Saturday, October 18, 2008

Obama Madness

Somehow, the following has to be read alongside Charles' earlier post.

But I don't really understand this. I know most of humanity is motivated by what they want to believe. For example, people are willing to recognize debts of no legal standing and pay out thousands to erase their carbon footprints. But a bookmaker, paying out a million euros to recognize early what it seems they clearly so desire to be inevitable, an inevitability that is by no means certain....? Surely such a business should be the last to allow such insanity to enter its decisions...
Bookmaker to pay out early on Obama victory | Oddly Enough | Reuters

Or is this just a clever publicity ploy, cheap advertising for a bookie who recognizes that the way to appeal to the fools who make up a good chunk of his customers is to appeal to their politico-religious vanity, to pretend to share, as it were, in the comradery of Obamamania?

2 comments:

Charles Henry said...

All I can think of is that he must stand to lose much more if McCain wins, so that by paying out now he loses less than if he has to pay out later.

The article doesn't make any mention of what would happen to the bookie if McCain should win... seems to me that's a rather obvious question. Maybe this is just a press release put out by the bookmaker?

In which case, your guess that it's just advertising would be a more likely reason for the otherwise strange behavior.

truepeers said...

Oh I'm sure he has to pay out if McCain wins; you can't renege on a bet and remain a bookie.