FantaPappa: Italians Go Crazy for Fantasy Pope-Betting Platform

Posted on: May 5, 2025, 04:08h. 

Last updated on: May 5, 2025, 05:04h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.
  • FantaPappa is a fantasy ‘sports’ game where users try to predict the next pope.
  • Game has over 60,000 players in Italy.
  • ‘Pope betting’ popular in markets where legal

In Italy, betting on papal conclaves – the gathering of cardinals in the Vatican that will soon elect the next pope – is a big no-no.

FantaPappa, fantasy pope game, papal conclave 2025, pope betting
Cardinals at the Vatican mourning the late Pope Francis, above. On Wednesday, the Council of Cardinals will meet to choose the pontiff. (Image: Shutterstock)

But that hasn’t stopped the country from obsessing over who will succeed the late pope Francis. The Italians even have a word for a cardinal who is likely to be elected pope, papabile.

Hence the popularity of “FantaPappa,” a fantasy platform that invites players to use their infallible judgment to assemble a winning team of cardinals.

Betting the Cardinals

Unlike a regular daily fantasy sports platform, FantaPappa is not a gambling game – it’s played for fun and braggadocio (bragging rights). The platform has more than 60K users in Italy.

Players must choose 11 cardinals whom they believe have a decent shot at becoming Supreme Pontiff, leader of the Catholic Church. From these, they must pick a “captain” and a “goalkeeper” whom they think are most likely and least likely, respectively, to bag the vacant papacy.

Players can also then choose whether the new Pontiff will be a progressive or a conservative, the day of election (the conclave kicks off Wednesday), and how many attempts it will take the cardinals to decide on the next Bishop of Rome.

As anyone who has seen the movie “Conclave” knows only too well, the papal election can be a tense affair, often filled with juicy intrigue and mystery.

Papal Bull

In countries where betting on the apostolic successor to Saint Peter is apparently absolutely fine, such as heathenistic Britain, betting companies report quite a bit of interest, although it remains a niche market.

Lee Phelps, a spokesman for William Hill, one of the UK’s biggest bookmakers, told NBC News his company had taken thousands of bets since April 21 and expects a surge of betting once the conclave gets underway.

Sam Eaton, UK manager for betting aggregator Oddschecker, said the papal election market was outstripping the Europa League soccer tournament – although the Europa League is Europe’s secondary club-level tournament, the poor stepchild of the wildly popular Champions League.

Hot Favorites

At the time of writing the most papabile candidate, according to bookmakers, is Italian Pietro Parolin, at 5/2. The 70-year-old local favorite is a traditionalist on issues such as same-sex marriage and euthanasia but has previously hinted there could be some wiggle room on clerical celibacy.

Second favorite, at 3/1, is Luis “Chito” Antonio Tagle, a moderate from the Philippines who loves dancing and karaoke. The youthful 67-year-old would be the first Asian pope in modern times, if elected.

Despite recently declaring that he would “like to be pope” and posting an AI-generated image of himself  as the Pontiff on his Truth Social platform, US President Donald Trump is not in the running.