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Friday, May 11, 2012

Bookies stop taking bets on Greece leaving the euro

by Calculated Risk on 5/11/2012 07:38:00 PM

Something for a Friday evening ...

From the Athens News: No more bets for Greek euro exit

Want a flutter on Greece leaving the euro zone? It may already be too late. A surge in bets has forced Britain's biggest bookmakers William Hill Plc and Ladbrokes Plc to suspend betting on the odds of Greece dropping out.
...
William Hill said the level of betting on Greece quitting first was such that it had become too risky to continue taking bets ...

"We've had Greece as hot favourites for some time but increasingly it was becoming the only one that people wanted to bet on," said a spokesman for William Hill, Britain's largest betting firm.

"It wasn't a healthy situation for bookmakers. We found it was virtually impossible to make a book."

Britain's second-biggest betting firm Ladbrokes said it had suspended betting on Greece dropping out of the euro zone by the end of the year, after repeatedly slashing the odds.

"It is safer for us to suspend betting than to keep cutting the odds," a spokesman for Ladbrokes said. "We have been slashing the odds repeatedly over the last few days."
Maybe they could take bets on when Greece will leave the euro. The Europeans have said they support Greece through the next election (June 17th) ... after that ... who knows?