He dies? What are the odds?
An Internet betting site temporarily suspended activity on its Harry Potter page this week amid worries that there had been a leak from someone who had read “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and knew which prominent character would be killed, BBC News reported. The supposedly doomed: Professor Dumbledore, headmaster at Hogwarts.
The Blue Square site (bluesq.com) subsequently reopened betting after J.K. Rowling’s publisher suggested that fans take rumors “with a pinch of salt,” the BBC said. Still, the site now lists the odds of Professor Dumbledore dying in the book, which is due out in July, at 1/5, meaning that if a person bet $5 and were right, he’d win $1. By contrast, he could bet $1 on professors McGonagall or Snape and win $7 if proven correct.
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