It has been said that the Chinese will bet on two raindrops racing down a window, but Irish bookmakers Paddy Power are offering a huge range of bets to clients on President Obama’s inauguration. These range from choosing the first celebrity to be shown in the crowd and the colour of Obama’s tie to picking an exact phrase spoken first in his post inauguration speech. There is a choice of seventy-six phrases that are ever-popular with speech writers, including platitudes such as ‘defining moment’ and ‘there are better days ahead’.

Of course, should Obama and his speech writers be completely original and decline to use any of the listed clichés, all the bets will be void. All together there are fourteen ‘President Obama Specials’ being offered to clients. Already Paddy Power is offering odds on the winning presidential candidate in 2012, with Barack Obama so far leading the field.

Ladbrokes also have ‘Barack Obama Inauguration Specials’ but are offering twenty-eight words that could be spoken in the Inauguration Address. Clients can bet on the length of the address, above or below 23 minutes, and the predominant colour of the president’s tie. Under their US Politics section, William Hill offer bets on a wider range of Barack Obama Specials. Clients can bet that the president will have a third child while in office or will legalise online gambling during his presidency. The present odds for the online gambling question are 8/11 ‘no’ and evens on ‘yes’.

Today Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th US president. The wagers placed on the event at Paddy Power, Ladbrokes, William Hill and other bookmakers will have been made in a spirit of fun but the American people are betting that their new president will bring about some of the Paddy Power selection of ‘what will happen first’. For the US and beyond, the result of the peoples’ wager on Barack Obama as president will have far-reaching consequences. (E-01.20.09)

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