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Gasoline to hit $3 a gallon: wanna make a bet?
Reuters ^ | Fri Aug 5, 2005 1:53 PM ET | Richard Valdmanis

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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: betting; energy; gambling; gasoline; gasprices; internet; oil
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To: commonasdirt

The main obstructionists are people who have never been there and have no idea what it is like other than the phony photos they see from "save the wilderness" morons. One of the favorite Alaskan bumper stickers for years has been one that reads: "Please God, grant us another pipeline. We promise not to piss it all away this time."
------
Exactly -- the obstructionists are both the anti-American liberals and the mindless so-called "conservationists" these self-proclaimed experts of NOTHING. This would not have been so much of a problem, except for a VERY WEAK AND ACTIVIST CONGRESS which has pandered to the freaks of the left and prevented this nation from having A REAL, MEANINGFUL ENERGY POLICY -- ala Clinton/Gore just for starters.


41 posted on 08/08/2005 8:46:04 AM PDT by EagleUSA
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To: Nachum

I am doing a news story on a guy who made his own electric car for hardly any money....just used batteries he found around and everything. He is a self-taught electrical engineer...remarkable guy.

He just uses the old junk car to drive around town, but it still saves a ton of money.

There are kits you can get online to try to convert cars to other forms of energy and various devices that are supposed to improve gas mileage, but I wonder if they really work.


42 posted on 08/08/2005 8:46:13 AM PDT by rwfromkansas (http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=rwfromkansas)
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Comment #43 Removed by Moderator

To: Publius6961

You must work for Halliburton...


44 posted on 08/08/2005 8:47:06 AM PDT by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to.....otherwise, things would be different.)
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To: rwfromkansas

We are rapidly approaching that point. I haven't felt any pressure from the price until now. We drive about 25,000 miles a year. It now costs me $45 to fill the tank of my Camry. I cannot imagince what it costs to fill an SUV or a full-size pick-up. I'd LOVE to have either of those, BTW, but the costs of running them are prohibitive.


45 posted on 08/08/2005 8:47:54 AM PDT by Trust but Verify (Get over yourselves!)
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To: Publius6961

Eventually, I think the president may have to freeze gas prices if he doesn't want the economy to tank. I don't like freezing prices, but if you have to do it, you have to do it.

I know around here, most folks say they are willing to keep driving the same amount for quite awhile, until it hits about $3 or so.

At that point, when it hits that number here in the plains, the economy may really start to take a dive.


46 posted on 08/08/2005 8:48:57 AM PDT by rwfromkansas (http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=rwfromkansas)
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To: stuartcr

Gas tax is 40 cents a gallon here in Michigan, so prices would hover around $2 a gallon.


47 posted on 08/08/2005 8:49:04 AM PDT by rintense
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To: edcoil

I wasn't aware of that!If this is fact,it demonstrates his(Clinton's)FECKLESSNESS to an even greater dergree!!


48 posted on 08/08/2005 8:49:32 AM PDT by bandleader
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To: newgeezer

A recent caller to Rush illustrated a big part of the gas problem we have now, and that is that each state has their own environmental regulations that require unique formulations. If gas was the same nationwide, it would easy to divert supplies when needed. As it stands now, refineries are making "custom" gasolines for different locales, which inhibits production capabilities and limits where the gas can be sold.


49 posted on 08/08/2005 8:50:06 AM PDT by Disambiguator (Making accusations of racism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.)
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To: rintense

Is that fed, state and local?


50 posted on 08/08/2005 8:50:20 AM PDT by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to.....otherwise, things would be different.)
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To: newgeezer
There are many factors at work here, but I don't think we'll get to that point ($3.00/gal.) on a national-average basis.

There are some signs that demand is starting to slacken, both here and abroad.
Hurricane threats in the Gulf (of Mexico) have eased (the late season threat is typically in the Atlantic).
Refinery capacity is the biggest problem (IMHO). We just don't have enough refineries, and no one wants one in their backyard -yet. We'll see what a year's worth of $2.00+ gasoline does to change people's minds.
ANWR needs to happen, along with Continental shelf exploration. Is there any political will from the Republicans? We'll see.
Market speculation is rampant now, but will likely calm along with demand in the fall.
As for industrial demand, wind power and solar energy are expensive and inefficient, and coal is not all that clean. Nuclear power is now getting a second look from people who used to dismiss it out of hand, but wince every time they fill up their SUV's. Hell, if the French can do it, why not us?

51 posted on 08/08/2005 8:51:56 AM PDT by andy58-in-nh
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To: stuartcr

Be thankful we aren't like Britain or nearly everywhere else in the world that pays at LEAST $4 per gallon.


52 posted on 08/08/2005 8:53:45 AM PDT by rwfromkansas (http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=rwfromkansas)
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To: andy58-in-nh

If we could get past the sugar people, ethanol would make a lot of sense also.


53 posted on 08/08/2005 8:54:28 AM PDT by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to.....otherwise, things would be different.)
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To: newgeezer
There is no oil shortage. We have a refining problem. There have been no new refineries built in the US for the past 30 years. The grand Poo-Paa from Saudi Arabia has been on TV many times in the past few months saying we would be gland to send the US more oil but they don't have the capacity to refine it. Now ask yourselves who has stopped the construction of refineries in the US for the past 30 years?
54 posted on 08/08/2005 8:54:43 AM PDT by kempo
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To: Disambiguator

We may have to consider doing that pretty soon. If that fails, just freeze the price....a solution I don't like, but we can't afford for the economy to go south.


55 posted on 08/08/2005 8:55:47 AM PDT by rwfromkansas (http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=rwfromkansas)
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To: rwfromkansas
Eventually, I think the president may have to freeze gas prices if he doesn't want the economy to tank. I don't like freezing prices, but if you have to do it, you have to do it.

Jimmy Carruh tried that.
It worked out really really well.
Good luck.

56 posted on 08/08/2005 8:56:03 AM PDT by Publius6961 (Liberal level playing field: If the Islamics win we are their slaves..if we win they are our equals.)
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To: EagleUSA
only 10 percent of our oil comes from Saudi... too far..

We get ours from Mexico and venezuela.

57 posted on 08/08/2005 8:56:06 AM PDT by Zavien Doombringer (Have you gotten your Viking Kittie Patch today? http://www.visualops.com/patch.html)
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To: Trust but Verify

Hit a day last week where it cost me $105 to fill our two vehicles.


58 posted on 08/08/2005 8:56:15 AM PDT by PBRSTREETGANG
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To: biblewonk
3.00 per gallon will be fun. More bikers, more motorcycles, people may actually quit buying SUV's.

Yeah, a family of 5 will ride on a motorcycle.

59 posted on 08/08/2005 8:56:50 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (If there was a problem, yo! I'll solve it!!)
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To: zzen01
But LA and ALL of the rest of CA deserves paying those prices for energy look what THEY keep electing to DC and Sacramento.

So will those that live in cold weather states deserve paying even higher prices for heating oil this winter?

60 posted on 08/08/2005 8:57:53 AM PDT by Black Tooth
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