Latest from Rome and beyond

• BIGGER THAN THE OSCARS? | 10:22 a.m. ET

While the cardinals huddle over who should become the next pope, Ireland’s largest bookmaker has been doing a big business that for some gamblers would mean thousands of dollars going up in smoke.

Paddy Power PLC, which often features irreverent gambling opportunities, has been taking bets for the past five years on who will succeed John Paul II. With Monday’s start to the secretive conclave, gamblers have flocked to the company’s Web site.

“It’s unbelievable. This is the biggest novelty bet we’ve ever run, much bigger than the Oscars,” said Paddy Power, a spokesman for the firm of the same name, in a telephone interview from the outskirts of Vatican City, where his grease-pencil odds board highlights the market dynamics.

Power said more than 9,000 bets have come in since John Paul’s death, including 1,500 Sunday and about 700 more by midday Monday, worth a total exceeding $195,000.

Several other Web-based bookies also are listing their own — and often very different — papal odds, including British-based Pinnacle and William Hill.

But Paddy Power offers the most options, with odds for 88 of the 115 cardinals, led by Francis Arinze of Nigeria at 3-1, while 14 cardinals at the bottom rate 125-1. A winning $1 bet at 3-1 odds would pay out $4, while 125-1 would return $126.

A few big bets have shifted the odds substantially. Arinze surged Monday from 8-1 after receiving several large bets Sunday, including one for $1,300. In second place stood Joseph Ratzinger of Germany at 9-2, the previous narrow favorite.

French Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger was in third at 5-1.

• WHAT TO WATCH FOR? | 9:18 a.m. ET

The Cardinals will enter the Sistine Chapel at 10:30 a.m. ET, take their oath of secrecy and hear a meditation from a senior cardinal.

After taking their oath, the cardinals will decide whether to take a first vote Monday or wait until Tuesday morning.

• GROWING ANTICIPATION | 8:29 a.m. ET

In St. Peter’s Square, the crowd’s anticipation seems to be growing, as cardinals prepare to huddle in secret to choose the next pope.

Thousands of pilgrims have already converged on the square, gazing up at the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, where the world will get the first indication a new pontiff has been chosen.

A Mexican tourist says it’s “a great opportunity” to be “living something historic.” She plans to be in the square every day “to see what color smoke comes out.”

A young priest says the cardinals “must feel fear and anxiety.”

And Paul Campisi from Albany, N.Y., says he doesn’t think the next pope will differ too much from Pope John Paul. In his words, “You can’t change religion with the times.”

• SOLD OUT | 7:30 a.m. ET

Just five days after putting them on sale, the Vatican has sold out of special stamps to mark the period between popes.

Everyone from stamp collectors to pilgrims and tourists snapped them up at post offices around St. Peter’s Basilica.

The stamps are only valid until a new pope is chosen.

They feature the traditional Vatican image of two crossed keys, but they’re missing the papal headgear which normally appears on the stamps.

The stamps come in three denominations of Euro cents, in the colors red, blue, or green.

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