With Wolfowitz gone, the World Bank gets betting props

The president of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, announced that he will step down and the White House stated they will replace Wolfowitz soon.

With Wolfowitz gone, the World Bank gets betting props If you did not know, Mr. Wolfowitz decided to resign from the post of president of the World Bank, after the scandal, accusing him of giving his girlfriend, also a World Bank employee, a big raise and an easy passage on the corporate latter. Wolfowitz will remain president of the Bank until June 30th.

Following the scandal and resignation of Mr. Wolfowitz, we were alerted that the online betting website Bodog (opens new window) has posted political props for the next president of the World Bank. If you follow the US political scene, now you have the chance to bet on the next WB president. This could be an excellent chance to win some money, as no one should let an online oddsmaker get a free ride with the odds posted.

The first and probably the most secure bet is will The World Bank break with tradition and appoint a Non U.S. Head of the Bank? Although the odds posted for "yes" are only "even", the White House has reiterated that the next president of the World Bank will be American, as it has been since its foundation in the 1940s, which makes this bet - money in the bank.

The question which American candidate will be chosen to lead the World Bank also has some good betting odds - Stanley Fischer and Robert Zoellick seem to be the favorites for the post with odds 3/1. According to the bookie, the underdogs are Henry Paulson with odds 11/2 and Paul Volcker with 7/1 to become the next World Bank president.

And just to be funny, the bookmaker is giving Tony Blair 6/1 odds to become the first non-American World Bank 11th president, and of course, Bono (yeah, the singer) is holding on to 50/1 odds for the same job description.

05/19/2007