Will she or won't she? At least one wager has been cast in the Alaska Dispatch offices on whether or not former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will run for president. And according to Bloomberg News, we're not the only ones betting on Mamma Grizzly. Bloomberg reports Monday that William Hill Plc, a United Kingdom bookmaker with more than 2,000 bookies, is also wagering that Las Vegas will want to get in on the game.
Bloomberg notes that Palin isn't the main reason William Hill is getting into American gambling. The "bigger aim is sports wagers," which according to the story are only legal in Nevada, Montana, Oregon and Delaware.
William Hill's chief says that once it gets licensure it will become the largest "legal" American bookmaker. But that only gets William Hill about 1 percent of the estimated $380 billion that's gambled annually in the U.S. The other 99 percent is in unregulated bets.
Other interesting, non-sports-related wagers by William Hill? Earlier this year, the outfit took bets on whether Great Britain's Prince Philip would fall asleep during the wedding of his grandson, Prince William, Bloomberg reports.
And in England, where betting's already under way for the 2012 American presidential election, President Obama's re-election is currently favored with 4-9 odds, while a Palin presidency appears a longshot, 28-1, at least according to the Brits.
Read the full Bloomberg story here.