BloggingStocks's Tom Barlow is pretty sure that Harry Potter isn't about to meet his untimely demise, but a lof of gamblers aren't so sure: According to Bloomberg, "William Hill Plc, a London-based bookmaker, closed bets on Harry sacrificing himself at 2/5 odds on July 17, cut from an original quote of 33/1 in early July. Lord Voldemort, who murdered Potter's parents, is at 9/4 to kill Harry, and Professor Severus Snape is at 4/1 odds to murder him. The bookmaker took more than 50,000 pounds ($100,000) in bets on Harry's fate, the first time in the company's history it had ever bet on a book."

This seems kind of inane: People are gambling about what will happen in a fictional story that they haven't read yet, and only the author and a few insiders know what's going to happen in the latest Harry Potter, set to be released tomorrow.

But maybe others really do know? There have been reports of pirated copies showing up on the internet and The New York Times and Baltimore Sun have already gotten copies, reportedly through bookstores.

The strong odds that gamblers are assigning to the death of Harry combined with a general belief in the wisdom of crowds lead me to a conclusion: By this time tomorrow, millions of bookworms will be mourning Harry's passing.

Readers wager on Harry Potter's suicide originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 20 Jul 2007 19:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.