Barack Obama Odds Slashed
Good news Thursday for 2008 Presidential hopeful Barack Obama as the largest North American facing online betting firm, Sportsbook.com, slashed odds on the Illinois Junior Senator.
The news came just as Carrie Stroup of Gambling911.com advised that
Sportsbook.com (see website here) had assigned longer odds of Clinton becoming US President on Thursday.
"Whereas before yesterday you could bet $100 to win $600 on Obama, now you would win only $350 on a $100 bet,"
Gambling911.com
resident political
betting analyst,
Carrie Stroup,
reports. "That is a pretty dramatic slashing of the odds."
The newly slashed
odds come on the
heels of a somewhat
highly publicized
gaffe by Obama
wherein he claimed
10,000 people had
been killed by this
past Friday's late
night tornado in
Greensburg, Kansas.
He was only off by
9,888 as there were
12 people killed.
"We hardly see this
mistake as being
detrimental to his
campaign," says
Stroup. "But
there will be those
who start wondering
what other types of
exaggerations
Barrack Obama might
make during his
Presidency.
Obviously, any
little gaffe or lack
in judgment is going
to cost a candidate
some votes."
Meanwhile, it was
announced Thursday
that News Corp.'s
MySpace, a
social-networking
Web site, announced
plans to host a
Presidential Town
Hall series that it
said will let
candidates engage
with members of its
online community.
Users will be able
to submit questions
on MySpace instant
messenger and watch
a Web cast of the
events to be held on
college campuses
from September
through December,
the site said in a
statement today.
Candidates will
appear individually,
not together.
"Our users will have
the chance to get
direct answers to
the questions they
want to ask —
unfiltered," Chris
DeWolfe, chief
executive officer of
MySpace, said in the
statement.
Democratic
presidential
candidates planning
to participate
include Senators
Hillary Clinton of
New York, Barack
Obama of Illinois
and former North
Carolina Senator
John Edwards,
according to MySpace.
Former New York
Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani, Senator
John McCain of
Arizona and former
Massachusetts
Governor Mitt Romney
are among the
Republican
candidates who have
said they will take
part, MySpace said.
Twelve candidates in
all have agreed to
appear, MySpace
said.
----
Alejandro Botticelli, Gambling911.com
Originally published May 10, 2007 7:27 pm ET
