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CNN Saturday Morning News
Place a Bet On War With Iraq?
Aired March 08, 2003 - 07:49 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, if you think wagering a war is in bad taste -- and I can certainly understand why you might -- you will not believe the other things people are betting on as well online. CNN technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg has, as always, been surfing the Web -- Daniel.
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, always surfing the Web. You know, guys, there are a lot of sites out there that are offering people the chance to bet online about the war. People might be wondering about the possibility of a war with Iraq, what the outcome might be, what it might look like. But now some of these sites are giving you the chance to literally place money on those odds.
And we're going to show you just one of those sites right now. We want to start off by telling people, though, that these sites are illegal to host in the United States. In fact, this one is hosted in San Jose, Costa Rica. So we wanted to point that out to people.
It is called betonsports.com. You can see here they've got a number of different sports you can bet on: basketball, baseball, hockey, sort of the standard ones you might come to expect on a site where you can make some bets. If we scroll down towards the bottom, though, you can see here there is one called "World Events." You click on "Recent Events," and you will see the odds for a number of things related to the situation with Iraq.
For example, the first one, "How long after the initial attack will the ground attack begin?" You can see here, "One week, two weeks, three weeks," and so on. Next, "What will Saddam's fate be by the end of June?" You can see here they say, "Still the president; a U.S. prisoner dead; MIA."
Then the site has a little bit of fun with this idea. For example, one of the least likely things to happen, "He will join the Backstreet Boys and tour with Elton John."
Now, this is part of the betonsports.com site. There are a number of other things in here, including the timeframe in which the U.S. will begin its attack of Iraq. You can see here even this week is the least likely to occur, according to this Web site.
Based on the odds for this, they say they've got about 4,400 bets so far worth about $250,000. So does the idea of betting on this situation trivialize the idea of war in some way? Well we talked to one of the spokespeople from the site, betonsports.com, and here is what he said to us.
He said, "Personally, I hope there isn't a war. War in any sense of the word is not trivial. We're not looking at how many soldiers on either side will die as a result of a war. The only person we're betting on dying is Saddam Hussein." And he also adds, "We're responding to the public that bets with us."
Basically, that's what they're saying is the reason that they put this up on the site. Was the users wanted the chance to bet on something like this. But is it the strangest thing out there? Probably not. Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: Well, Daniel, they're not just betting. I mean they're even betting on things like, will there be a terrorist attack, suicide bombings.
SIEBERG: Right.
COOPER: I mean that's pretty gory and offensive.
SIEBERG: To a lot of people they certainly might feel that way. There are other topics on here that people can bet on. You know on this site you can also bet on things like which hemisphere will an earthquake of 7.5 or higher occur in. You know, is Elvis still alive?
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Oh lord.
SIEBERG: Which shoe company will high school basketball star Lebron James sign with? There's all sorts of things. And this is not the only site, we should point out. There are other sites that allow people to do this.
And there's that whole gray area of legality when it comes to Internet law. And, again, this is why it's hosted in Costa Rica. Guys, back to you.
COLLINS: I always though office pools were illegal too. You shouldn't be betting at work.
COOPER: I'm not a big better, so I don't even take part in the office.
SIEBERG: I wouldn't bet on it.
COOPER: All right.
COLLINS: You're good. All right. Daniel Sieberg, thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired March 8, 2003 - 07:49 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, if you think wagering a war is in bad taste -- and I can certainly understand why you might -- you will not believe the other things people are betting on as well online. CNN technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg has, as always, been surfing the Web -- Daniel.
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, always surfing the Web. You know, guys, there are a lot of sites out there that are offering people the chance to bet online about the war. People might be wondering about the possibility of a war with Iraq, what the outcome might be, what it might look like. But now some of these sites are giving you the chance to literally place money on those odds.
And we're going to show you just one of those sites right now. We want to start off by telling people, though, that these sites are illegal to host in the United States. In fact, this one is hosted in San Jose, Costa Rica. So we wanted to point that out to people.
It is called betonsports.com. You can see here they've got a number of different sports you can bet on: basketball, baseball, hockey, sort of the standard ones you might come to expect on a site where you can make some bets. If we scroll down towards the bottom, though, you can see here there is one called "World Events." You click on "Recent Events," and you will see the odds for a number of things related to the situation with Iraq.
For example, the first one, "How long after the initial attack will the ground attack begin?" You can see here, "One week, two weeks, three weeks," and so on. Next, "What will Saddam's fate be by the end of June?" You can see here they say, "Still the president; a U.S. prisoner dead; MIA."
Then the site has a little bit of fun with this idea. For example, one of the least likely things to happen, "He will join the Backstreet Boys and tour with Elton John."
Now, this is part of the betonsports.com site. There are a number of other things in here, including the timeframe in which the U.S. will begin its attack of Iraq. You can see here even this week is the least likely to occur, according to this Web site.
Based on the odds for this, they say they've got about 4,400 bets so far worth about $250,000. So does the idea of betting on this situation trivialize the idea of war in some way? Well we talked to one of the spokespeople from the site, betonsports.com, and here is what he said to us.
He said, "Personally, I hope there isn't a war. War in any sense of the word is not trivial. We're not looking at how many soldiers on either side will die as a result of a war. The only person we're betting on dying is Saddam Hussein." And he also adds, "We're responding to the public that bets with us."
Basically, that's what they're saying is the reason that they put this up on the site. Was the users wanted the chance to bet on something like this. But is it the strangest thing out there? Probably not. Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: Well, Daniel, they're not just betting. I mean they're even betting on things like, will there be a terrorist attack, suicide bombings.
SIEBERG: Right.
COOPER: I mean that's pretty gory and offensive.
SIEBERG: To a lot of people they certainly might feel that way. There are other topics on here that people can bet on. You know on this site you can also bet on things like which hemisphere will an earthquake of 7.5 or higher occur in. You know, is Elvis still alive?
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Oh lord.
SIEBERG: Which shoe company will high school basketball star Lebron James sign with? There's all sorts of things. And this is not the only site, we should point out. There are other sites that allow people to do this.
And there's that whole gray area of legality when it comes to Internet law. And, again, this is why it's hosted in Costa Rica. Guys, back to you.
COLLINS: I always though office pools were illegal too. You shouldn't be betting at work.
COOPER: I'm not a big better, so I don't even take part in the office.
SIEBERG: I wouldn't bet on it.
COOPER: All right.
COLLINS: You're good. All right. Daniel Sieberg, thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
