Gambling on the Beeb
16 Nov 2012
Bookmakers like William Hill Sportsbook & Racebook, Paddy Power Sportsbook, Ladbrokes Sportsbook & Racebook and BetVictor Sports have already allowed customers to make bets on who the next Director General of the BBC will be, including popular choices like Ed Richards (with odds of 5/4), and less likely options such as Jeremy Paxman (100/1) and Jonathan Ross (500/1).
There’s been a lot of commotion going on about the BBC and how they seem to be unfit to conduct news in a proper and ethical manner. This comes after a barrage of slip ups which all point back to unprofessional conduct within the BBC’s higher management; including the Jimmy Saville enquiry, false allegations of paedophilia on Newsnight, bias and unfair panorama episodes, and finally, a lot of senior staff taking unjustifiable resignation payoffs.
This all relates to the departures of some of the senior staff in the BBC. George Entwistle, ex-Director General of the BBC, Helen Boaden, BBC director of news, and her deputy Stephen Mitchell, have all left under shady circumstances. The last two were ‘instructed to leave’ rather than quitting in their own manner, whilst George Entwistle resigned after only being the Director General for 54 days, and has still been given a full years pay as severance.
It is more than likely that players will see other betting companies join in on this new fad, as well as new bets being made on who might fill other positions, or perhaps who the next person to leave might be.
David Merry, owner of gambling website Live Roulette, has stated “We always enjoy seeing bets on current issues, especially when you can have a bit of a laugh with them. The BBC hasn’t fared well in the past couple of months and the bookmakers are just making the best out of a bad situation. I’m definitely placing a fiver on Jonathan Ross becoming the next Director General; it’ll be hilarious if he did.”
The BBC has a lot to answer for at the moment; however it can be expected that the bookmakers allowing these bets may come under journalistic flak. But it’s all in good humour and a smart man could easily make some money from this.