Gamblers put bucks on storms

This Memorial Day Weekend Gambling911.com has been featured on both CBS Channel 4 Miami (See the video here: Archived as "Hurricane Betting The New Craze") and the Miami Herald as part of the big spectacle surrounding a new betting craze that should catch on more this summer, Hurricane Betting.

Nikki Waller in her Miami Herald piece writes:
 

Proposition bets have long been a staple of gambling in Europe. Such wagers became popular stateside during the 2004 presidential race, when offshore gambling sites began offering odds on election results.

Props are the scratch-off lotto tickets of the online gambling world -- a relatively cheap and easy means of instant gratification.

But betting on someone's potential misery?

''We had to wrestle with it, some people view it as a morbid thing to offer,'' BetCRIS.com (See Web Site Here) CEO, Mickey Richardson said of his site's storm-season bets. ``But we can't stop hurricanes. There's been a true interest in it from the public.''

These bettors want to feel as though they're part of an event, whether it's the Super Bowl or a celebrity divorce, said Andy Meyers, a University of Memphis psychology professor who studies gambling behavior.

Someone in Nebraska is unlikely to face a Category 4 storm, but wagering on that storm can help justify -- and enliven -- hours spent watching wall-to-wall coverage on CNN and The Weather Channel.

''Now I get to count how many storms, how big they are and when they hit. Gambling . . . draws you into a level of involvement you might not otherwise have in activities,'' Meyers told the Herald.
 

You can read the Miami Herald article in its entirety here  

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Gambling911.com News Wire

Originally published May 29, 2006 9:23 am EST