Is DraftKings going to run a special on that one?
The Vatican announced early this morning that Pope Francis had passed away at the age of 88 after suffering from several health battles in previous weeks.
Earlier this year, Francis had been hospitalized due to bronchitis and was reportedly in critical condition following an infection and double pneumonia. At one point during his hospital stay, the pope suffered from a bronchial spasm that caused him to inhale vomit and require mechanical ventilation, but he was ultimately able to recover and was discharged on March 23.
Since then, the pope has made limited public appearance and appeared frail in public, though he did make an appearance yesterday on Easter Sunday to meet with Vice President JD Vance and greet worshipers who were celebrating Easter in the Vatican.
After his death, the Vatican revealed that Pope Francis had suffered a stroke which resulted in him falling into a coma, before passing away from heart failure.
Born in Argentina as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Francis was selected as the head of the Catholic church at a papal conclave in 2013 following the resignation of his successor, Pope Benedict.
And during his papacy, Pope Francis brought about a shift in the church from his predecessors, allowing women to serve in more roles in the Catholic church and being much more accepting of the LGBT community than previous popes.
He brought a much more liberal philosophy to the papacy, criticizing capitalism and anti-immigration policies while calling for action on climate change and denouncing the death penalty and the criminalization of homosexuality.
With his death, the Catholic Church will now enter a nine day period of mourning for the Holy Father, before convening a secret conclave made up of all 138 cardinals who are under the age of 80 to select the next pope. The voting is done by secret ballot, with the cardinals isolated from the outside world during the conclave and the ballots burned after each round of voting.
There are already several favorites to succeed Pope Francis, including Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, Peter Turkson of Ghana, and Pietro Parolin of Italy, who has served as the Secretary of State for the Vatican and one of the highest ranking officials since Pope Francis was chosen in 2013.
And naturally people are wondering: How do I bet on the next pope?
Of course sports gambling has become a massive industry in the United States since being legalized back in 2018, with 30 states allowing online sports betting and over $121 billion reportedly being wagered in 2023.
But sports bettors are kind of in a slow season right now. There’s the NBA and the NHL playoffs, and of course MLB, but with March Madness wrapping up a couple weeks ago and no football, it seems bettors are anxious to find something else to throw their money on – including the papal conclave.
Immediately after the death of Pope Francis was announced, Google searches for “bet on new pope” spiked to nearly an all-time high, with the previous high coming back in September 2011 amidst the filing of a formal complaint to the International Criminal Court accusing then-Pope Benedict of crimes against humanity for their roles in the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic church.
And over on social media, it seems there are quite a few people who are trying to figure out where they can place their bets on the outcome of the papal conclave:
To answer the question, there’s actually a long history of gambling on who will become the next pope, dating back to the 1400s. But here in the United States, betting on papal conclaves is still illegal, so you won’t find prop bets to pick your favorite cardinal on DraftKings or FanDuel. But overseas oddsmakers still offer opportunities to bet on the new pope, and crypto exchange Polymarket has odds on the next pope if you’re just itching to throw some money on the conclave.
