Speculation on the war on Iraq, or “Gulf War 2: The End of Terror”, has dominated the worlds media. The attention of the globe is on Iraq and, primarily, the fate of the Iraqi leader. For months punters have been able to bet on when the war will start and how long it will last. In the last few weeks they’ve even been able to bet on whether Saddam will survive the show.

Only last Friday confused reports came in that the Iraqi leader had been killed. Earlier this month Tradesports.com estimated the likelihood that Saddam would not be leader by the end of March at only 20 percent. Since Friday that’s risen to as much as 79 percent.

Why stop with the demise of Saddam? Lets have bets on overall casualties, how many allies get killed by “friendly fire” (a friend that kills me is no friend of mine), the date weapons of mass destruction will be discovered, no, even used. Sadly the people at Tradesports have refused to place such contracts on offer, whilst insisting offering wagers on Saddam’s demise is not distasteful.

John Delaney, Tradesports Chief Executive: 'The majority of our people come from the financial and trading community and they use the very same skills they use in their day jobs … We've gotten requests that we wouldn't consider listing.'

Though Tradesports and a handful of other online gambling sites have offered various wagers on the war for the most bookmakers across the globe have scorned the practice. Many have publicly voiced their concern from BetWWTS to MGM Mirage.

Alan Feldman, a spokesman for MGM Mirage: 'This is far too serious and involves the loss of lives and, therefore, shouldn't be seen as a trivial or sporting event.' I think he’s talking about the wagers and not the war.

By darren. www.onlinecasinonews.com