[bigboydan]

Bookie closes bets on Potter death


A bookmaker has closed betting on which character may kill Harry Potter in JK Rowling's final tale.
William Hill pulled its odds following a flurry of £100 punts on the young wizard causing his own demise.

The bookmaker cut its odds on Harry killing himself from 10/11 to 2/5 on Wednesday.

But it closed the betting entirely soon afterwards, after receiving a flurry of online bets of the maximum £100 within a half-hour period.

William Hill was offering odds on a number of different characters killing Harry. All bets will be refunded if the young wizard survives.

Rupert Adams, spokesman for the bookies, said the run of bets on Harry causing his own death may have been sparked by a chatroom rumour.

"There was a proper run of money between 11.30am and 12 of 100 quid which is the maximum you can put on via the internet," he said.

"This group of people were hammering their 100 quids so we thought either they know, or they think they know."

At the close of betting, Harry was William Hill's 2/5 favourite to cause his death, with Lord Voldemort 4/1 and Professor Snape offered at 6/1.

William Hill is offering odds of 8/1 that JK Rowling produces an eighth Harry Potter book before the end of 2008.

[rob]

I'm obviously out of the loop on this deal. Did Harry die? If he did, who killed him?