One online sports book is taking proposition betting to an all-time low this week, said some in the industry.
In the aftermath of terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C., BetOnSports.com, a sports book affiliated with NASA Sports, has devoted a section of its site to bets related to a counterattack by the U.S. government.
The site has six different main bets, with three to five options covered under each main bet. Players can bet on when a counterstrike will start, how it will start, what kind of forces will be used, what countries the attacks will take place in, who will help the United States and how long the attacks will last.
Officials with BetOnSports didn't return calls and messages left on Wednesday by IGN, but another site operator who specializes in offering side bets on everything from the outcome of elections to who is going to win the television show Survivor, said the war-based betting option is an idea his site will not be using.
"No matter what the demand is, and there is zero demand for it at this time, we will never offer such bets," said the operator, who wanted to remain anonymous. "War is not something we should be profiting off of in the betting industry. If people want to place some bets on sporting events to keep their minds off of the activities around the world, that is one thing, but what they have done is way over the line in my opinion."
It is not clear when the lines regarding terrorism went up. Online sports books, as well as their land-based counterparts, took a major hit last week as sporting events of all sorts were called off in the wake of the disaster.
The lines could have been placed as a temporary measure for the site to create revenue if those cancellations continued over the long haul.
The site may be opening itself up to more than just criticism from the gaming community. If jet fighter pilots or paratroopers receive their orders a day before strikes begin, it is not known whether BetOnSports has a mechanism to keep them, or others they may inform, from placing a bet.