Mouprise.com

Proposition 666

The world survived on 6-6-06 with the usual amount of disasters, including dust storms and volcanic eruptions.

An offshore bookmaker, taking $500 to 100,000/1 limit bets that the Earth would survive another day, had to pay people half a cent or so.

According to a spokesperson, people are betting on both sides.

There would have been big payouts if the apocalypse had come, though collecting might have been a problem.

“I would have liked to have bet on that, as long as people put up their money up front,” said well-known Las Vegas sports bettor Lem Banker.

“They could have set their own odds and done whatever they wanted.

“If they won, they could have come looking for me…not in heaven, but in hell.

“That’s what I think of those things.

“And that’s your answer.”

Some Las Vegas bookies believe the offshore gambling industry may be going too far with certain betting proposals, but are reluctant to go on record because, as one said, “I don’t want 20,000 emails.”

Others say: “Let them have fun, it’s legal.”

The Nevada Gaming Control Board strictly regulates what the Silver State books can offer and prohibits betting on anything that is not purely sports.

Anything that involves voting is prohibited in Nevada… except boxing, which is kind of hard to understand, considering the number of finals where judges’ decisions have been challenged.

Most of the stores abroad are loosely regulated.

Last week, the media was inundated with stories about betting on the National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC, as well as betting on when and where hurricanes will hit the hardest this year.

“It’s morally wrong to bet on people’s lives, but yes, they can,” Stratosphere Tower racing and sporting director Robert Jaynes said.

“On the other hand, people are always looking for weird things to bet on.

“Some people are even betting that Elvis or Jimmy Hoffa will be found alive, even though it has been proven that they won’t.

“People like to sit in bars and bet things, anything…whether the next man who walks in has a mustache or wears a tie.”

John Avello, the director of racing and sports at Wynn Las Vegas, is known across America for formulating exotic entertainment odds on things like the Oscars, the Emmys and “American Idol.”

Avello was peripherally involved in hurricane forecasting in that some punters contacted him.

“I looked at it from the point of view that I was just predicting the weather and said it would be a mild hurricane season,” Avello said.

He thinks it “would be fun” if the bookies could spread their wings a bit, but he draws the line at events involving youth, like the National Spelling Bee.

“The spelling bee, no,” he said.

Politics would be “fun,” Avello added, “but we have to stay out of it.”

Some foreign books have published odds, averaging 300/1, that Bill Clinton will win the 2008 US presidential race, despite the fact that he is prohibited by the Constitution from serving a third term.