"Bookies expect flood of bets on who will be next pope"

"Now, as the Vatican City prepares for the papal conclave – the solemn ritual by which the next pope will be chosen – some bookies are already licking their lips in anticipation of a rush of bets.

Gambling industry sources said they had been swapping tips on the runners and riders, as if the 252 cardinals were thoroughbreds being paraded through the paddock at the Grand National.

Polymarket, a fast-growing cryptocurrency betting platform that operates in a similar way to a stock exchange, claimed to be hosting peer-to-peer bets worth more than $6m (£4.5m), as of Friday morning.

The top five backers of the current favourite, the Italian Pietro Parolin, including one calling himself HolyMoses7, held positions worth more than $25,000.

The clear favourite to succeed Pope Francis, at the time of writing, was Parolin, an Italian who is expected to preside over the conclave, much as the character played by Ralph Fiennes did in the film.

Coming in as short as 2-1, according to Oddschecker, Parolin was far out in front, ahead of the second-placed runner, Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, who was at 5-2 with some bookmakers."