Odds offered online on global warming's possible coastal impact

Joining the debate about the effects of global warming, an online gambling service has started accepting bets on when rising waters would submerge Virginia's Cape Henry and Cape Hatteras on North Carolina's Outer Banks.

BetUs.com offers 200-to-1 odds that Cape Henry will be underwater by 2015. Cape Hatteras fared a little better - 300-to-1 odds it would be flooded by the same date.

But don't bet on it, says Phil Roehrs, a coastal engineer for the city of Virginia Beach.

Roehrs said although sea levels are rising along the East Coast, scientists are not predicting anywhere near the levels and dates provided by the gambling service.

"No wonder the odds are so good," Roehrs said.

That hasn't stopped bettors from taking a chance at guessing it correctly. About 3,000 people placed bets during the first three days on online booking, said Reed Richards, a spokesman for BetUs.com.

Most gamblers on the site have put down money that Manhattan in New York City will be submerged before New Year's Eve 2011.

"Don't ask me why," Richards said.

Global warming isn't the only eco-proposition on the site. Besides betting that Florida will be underwater by New Year's Eve 2011, bettors can lay down money that polar bears will become extinct by 2010 (100-to-1 odds) or that a car will hit the market by 2008 that runs solely on water (150-to-1).

Richards said wagering on global warming is an extension on so-called pop culture gambling, which started years ago when the service took bets on who would win popular TV reality shows like "Survivor" and "American Idol." The site also takes bets on when movie stars will get divorced or enter rehab.

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