When will Fidel Castro die? People are taking bets, that's for sure. Online bets. Or has he already passed?
In any event, since the Cuban president handed over power to his brother Raul on July
31, online wagering sites have been buzzing with predictions on the Communist leader's fate. BetUS.com offered bettors the chance to pick the month, or the day of the week, that Castro will die.
"We don't want to profit on someone's death. But Castro is unique," Christopher Bennett, media relations director for BetUS.com, told Reuters last week. "I personally wrestled with it. But ... this
could have a huge effect on economics, foreign policy, trade. It's more than just someone passing away."
BetCRIS.com offered bettors a chance to wager on whether Castro will make a public
appearance by Aug. 13, his 80th birthday. And bodog.com, posed the question this way: "Will Communist Cuban President Fidel Castro reassume control of Cuba by October 31st, 2006?"
As of a week
ago, BetUS.com had taken nearly 3,000 wagers on Castro, making his future one of the hottest bets ever, Bennett told Reuters. Nearly 65 percent of the wagers were placed from Internet addresses in the
Miami area, home to some 650,000 people of Cuban descent.