Internet Casino Players Betting on Busy Hurricane Season
With July racing by, the coastal areas of the eastern US are keeping an eye to the Atlantic as the heart of the hurricane season falls over the next two months. Although the ferocious windstorms have been scarce the last few years, patrons of Internet casinos are gambling that 2010 will reverse the trend and spawn more than a few hurricanes.According to bookmakers at online gambling site Paddy Power, the National Hurricane Center will likely name as many as ten or more storms this year. That would make this season the most active since 2005, when a record 21 hurricanes were named, including the devastating trio of Katrina, Rita, and Wilma.
The oddsmakers say a bet on ten or more named storms pays 2-1. The payoff goes up as the number of storms predicted drops, rising sharply at three (20-1), two (25-1), and one(100-1), which would mean wagering no storm would follow the presently raging Alex.
Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center are predicting a multitude of storms, saying named hurricanes could fall between 14 and 23. But recent forecasts have been off, as global conditions such as the El Nino effect have staved off storm development.
Still experts are saying El Nino, a Pacific Ocean condition that causes powerful air currents heading east to shear hurricanes' upper atmosphere development, is fading this year, leaving the US coast vulnerable to a return to the hurricane fatigue of 2003-2005, during which coastal residents spent months each year tensely watching the slow movement of storms on weather maps. If online casinos can accurately predict weather, this may be a good year to be in Kansas.
