Bettors Bet on Rove Staying

WASHINGTON, DC – (PRESS RELEASE) -- In the past few days sportsbook.com has seen Americans increasingly betting that Karl Rove will remain as President Bush's indispensable White House Deputy Chief of Staff. In the past few days sportsbook.com has seen Americans increasingly betting that Karl Rove will remain as President Bush's indispensable White House Deputy Chief of Staff. Now more than 70% of wagers are landing on Rove staying in the White House.

Sportsbook.com is the only online sportsbook to offer updated odds on the long-running scandal that continues to plague the Bush Administration. Current odds are 10-11 that Rove will have to leave the White House in the wake of an ongoing criminal investigation, and 10-11 that he will not.

The odds on Rove's future shifted over the past weekend as the spotlight turned to Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff Lewis (Scooter) Libby in the wake of Grand Jury testimony by New York Times reporter Judith Miller. At issue has been Rove and now Libby's role in the leak of the identity of a covert CIA operative to reporters in an effort to discredit an outspoken critic of the administration's war in Iraq.

Even if Rove is not indicted, many political observers still feel the president may be forced to bid good-bye to his long time top strategist to preserve the administration's credibility. Since first posting odds, betting trends have shifted from a tilt towards the view that Rove will leave the White House to an even split.

"So many people have an opinion on what will happen to Karl Rove and now they have a chance to wager on the outcome," says Alex Czajkowski, Marketing Director, Sportsbook.com. "Sportsbook.com is committed to providing all the betting odds our customers could want. If that means going beyond the playing field and into the political arena, then we are going to do it."