Outrage Over Paddy Power Oscar Pistorius Murder Trial Betting Intensifies

The public – and presumably a chunk of Paddy Power’s customer base – have taken to Twitter to lambaste the Irish bookmaker for continuing to take bets on the outcome of South African paraplegic runner Oscar Pistorius’ murder trial.

Pistorius claims he shot into a locked bathroom believing an intruder had entered the residence he shared with Steenkamp.  Instead he fatally wounded his girlfriend.  Day 2 of the highly publicized trial took place on Tuesday.
Paddy Power began offering a “money back guarantee” on the Pistorius trial should he be acquitted.  The betting firm added fuel to the fire this past weekend by featuring Pistorius in the form of an Oscar statuette as part of a cross-marketing campaign looking to capitalize on the popularity of Sunday’s Academy Awards in conjunction with Pistorius’ given name “Oscar”.

The outrage was so intense in recent days that a petition to stop such betting began to circulate via Twitter.  Over 107,000 people had signed at as of press time Tuesday morning.

Sara Reid of SWANSEA, UNITED KINGDOM wrote:

Whatever the verdict, this trial is only necessary because a woman lost her life due to violence. She was a human being with family and friends who loved her and miss her, they will never see her grow older, they will mourn the children that she may have had and the contribution she would have made to all their lives. This isn't a trivial matter and to trivialise it in this way is demeaning to all women and an insult to the memory of Reeva Steencamp and all other women who have lost their lives at the hands of men.

Drew Crecente wrote:

It is reprehensible for a company to attempt to profit from this tragedy. The victim's friends and family are re-victimized by this shameless behavior.

I can confirm that this type of situation does damage the victims; my own daughter was murdered by her ex-boyfriend and I have had to deal with a number of equally shameful occurrences.
The tweets Tuesday morning were relentless:

Joeduffy ‏@talktojoe1850 18h

The "macabre " #paddypower ad ,apart from bad taste also infringement of #oscars2014 copyright pic.twitter.com/yZoOLeTQkt

Lou-Lou ‏@louloulkaa 19h

Disgusting. Profiting from the death of a young woman. Shameful behaviour. #Pistorius #PaddyPower #betting pic.twitter.com/6kb09jB71y

CAROVAN ‏@CarovanStudios Mar 2

A woman is murdered in her home & in an epic display of marketing genius #PaddyPower advertise a bet on it. Wankers. pic.twitter.com/A118nqnhkg

Rachael Nicholls ‏@RaquelLouise Mar 2

This is vile, betting on a murder trial. Disgusting ‪#paddypower ‪#OscarPistorius ‪pic.twitter.com/2qppi47Cue

Wayne B ‏@MrWayneyB Mar 2

I mean, surely it must be illegal for any company to try and stoop this low? #PaddyPower #Oscar #Pistorius pic.twitter.com/L4Y5ygiOFc

Paddy Power was also seemingly making fun of Pistorius paraplegic state by featuring an ad that read: “Money Back if Pistorius Walks”. 

At least one member of the Twitter community, obviously in the minority, thought highly of this advert:

Daniel Howes ‏@danhow01 17h

Loving the odds, @paddypower is this a pun on the fake legs as well, if so that's brilliant. #paddylad #paddypower pic.twitter.com/G2Sf4A38Iw

- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com