Chelsea's Michael Ballack (R) screams at referee Tom Henning Ovrebo after a possible handball.EDDIE KEOGH
Oil prices have more chance of hitting a new record high before the end of 2012 than either Barcelona or Chelsea have of winning football's European Champions League this season.
That is according to Ladbrokes and Paddy Power, two of Europe's largest bookmakers, who let gamblers bet on the oil price online alongside their more traditional role offering odds on sporting events.
Both said the odds of crude topping $147.27 a barrel by the end of 2012 were just 2/1 - which means a successful $100 bet from a punter would see them get $300 back, including the return of their initial stake.
In contrast, Barcelona and Chelsea are the joint favourites to win Europe's most prestigious club competition this season at 7/2 ($450 back including $100 stake) followed by Real Madrid at 6-1 ($700 back including $100 stake), according to Paddy Power, Ireland's biggest bookie.
"We've got a very broad range of customers, anything from fairly infrequent amateur traders to professional investors," Thomas O'Briain, Paddy Power's fixed-odds financial trading manager said.
Paddy Power said the odds on oil prices hitting $100 a barrel in 2010 are 6/5 ($220 back including $100 stake). Ladbrokes was less confident oil prices are going to soar next year from the current $78 a barrel, offering odds of 5/2.
Ladbrokes is Britain's biggest bookmaker, operating 2,700 betting shops. The company has offered bets on the oil price for more than four years, letting punters make bets daily prices, or where they think the market will be two minutes, five minutes or an hour after they've placed their stake.
Ladbrokes spokesman Ciaran O'Brien said it was still a niche product for them, but they were seeing more and more interest from gamblers.
"Most are not professionals or city workers, but are people who are amateur enthusiasts who have an interest in the markets," Mr. O'Brien said. "Volumes are slightly ahead of last year with oil the fourth or fifth biggest market."
Ladbrokes said the level of interest from financial punters was only higher on some of the world's biggest stock and currency markets, like Britain's FTSE 100 or the changing value of sterling and the dollar.
While both bookies offered odds suggesting oil prices might rise steeply in the medium to long term, those professional traders banking on a quick jump in oil prices before bonus season might be disappointed.
The chances of oil gaining less than 10 per cent before the end of the year are just slightly higher than oil almost doubling in price in the next two years, with Paddy Power offering odds of 9/5 oil will hit $85 a barrel before the end of 2009.
Ladbrokes offered 5/4 for the same bet.