When Gambling Goes High Brow

British sports betting site Ladbrokes doesn’t only muck around with boxing matches and dart games, they also take bets on prestigious literary awards such as the 2009 Nobel Prize in literature. Who tops the list? Israeli author and journalist Amos Oz with 4-1 odds. Algerian Assia Djebar and Spain’s Luis Goytisolo come next while perennial American hopes Joyce Carol Oates and Philip Roth get 7-1 odds to round out the top five. Bob Dylan somehow gets 25-1 odds, which isn’t making any sense to me. I’m tempting to place a benjamin on Chinua Achebe (50-1) because it seems like the Nobel Prize committee’s kind of pick and how can you beat that payout!

So who you guys laying money on?

picture by Rennett Stowe