« Fantapapa » – the unexpected game of thousands of Italians before the conclave
Because betting on the next pope is disapproved of the Vatican’s home, thousands of Italians have instead set out to play Fantapapa, an online game inspired by fantasy leagues known to sports fans.
International gambling companies, which are never afraid of marketing, offer odds for different candidates for Pope Francis heirs when the Cardinals meet in a secret conclave on May 7th.
However, in Italy, no licensed gambling platform accepts Papabili bets, as papal contenders are known. Fantapapa offers an alternative to those who want to play before the white smoke is raised.
Players create a team of 11 candidates and win points if a team member is mentioned in the media in Italy and outside. Additional points are awarded if one of your elections is selected, with bonuses for the right assumptions about other elements, such as the name that the new pope will take.
What is the conclave in the Roman Catholic Church and who participates in it
« Currently (Cardinal Mateo) Zupi is the preferred candidate and, which is remarkable, most of the followers on our Instagram profile are women, » Pietro Pache, one of the creators, told Reuters. The Dzupi, the Archbishop of Bologna and Head of the Italian Episcopal Conference, is a well -known figure in the country.
Pache, architect of artificial intelligence at Microsoft, and Mauro Vanie, a video game developer, began working on the platform in February when Francis enrolled in hospital. The game, which is free to play and does not contain ads, became online shortly after its death on April 21, and the number of users reached 60,000 this week.
« No prizes, it’s just about fun and eternal glory, » Pache said.
New bets
Conclava betting is not illegal in Italy, but they are not encouraged. « There is no law in Italy that explicitly prohibits the bets on Pope’s choice, » explained Nikola Thani, head of the specialized media agency AGIPRONEWS.
Pope Francis’ funeral: the most important
« The customs agency, which pre -authorized the bets, informally requested from gambling licenses to avoid offering odds for the choice of Pope, as in the Italian political elections, » Thani added.
For gambling companies elsewhere, Pope bets fall into the category of news – one -off events that cannot be evaluated by conventional statistics or sports form. The amounts set are relatively small.
On PolyMarket based on the blockchain market for forecasts, the market « Who will be the next pope? » reported a modest total volume of $ 10 million. By comparison, a possible decision by the Federal Reserve on interest rates in May reported bets of nearly $ 30 million.
Favorites begin to emerge.
The Vatican spread footage from Pope Francis’ grave in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (video)
« There is already a lot of speculation about the next Pope, and we are currently making Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin our favorite with a 9/4 coefficient, » said Lee Phelps, a spokesman for the British gambling group William Hill. He added that « Luis Antonio Tagle is second in our market with a 3/1 coefficient and would become the first Asian pope in history, while Mateo Zupi and Peter Frokson were rated by a ratio of 6/1. »
Tagle is from the Philippines. Fatson is from Ghana and would be the first black pope in modern history.
