Hamster racing popular in Britain

Gambler

As the resident Gambler just thought I would let you know I already have 2 bets down for the 3.30 and 4.15 running in Hammersmith!

(I got a nice juicy tip on fluffy in the fourth)

Hobbes

Reminds me of the "Goodies" where football was banned so all the soccer hooligans moved to rioting at Ballarina shows.

Bard

HAMSTER RACING POPULAR IN BRITAIN
By Beth Gardiner
The Associated Press

LONDON (March 8) - Horse racing is barely back after a one-week suspension, its
premier event has been postponed indefinitely, and major international rugby
matches are being called off. With an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease
leaving British sports in disarray, what's a gambler to do?

Well, at least the hamsters are running.

In this nation of inveterate bettors, the wagering world is getting creative -
or maybe a little desperate - as a severe outbreak of the livestock ailment has
quieted the action at the gambling parlors that dot the streets of most major
British cities.

One Internet betting site is offering hamster races to keep bettors happy until
the schedule of more well-established sports returns to normal.

''We've been running hamsters in these little dragsters,'' said Ed Pownall, a
spokesman for the online company, Blue Square. ''You put an exercise wheel in
the middle of a 10-inch-long dragster. As they run in the wheel it moves the
thing forward.''

The hamsters race in a small studio in north London, and the action is
broadcast live on the company's Web site.

Blue Square has been taking between 300 and 350 bets for each contest -
compared to several thousand for the average horse race - but Pownall said
about 2,000 people have logged on to view each race.

''It's just been fun for people, to get them through the day without the horse
racing,'' he said.

The rodents run six at once along a 30-foot track - so far, the fastest time is
38 seconds. On Friday, the winners of each of the week's four races will face
one another in a tournament showdown.

Horse racing was suspended for a week because of fears that transporting the
animals through the countryside from race to race could spread the highly
contagious foot-and-mouth disease.

The suspension ended Wednesday, but many individual events are still being
called off, including the Cheltenham National Hunt Festival, the most
prestigious event in European jump racing. Three games in the Six Nations rugby
tournament have also been postponed.

Fortunately, the British racing drought comes during a busy soccer week, and
foreign horse racing has picked up some of the wagering slack.

And in a land where people regularly try their luck betting on everything from
politics to literary prizes to plot twists in popular soap operas, there's no
shortage of offbeat gambling options.

Betting houses are offering 10-1 odds that Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor
Party will win an upcoming general election, and bets on a weeklong celebrity
edition of the reality television show ''Big Brother'' are also proving
popular.

''Betting shop customers generally are a pretty resilient bunch,'' said Andy
Clifton, a spokesman for the bookmaking chain Ladbrokes. ''If they want to have
a bet, they're going to find something to bet on.''


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Bard

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"Wait! If we continue like this, you'll turn into an alsation again!" - Edmund Blackadder