Wagers Made on Hussein’s Fate

While pundits around the globe speculated on the fate of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, others were putting money on it.

Offering wagers on the outcome of the war in Iraq has been scorned as distasteful by major bookmakers from London to Las Vegas, but several Web sites are allowing gamblers to put money on whether Hussein will survive.

On Tradesports.com, people can buy contracts for $10 on future events and trade them.

On Friday, as rumors swirled that Hussein might have been killed, futures reflecting the chance that he would not be leader of Iraq by the end of March rose 14 points, according to Trade- sports.com’s John Delaney.

Gamblers have traded more than $1 million in contracts on Hussein’s fate since September, he said. That makes it the second most traded item, after the NCAA college basketball tournament.