Odds on the Pope
The white smoke came from the chimney at the Vatican yesterday, at 7 p.m. local time. The first pope born in the United States was elected by his fellow cardinals.
Robert Francis Prevost was born on the south side of Chicago, and graduated from Villanova University. As the 267th pope of the Catholic Church, he has taken the name Leo XIV.
Once that was announced…it was time for bettors to settle up.
That’s right, in a sign of our times, there was a great deal of betting action on the issue of the new pope. The online betting site BetOnline.ag reported a variety of facts to us concerning that aspect of things.
They termed Pope Leo as “a true American underdog crossing the finish line like a Kentucky Derby longshot”…they say Prevost did not appear on any of BetOnline’s “Next Pope” betting boards back in 2022. Yes, apparently there are such things.
He was only added this month to the list of candidates, and was at 16/1 odds on Tuesday…25/1 by Wednesday as the conclave began…and a whopping 40/1 as the day of his election began. BetOnline’s political oddsmaker said that bets were steadily coming in on a handful of papal candidates, but none of them was Prevost…so they bumped his odds. He further noted, quoting now, “Every pope market we had was a winner for book, so it’s too bad this only happens every decade or so.” Spoken like a true believer.
The papal name of Leo had the fourth-lowest odds on the board at 8/1. Bettors were taking the “over” for rounds of voting at 4.5, so the “under” hit for BetOnline.
“Continent of Next Pope” was also a winner for the house; “North American” was listed with 9/1 odds, second to last on the board. And the odds of 3/2 for the next pope being younger than 70 also cashed.
What are the odds any of the winners share their riches in the collection plate this Sunday?
