The good people at Pinnacle Sports (registration required) have opened a book on the Giller Prize. As of today, the odds are as follows:

4 Rawl Hage (Cockroach) +100

5 Joseph Boyden (Through Black Spruce) +562

6 Anthony De Sa (Barnacle Love) +581

8 Marina Endicott (Good to a Fault) +562

15 Mary Swan (The Boys in the Trees) +537

I’m not a gambling man, so consulted my good friend Hayden Kelley, who is a master in the dark arts of Niagara. He offered the following pithy little explanation:

+200 means that if you bet $100, your total win would be $300 (equivalent to 2/1 or 3.00)
-200 means that you have to bet $200 to win $100 (equivalent to 1/2 or 1.50)

If you put a $100 dollar wager on Cockroach you’d win $200 (your $100 wager + $100). If you put a $50 wager on Barnacle Love (which is +581) you’d get back $340.50 (581 x .5 = $290.50 + initial wager of $50). Based on the odds it would appear that Cockroach has it in the bag.

Just in case you think this a chance to finally make money in publishing: Pinnacle Sports is based in the Netherlands, but you are tied to the laws of your land. I believe online gambling is illegal in Canada and the U.S., even though most people don’t think so.

Anyhoo, do you agree with the bookies?