Dublin, Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- TradeSports Exchange Ltd., based in Dublin, offers futures onthe Iraqi leader to investors looking to gamble on the war. Thecontracts settle on the last day of each of the next four months,and pay out if Hussein is ousted by then. The variety of derivatives, financial instruments based onunderlying assets or indexes, is growing as companies and traders become more sophisticated at guarding against risk and look for other ways to make profit. Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman SachsGroup Inc. offer derivatives on U.S. economic figures, and mayexpand them to include such things as German business confidence. Bettors buy Hussein futures as they fluctuate in value fromzero to $10. The contracts pay the full amount ``if for any reasonor under any circumstance'' Hussein ``is not internationallyrecognized'' as the leader of Iraq, under TradeSports rules. March futures are trading at $4.30, April contracts are at$7.40, those for May are at $8.20 and June futures are at $8.40,according to TradeSports Chief Executive John Delaney. That means traders see a 43 percent chance Hussein won't be in power by the end of March and an 84 percent chance he'll be gone by June 30. About 42,000 Hussein futures have traded, Delaney said. TradeSports settles the contracts based on information fromthe United Nations or U.S. government and checks that againstthree independent media sources. Delaney said TradeSports isconsidering offering futures on events in North Korea and theMiddle East. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told the UN last weekthat Iraq has blocked interviews of scientists by United Nationsinspectors, violating a UN resolution. Powell told Congress a daylater that more countries are beginning to support a U.S.-ledstrike against Iraq. ``There's been a significant move (in futures prices) overthe past couple of days,'' Delaney said. ``Before Powell, theMarch contract was at 30 to 32,'' or a face value of $3 to $3.20. Chief UN arms inspector Hans Blix said Iraq has offered morecooperation with the UN, which may increase calls by France andGermany to give arms inspectors more time to allow the MiddleEastern country to disarm peacefully.
