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Paul the Psychic Octopus will not be picking any more World Cup games. He’s dead!
Dubbed the “Sea Soothsayer”, Paul the Octopus was perfect in all of his 2010 World Cup predictions (8 in all) including Spain’s final win.
Often emulated but never duplicated, Paul's method of picking games consisted of choosing between mussels placed in glasses of water with either a German or English flag.
Gamblers reported profit from betting on Paul’s picks.
“It wasn’t the team play that was getting the most search queries on Gambling911.com, it was Paul the Octopus’ picks,” said Payton O’Brien, Gambling911 Senior Editor.
One Russian bookmaker even offered to buy Paul at one time. They must be feeling relief today that this deal never went through.
"100,000 euros (about $129,800) was our starting price," Oleg Zhuravsky, co-owner of Liga Stavok -- "Bet League" in Russian -- told CNN in regard to Paul the Octopus.
"He was dear to all our hearts and we will sorely miss him," said the aquarium's manager, Stefan Porwoll. "He died peacefully in the night of natural causes."
The octopus died of natural causes. An autopsy is highly unlikely.
"Octopuses only live three years on average," points out David Crossland of ABC News. "[Paul] was never going to be around for the next European Championship in 2012, let alone the World Cup in Brazil in 2014."
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
