WASHINGTON - WHATEVER the Obamas name their presidential dog, odds are they might make somebody in the British Isles quite happy.

The Dublin-based bookmaker Paddy Power, whose company is known for placing odds on enterprising and often weird subject matter, said on Tuesday more than 1,000 bettors have laid money on names for the so-far-nonexistent 'mutt' the US president-elect promised his daughters as a White House-warming gift.

The puppy-name gambling is 'one of the many markets that bettors have been going crazy for since Mr Obama was elected,' Power wrote in an e-mail.

Other Barack Obama topics include who will play him in the first Hollywood feature film and whether daughters Malia or Sasha will grow up to become president. In the movie betting, Will Smith is a red hot favourite,' Paddy e-mailed.

The puppy entered the picture on Nov 4, as Barack Obama claimed victory over Republican John McCain in the election that made Mr Obama president-elect. He told Malia, 10, and 7-year-old Sasha from the podium that the result meant he would give them the puppy he had promised.

Neither a breed nor a name was mentioned, although he later said he expected the dog to be 'a mutt like me.' 'Mutt' is an American word meaning a mixed-breed dog; Mr Obama's father was a black Kenyan, his mother a white American.

The announcement set off weeks of speculation that only recently began to taper off as the United States' economic predicament worsened and Mr Obama necessarily turned to more serious subjects such as putting together a government to face political, economic and military challenges he will make after he succeeds President George W. Bush on Jan 20.

On the name of the puppy, Paddy said all bets are small, 10 euros or 20 euros (S$20 or S$40), but the list is long.

As of last week, there were 'Washington,' at 10 to 1 odds; 'Kennedy,' 25 to 1; 'King,' with its 14 to 1 odds perhaps justified partly because Inauguration Day this year comes the day after the birth anniversary of assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Some other Republican-oriented names would seem to justify the long odds: 'Condi' and 'Dubya' both rated 33 to 1. Reagan and Nixon, 50 to 1.

Also in the running, at 500 to 1, is 'Osama.' Power said in a telephone interview that his company has 'more or less a monopoly' on bets such as the name of the next US president's dog. Competitor bookies 'think it's stupid, but it's just a bit of fun,' he said.

Power, whose Paddy Power PLC is the largest bookie in Ireland and third-largest in Britain, said in an e-mail last week that Mr Obama has proved a lucrative subject to be mined for bettors.

On Oct 16, the day after Mr Obama's final campaign debate with Republican candidate John McCain and a full two weeks before the election, Paddy Power decided Mr Obama would win the election and paid the bets of punters who had supported Mr Obama.

It cost him 1 million euros but brought copious publicity throughout the British Isles. Because US law forbids the use of US credit cards or other financial instruments in Internet gambling, no Americans were likely to have been among those who shared in the payout.

Also, while the promised puppy has faded from public discourse in the United States, it appears to remain on the minds of some Irish and British punters.

Paddy said he received the most recent bet on the dog's name just on Tuesday. It was a 20 euro bet that the Obamas will name the puppy Machu Picchu.

'I don't have any idea why they chose that name,' Power said from Dublin. 'Why would anybody name a dog 'Machu Picchu?'' -- AP