What does the future hold for Paul the psychic octopus?

London, England -- The owner of Paul the psychic octopus said Monday it was considering several offers of work following the animal's stunning success at correctly predicting the results of eight World Cup matches.

 

Sea Life, which operates 32 aquariums across Europe, said it hoped to make an announcement on Tuesday about Paul's future. However spokesman Mark Oakley stressed that the mystic mollusc would certainly be staying in his tank in Germany.

"We've been inundated with offers -- from a betting conglomerate that wants to use him to predict sporting events to a Japanese fortune telling company that wants to use his image on the sides of booths," Oakley told CNN. "There have also been many offers from media worldwide for Paul's lifestory.

 

"We'll be holding a meeting to discuss the offers and hope to make an announcement on Tuesday morning. The priority though is to guarantee that Paul does not suffer, and he won't be leaving his tank at Oberhausen. There's no intention of moving him."

The two-year-old octopus, who was born in England, has begun to enjoy the spotlight during the tournament, Oakley said. "Paul's become a global celebrity. He's not been shy about making predictions but success hasn't changed him."

 

Paul predicted Spain would win Sunday's final against the Netherlands and that Germany would beat Uruguay in the playoffs.

 

Before that he correctly predicted the winners in all six of the German national team's matches.

 

During each prediction, two mussel-filled acrylic boxes labeled with a team's flag are lowered into his tank. Whichever box he chose conveyed the winning team.

 

The eight-tentacled oracle was relatively consistent, plopping himself over the German box in his first few predictions.

 

But he drew cries of despair from assembled watchers before the semifinal round, when he lingered over the box for the German flag before opting for the Spanish flag instead. Spain won the match 1-0.

Bitter German fans later threatened to turn him into sushi and Sea Life in Oberhausen received death-threat emails saying "we want Paul for the pan," said entertainment supervisor Daniel Fey.

 

But after Spain's triumph in Sunday's final the country's Prime Minister Jose Luiz Rodriguez Zapatero called for octopus bodyguards.

 

Spanish Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian also called for the creature to be given an "immediate" free transfer to Spain to "ensure his protection," according to Agence France-Presse.

Paul The Octopus Tipster Gives Bookies More Reason To Cheer

The news that Paul The Octopus has retired is music to the ears of bookmakers William Hill.

 

"Picking all seven outcomes of Germany's games as well as the outcome of the World Cup final is quite some feat." said William Hill's spokeman, Joe Crilly.

 

"We are thankful that Paul has now retired and will happily give him a few squid towards a retirement aquarium to keep him that way. He has emerged as the star of the World Cup and retiring at his peak will ensure that he goes down in history as a legend."

 

The octopus's eight winning selections have helped superstitious punters to collect half a million from bookmakers coffers and anyone who bet £10 on each of the outcomes will have scooped £89.95 each while those who rolled their money over onto the next outcome ended up with £1623.34.

 

If you fancy placing a bet on what will happen next to Paul the Octopus then William Hill have these interesting flutters on offer:

 

• 5/1 - Paul to get a tipster column in a British national newspaper
• 50/1 - Paul to be released into the willd
• 100/1 - Kidnapped by distraught German fans
• 250/1 - Eaten by the German team on return from the World Cup
• 500/1 - King Juan Carlos to confer Spain's highest honour, the Order of the Golden Fleece, on Paul the Octopus

Spain celebrates World Cup win; Dutch blame Paul the Octopus

As fans of Spain luxuriate in the glow of the country's first World Cup championship, fans of the Netherlands search for an explanation of what went wrong. Some blame the referee, others point to Paul the Octopus.

Spain's captain Iker Casillas (R) next to Spain's coach Vicente del Bosque lifts the World Cup trophy after arriving at Madrid's Barajas airport July 12. Spain stunned the Netherlands to win their first World Cup on Sunday in sensational fashion with a goal in the last minutes of extra time.

Johannesburg, South Africa

Rafael Ramos traveled here from the Spanish capital of Madrid to watch his team, Spain's "Red Fury," win the World Cup. One doesn’t travel thousands of miles to watch one’s team lose. But when victory finally came, with a goal in the 116th minute by Spanish midfielder Andrés Iniesta, Mr. Ramos still couldn’t quite believe his team had actually won.

"It is like I'm dreaming. I can't believe this,” said Ramos at an outdoor fan park in the Johannesburg suburb of Sandton. “It is a moment of great pride. I think we played well and deserved to win. I'm going to party until tomorrow morning. This is fantastic. I have got a friend who stays here in Johannesburg and he has promised me a big barbeque tomorrow."

 

In a country where the larger portion of white South Africans – and even a fair number of black South Africans – trace their ancestry to the Netherlands, Spanish fans have been very much the minority. A sea of Oranje supporters, clad in orange suits, orange wigs, and among the more daring, clingy orange mini-dresses seemed to be on the ascendant before the game.

 

But it was Spanish fans who left Soweto’s Soccer City stadium jubilant and triumphant, driving up and down Johannesburg’s major roadways waving flags, honking car horns and blowing vuvuzelas, and celebrating deep into the night, while the Dutch went into an orange funk.

Paul The Octopus Tops In World Cup Search Trends Too

In the past two weeks of World Cup action, 16 teams had been narrowed down to just two—Spain and the Netherlands—who had faced off in the World Cup final yesterday where Spain took the title home for the first time. Google took another look at the search data to see what people have been interested in during the round of 16, quarterfinals and semifinals.

 

Some matches, of course, were more interesting to people than others—whether they were eagerly anticipated or just more nail-biting during play. Brazil, chosen as the champion in many an office pool, lost to the Netherlands in a quarterfinal upset. Perhaps it’s indicative of people’s disappointment in that match that Felipe Melo, who gave up an own goal and then was shown a red card in the 73rd minute with his country down 2-1, was more searched-for than Robinho, who made Brazil’s one goal in the match. Another favored South American team, Argentina, also lost in the quarterfinals, to Germany. It’s interesting to note that searches for that team’s two biggest names, Lionel Messi and coach Diego Maradona, have spiked in popularity with each match—and the player was usually more interesting to people than the coach. But over time—and after Messi’s skills failed to carry his team to the semis—Maradona overtook Messi in search volume. Clearly, his fate as Argentina coach in the future is more up for debate than Messi’s career (after all, the latter has a comfy year-round spot on FC Barcelona).

 

Controversy continued to be a major driver of search traffic. On June 27, Argentina’s first goal in their victorious match against Mexico, a Carlos Tévez header, was widely considered offsides (and therefore should have been disallowed). That same day, Germany beat England 4-1, although many say it should have been 4-2 thanks to a Frank Lampard goal that just barely made it into the net but wasn’t counted. Both of these calls brought the issue of instant replay to the forefront in an already controversial tournament.

 

Perhaps the most surprisingly exciting game was the quarterfinal match between Uruguay and Ghana. Ghana had several shots on goal in the last minutes of extra time, with the game tied 1-1. Uruguay’s Luis Suárez saved his team from a near-certain loss with a handball that earned him a red card (and increased search traffic). Uruguay went on to win in penalty kicks, and became the only South American country to make the semifinals. Searches for [penalty kick] were at their highest on the day of this game—they had also spiked on June 26, when USA’s Landon Donovan scored on a penalty kick against Ghana, and on June 29, the day of another quarterfinal match (between Japan and Paraguay) that also ended in penalty kicks.

 

Many fans, eager for semifinal predictions, turned to an unlikely source: a “psychic” octopus in a German zoo. Paul the octopus had successfully predicted the winner of each of his home country’s matches by selecting a tasty mussel from either side of a box marked by both teams’ flags. The day before Germany faced Spain in the semifinals, he chose the Spanish mussel—and searches for [octopus] skyrocketed. (Incidentally, his prediction for title winner came true as the new world champion Spain.) Searches were also high for Carles Puyol, the Spanish defender whose header won the match against Germany. Historically, he’s been one of the least searched-for Spaniards—and he continues to be behind stars like David Villa and Fernando Torres—but search volume for him in July is already more than five times as high as in June.

 

Villa still dominates search traffic amongst the Spanish players, and no wonder: he’s scored five of his team’s seven goals in the tournament and is a contender for the Golden Boot. Searches for Dutch players are a bit more distributed than for Spanish ones. Arjen Robben, who started the tournament in the spotlight in part due to injury, still has the most search volume overall, but Wesley Sneijder has caught up as the tournament’s gone on. Searches for him were higher than for Robben on June 19, when he scored his first goal in the tournament against Japan, and on July 2, when he scored both goals in the match against favored Brazil. Now Sneijder, like Villa, has five goals in six matches and is a front-runner for the Golden Boot. Clearly he’s been a surprise factor in this World Cup for many, including searchers!

Paddy Power appoints Paddy the Octopus (Cousin of Paul Oktopus)

Paddy Power plc today announced the appointment of Paddy the Psychic Octopus to their senior management team.

 

Paddy is a first cousin of Paul Oktopus who recently shot to international fame when he correctly predicted all of Germany’s World Cup results. Paddy will be responsible for predicting the outcome of major sporting events for the bookmaking chain from his office at the National Sea Life Centre in Bray, Co Wicklow.

 

Paddy is expected to arrive in Ireland before the end of July and will undergo a period of “psychic tuning” before being beginning his role with Paddy Power. It is hoped that Paddy’s first predictions will be around the forthcoming GAA All Ireland Finals and Ryder Cup.

 

Pat Ó Súilleabháin, director of the National Sea Life Centre in Bray said “We’ve had our eye on Paddy for some time now and we’re delighted that he’ll soon be joining us in Bray. As a full cousin to Paul he has already exhibited an exciting degree of psychic awareness and we’re confident that we can develop his ability to a level similar, of perhaps even greater, than his cousin”

 

Paddy Power said “Paul the Psychic Octopus cost us a king’s ransom during the World Cup so it really was a no-brainer to get Paddy on the payroll”

 

To celebrate Paddy’s imminent arrival, top tailor Louis Copeland created a one-off 8- tentacled sweater for Paddy the octopus who is used to the warmer waters of his native Mediterranean.

 

Louis Copeland said “I’ve fitted out everyone from Bill Clinton and Pierce Brosnan to Ronan Keating and Bertie Ahern but Paddy the Psychic Octopus is the icing on the cake. The eight tentacled design presented a unique challenge but I’m very happy with the final product”

 

Paddy the Psychic Octopus will be on public display in the National Sea Life Centre in Bray, Co Dublin from September and his sports predictions will be webcast live from the Paddy Power website.

Paul the Octopus Likely to Retire After the 2010 World Cup

As we have reached the final of the 2010 World Cup and Paul the Octopus still has a clean track record of predicting Germany’s matches the well known octopus reached a new level of fame this week as he got his own page on Wikipedia.

 

On the Wikipedia page of Paul the Octopus we get to learn a whole bunch of stuff that we didn’t know before (maybe you knew, but we didn’t).

 

Here are some facts about Paul the Octopus that you probably didn’t know:

 

Paul the Octopus was born in 2008 at the Sea Life Center in Weymouth, England.

Paul is named after the children’s book “Der Tintenfisch Paul Oktopus” by Boy Lornsen.

Since 2008 Paul have predicted a total of 12 games, 10 out of these has been correct.

Paul’s species is called “Octopus vulgaris”.

An “Octopus vulgaris” usually lives for about three years.

I hope you enjoyed these fun facts about Paul the Octopus and that you have learned something new.

 

Since the Paul the Octopus is of the species “Octopus vulgaris” which only lives for about three years it is very likely that the predictions for the 2010 World Cup will be his last. It will be interesting to see if the people over at Sea Life Aquarium are going to try to get another octopus to take over the predictions after Paul retires or if they will just give up on the idea to prove that Paul is as special as they say he is.

Betting Sites and Psychic Octopuses

Betting sites have an estimated market of a milliard Euros per year, so there’s a war going out on the cyberspace. And it is possible to bet on anything. A young 24 years old French, who decided to keep his identity secretly said “I started to visit betting shops one year ago, I like football and cycling. I first visited them along with a friend who also likes bikes”.

 

Due to the Word cup and the “Tour de France”, betting shops had more work to cope with. Many of the regular costumers will restrain their betting behavior for the weekend, but having more interesting games going on, betting sites have been constantly visited.

 

In this hectic atmosphere, we can not stop thinking about the psychic octopus that became famous during World Cup, “Paul the Soccer Octopus”. He has its own profile at Facebook and his predictions have been very accurate. The odds of his choices been merely coincidences are low (1 in 64).

 

When Paul predicted Argentina’s defeat against Germany, some Argentinean octopus recipes were published over the internet. Oliver Walenciak (Paul’s keeper) energetically said “There are always people who want to eat our octopus but he is not shy and we are here to protect him as well. He will survive.”

 

Things became a bit more complicated to our eight-limbed friend when he predicted Spain’s victory over Germany. Germans who used to support and love Paul were now claiming Paul’s tentacles to be fried. As a matter of fact, Spanish prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, said on a radio show: “I am concerned for the octopus … I am thinking of sending him a protective team.”

 

Do you have players? We can handle them for you.

 

Paul’s latest predictions were broadcasted live in Germany, Spain and Netherlands last Friday. Local networks even interrupted their normal progammes in order to show Paul’s World Cup Champion. Despite repeated threats to his life, he chose Spain.

 

As a matter of fact, betting sites have experienced the “octopus factor”. After Paul’s vaticination, bets for Spain increased on a 10%.

There even were odds on Paul itself. Betting sites posted odds of -110 for the Final game of the World cup. Will Paul’s choice be correct?

 

So, now that the World Cup is over and we know who the World Champion is. We can sit down and relax and so could do Paul, at least for a while. It’s up to us to decide if next time we believe in him or not.