betting site, that has changed the odds on Dumbledore dying to a positive — so anybody betting on the principal of Hogwarts dying now stands to lose money.
But there’s still money to be made in this macabre game, if you bet on Hagrid. According to the odds on Monday evening, every pound (or six other currencies) bet on Hagrid dying would fetch you four if he actually dies in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Betting on Harry’s love interest, Cho Chang, is even more profitable.
But it doesn’t look like Severus Snape or Draco Malfoy are going to pop off and make life easier for Harry when he goes back to school. Blue Square will pay £7 for every pound bet on Snape falling into a cauldron full of potion and dying. And they’ll cough up £14 if Draco falls off his broomstick and cracks his skull.
But the big money’s on Harry Potter. If this turns out to be the last book of the series, someone betting on Monday night will make £16 for every pound he wagers on Potter copping it. The only thing sustaining this writer in these trying times is Rowling’s promise that Harry isn’t going to die.
And that all will be known on July 16.
