Red tie and rabbit rebate in Darling's budget?

By Paul Majendie

LONDON (Reuters) - Will Chancellor Alistair Darling wear a red tie for his first budget speech?

How many sips of water will he take? What chance of tax breaks for rabbit owners?

Every year bookmakers have a field day coming up with a string of quirky bets to tempt inveterate gamblers into having a flutter on Budget Day -- and Darling’s debut next Wednesday is no exception.

Bookmakers William Hill believe Darling could go green -- offering odds of 6-4 on him imposing a tax on supermarket plastic bags. Taxing mineral water is a 9-2 shot.

The Treasury has already announced that Darling will be sipping only tap water during his speech. His predecessor Gordon Brown drank the bottled stuff.

The next election is not due until 2010 and despite the government’s slide in opinion polls, William Hill thought Darling was still a hot odds-on favourite to deliver next year’s budget.

It could not resist having some fun with a couple of outlandish bets.

The bookmaker offered tongue-in-cheek odds of 1,000-1 that Darling, proud owner of a cat called Sybil and a rabbit called Bertie, would take a penny off income tax for pet owners.

Cheekily, they also offered odds of 1,000-1 that Darling, who has white hair and black eyebrows, would cut income tax for people with different coloured hair and .....continued below

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Bookmakers Ladbrokes were confident Darling would dress like a true Labour Party politician, offering odds of 6-4 that he would sport a red tie.

"We expect Alistair Darling to nail his colours to the party mast with his tie selection," said Ladbrokes’ spokesman Nick Weinberg.

Betting on the budget certainly does not match the vast sums wagered each year on the Epsom Derby and the Grand National -- but offbeat bets appeal to political punters and dealers in the City, London’s financial district.

Spread betting firm Sporting Index hopes to tempt the punters over the length of Darling’s speech and how many sips of water he might take.

It is predicting a 57-minute speech and just one sip of water.

"This is a tricky one for us to forecast as it’s Mr Darling’s first budget. But we are expecting him to keep it under 60 minutes," said spokesman Bill Esdaile.

"Punters will certainly be keen to bet on the chancellor taking more than one sip as nerves could easily play a part on his debut."

(Editing by Sumeet Desai)