Posted on 08/08/2005 8:20:52 AM PDT by newgeezer
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The largest sports betting site on the Internet expanded Friday into the energy arena, offering gamblers a chance to bet on soaring U.S. retail gasoline prices.
"Record gasoline prices are affecting everyone, so why not let people bet on it?" said PinnacleSports.com spokesman Kyle Fratini. "We've been thinking about this for months."
The online betting site, which normally focuses on mainstream sports like football, basketball and soccer, is giving gamblers a chance to bet on whether gasoline will reach $3.00 a gallon in New York or Los Angeles by the end of the year, with 30 to 1 odds.
On Friday, average gasoline prices in Los Angeles were a lofty $2.616 a gallon, up more than 20 percent from last year and among the highest in the nation, according to the AAA's daily survey.
AAA's survey will be used by PinnacleSports.com as the benchmark for its bets.
Nationwide, gasoline prices are zipping along just over $2.30 a gallon, within 2 cents of the record peak hit July 14, as oil refiners are forced to pay up for record world crude oil prices of over $60 a barrel.
Also up for wager: Will the average price of gas in the United States reach $2.35 per gallon by Labor Day? Will the average price of gas in the U.S. reach $2.40 per gallon by the end of the year?
Fratini said maximum bets on gasoline will be around $500, though the site allows for bets in the thousands of dollars for sports like football.
Ditto ANWAR. Even if drilling were to begin in the next five minutes, it would take at least ten years to start drawing oil.
ANWAR cannot resolve the oil problem.
NO, no, no. The pricing problem is the fault of the evil SUV! See post 33.
"Drilling in ANWAR is not going to bring prices down. It will take many years after drilling before oil can flow."
Add to that refining capacity. When was the last new refinery built in the US. It's also hard to get approval for refinery expansions. Mostly thanks to the envirowacks.
If you put U.S. retail at-the-pump gas prices against the rate of inflation over the last twenty-five years, you will find that the current prices are economically low prices dictated by political arrangement and not economics.
Had we not been lulled by politically fixed cheap prices then the market place would have already created more conservation, exploration and improved the technologies of using oil as well as improved the economics of alternatives to oil. Markets work, government fiats cause market disruptions which create either unsustainable shortages or unsustainable subsidized surpluses; either of which diminish the profitable return on capital and result in business models that cannot be sustained without your taxes.
The "custom" formulation applies mostly to California.
They could do like my neighbors do. He drives a 2005 Chevy Suburban and she drives a Toyota Hybrid. He is apolitical and she is a foaming-at-the-mouth lib.
"Rate of inflation over the last twenty five years"
Twenty five years ago I was 11 years old and no where near to caring what gas prices were then.
WOW, I stil don't care what gas prices were then. I care what I am paying now. And now is just too much.
The N/E deserve what THEY get to.
Oil is worthless without refineries.
"And Calabasas is where?"
Calabasas is in the San Fernando Valley, east of Woodland Hills and south of Canoga Park. If you are familiar with the 101 Freeway(Ventura Freeway) Calabasas is off of the Ventura Freeway.
I never said the war was about oil. But I expected it to be a fringe benefit.
What is the purpose of profits?
Oh, I don't know, let's see; like in the case of oil.
By most accounts the world's reserves of oil are either (a) diminishing or (b)getting harder (more expensive) to retrieve from lower depths. By most accounts the world's use of oil is skyrocketing as the world economy expands. So, we have both higher development and extraction costs and increasing demands. Sounds like pressure from both supply and demand to me.
So, how will you meet those pressures? You will invest in existing resources which the sellers will demand higher prices for and you will invest in new technology to get more from existing resources and new technology to get product from harder to reach new sources. How will you do that? With current profits that you can invest in tomorrow's business. What will it take? Billions.
Think you can go into the oil business today at $2.50 a gallon retail? You're dreaming and you do not understand economics or the worldwide oil industry.
We do not need a new CFI dictated by the government.
The marketplace (higher oil prices) will do the job much better.
Perhaps a much easier solution would be to repeal _all_ laws and regulations that ban young children from the front seat. The result would be that mothers with several children wouldn't _need_ a multi-seat vehicle in which to get around.
- John
They don't? What fantasy reports are you reading?
I'd take that action, and use the winnings to fill my tank. :)
LOL! They're not speculating on the continuing inability of to drill in ANWR - they're speculating on growing consumption coming from China, India, HERE, etc. They're also speculating on an eventual showdown with Iran and the potential for civil unrest in Saudi Arabia.
The prices may drop briefly, but when it becomes clear there's a better chance of a global nuclear war occurring before the first drop comes out of ANWR, it's going to go right back up.
don't kid yourself, the oil companies don't want any excess refining capacity. they like things just as they are right now. take a look at their quarterly profits.
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