As investors anxiously await a stock market recovery, a top Las Vegas bookmaker says the odds strongly favor a rally next year.

Joe Lupo, race and sports book manager for the Stardust, set the odds at 2-1 that the Dow Jones Industrial Average will end 2003 between 9,000 and 10,000. (DJIA: news, chart, profile)

Lupo saw a far greater chance the Dow will soar rather than collapse. He put the odds at 4-1 that it will close the year above 11,000 -- in the area of its record high 11,909 -- and the chances of it finishing below 6,000 at 100-1.

If you don't want to bet on a company on Wall St., bet on the odds!