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Posted on 10/22/2002 7:04:35 PM PDT by aculeus
AMERICAN gamblers, who use the internet to take a punt on anything, have opened a book on the sniper. NewsFutures.com, a gambling website, has been flooded with demand for its Sniper2y contracts since they were published three days ago. Hundreds of punters are betting that the sniper will be caught before Saturday.
In just two days about 13,450 contracts have been bought, many of them by gamblers who live in the Washington area where the sniper stalks his victims.
The website invites would-be gamblers to buy a contract for its current market value — the price at which another member is willing to sell it.
If the sniper is caught and in custody “dead or alive” by Saturday, each contract will pay out $100 (£65). Yesterday contracts were changing hands for $20, suggesting that punters are sceptical of an arrest by the weekend.
Punters are also invited to bet against the sniper being caught by Saturday. These contracts were yesterday on sale for between $78 and $80 each, further emphasising public pessimism.
Not all the website’s members are happy with the game, however. Message boards have been beset with complaints of insensitivity and ghoulishness on the part of the site’s founders. One of the founders, who goes only by the online name “Balm”, lives in the Washington area and posted a speedy response to the detractors.
“I co-founded NewsFutures and I live in the DC area with my family,” he wrote. “Our ‘little game’ does not trivialise this issue. We all are angry, sad, and a little more nervous than usual . . . Predicting when the sniper might be caught won’t help to catch that psycho. But giving players a reason to inform themselves about the investigation is useful in a very small, but positive way.”
NewFutures betting games are similar in style to spread betting businesses in Britain, which make much of their money betting on the future financial performance of companies and shares but which also accept more frivolous wagers.
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