Your one-stop shop for novelty betting

With less than a week to go before the Eurovision Song Contest kicks off (round one goes down Tuesday, May 12), Germany has received big news – huge news, albeit in a small, wasp-waisted package: Sex bomb/burlesque artiste Dita von Teese will likely be appearing along with Alex Christensen in his performance of “Miss Kiss Kiss Bang” in Moscow.

For proper electoral politics junkies like yours truly (not to mention bookmakers Bet365 and Paddy Power, among others), no soon is too soon to start discussing the possibilities for Decision 2012, a.k.a. the next US presidential election. Today, a brief look at the bookies’ lines on the outcome of the Republican primaries.

If this one isn’t tougher than the race for the 2012 bid in which London, Madrid, Paris, New York and Moscow went down to the PR wire with no clear favorite, the 2016 contest has got to be close in excruciating difficulty for the punter.