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The Obama State of the Union address will be different this year with a focus on Democrats and Republicans sitting side by side (the oddest “date” being hot tempered New York Liberal Congressman Anthony Weiner and his Republican colleague Peter King).
Something else unique is taking place at this year’s State of the Union address. Not a single online gambling site seems to be offering betting odds on the event.
“In the past we have seen a handful of online gambling sites offering odds on everything from the OVER/UNDER on number of standing ovations to how often a sitting President will say a certain word,” said Payton O’Brien, Senior Editor of the Gambling911.com website.
There were also odds on the length of the State of the Union speech.
State of the Union address odds were readily available at Bodog.com and Paddy Power, the later of which does not even accept bets from US citizens.
“This year, nothing, unless they are planning to offer odds during the last minute.”
While it might seem like a bland offering, think again.
State of the Union betting odds at times featured some of the funniest offerings this website has ever seen.
How about this classic from the George Bush presidency dating back to 2006:
During President George W. Bush's 2006 State of the Union address, how many times will the President say the following words: Iraq ? Evil ? Patriot Act ?
The odds were as follows:
For the word Iraq, 92% of betting action is on the President using the word "Iraq" 16 or more times at 7/2 odds
For the word Evil, 80% of betting action is on the President using the word "evil" 0-2 times at 2/1 odds
For the words Patriot Act, 55% of betting action is on the President using the words "Patriot Act" 6-9 times at 3/2 odds.
Last year’s Obama State of the Union Address could be bet on as well, provided you were not living in the US. Ireland’s largest bookmaker (the UK’s third largest), Paddy Power, released odds on everything from the color of Obama’s tie to “What Will He Mention First”, with “Health Care” being the overwhelming favorite. “Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names”, incidentally, was a 100-1 odds long shot.
“Perhaps this year, there is not a whole lot to bet on when it comes to first mentions since most everyone agrees he’ll focus almost exclusively on the economy,” O’Brien said.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
