Our Most Precious Commodity - Now We Can Bet On It!
Today, leading bookmaker Centrebet will open up a world first to the nation's punters allowing them to back which state
will receive the greatest rainfall for the month of April!
Centrebet's media chief, and architect of the campaign to let punters bet on rain, Neil Evans said no-where in the world
can punters bet on a State of Origin (State v State/Province v Province/County v County) style market!
"It's the most pure, untarnished and open market alive .... everyone's an expert, mums and dads might end up knowing
more than the meterological weather experts," Evans said. "We hope this market will be a smash, obviously punters will
be curious, but they can do their own research - and what better way of raising awareness and getting the public to be
more conscientous of our most precious commodity than letting them bet on it!"
"Even the UK's biggest bookies only bet on things like whether it snows on Christmas Day or not, but nothing like this.
Even politicians and environmentalists should love it because it gets people concentrating and considering the rainfall
patterns far bigger than they once would have! This may even have a spin-off of raising the country's public value of
the importance of rain."
Evans said approval for such a market had been in the pipeline for months, and he admitted to going "crazy in the head"
combing a century of monthly rainfall data and charts and mixing it with the forecasts of today to frame a final market!
"There are nearly 4000 weather recording stations around the land, but the winner will not be announced until a few days
after the last day of the month to allow the Bureau of Meterology to make final adjustments on recordings that come in
late," Evans said.
* And the historic first favourite to have the biggest rainfall (combined mm) in April is Tasmania at $2.70, narrowly
ahead of NSW (incl ACT) at $2.85, followed by Victoria $5.00, Qld $5.75, NT $11.00, WA $21.00 and SA the $26.00
outsider!
"I have chosen April because it is a very transitional month for weather patterns, and is more prone to twists and turns
than the monsoonal months of February and March, or the depths of winter. Remember, everyone's in the know, raindrops
can't pull hamstrings, tank games, flood the backline, or make shock selection changes on the brink of kick-off! The
market is there, now it's up to the punters to prove me right or wrong!"
The State of Origin rainfall market will be active on www.centrebet.com from 7am Monday morning (March 31) under the
heading: SPECIAL EVENTS
WHICH STATE WILL HAVE THE GREATEST RAINFALL IN APRIL?
$2.70 TASMANIA
$2.85 NSW/ACT
$5.00 VICTORIA
$5.75 QUEENSLAND
$11.00 NORTHERN TERRITORY
$21.00 WESTERN AUSTRALIA
$26.00 SOUTH AUSTRALIA
ENDS