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October 9, 2007 (LPAC)--The odds which market gamblers are placing on a crash of the stock market today, are the largest since the July, 2001 crash of the IT bubble, or even larger, Bloomberg reported yesterday. The difference between the price of betting on a crash of the S&P 500 index (so-called put options), and the price of betting on an increase of the index, has averaged about 8 percentage points since August, once climbing as high as 8.53 points. The last time it was so high was at 8.24 points in July, 2001, before the index fell 34 percent over 15 months with the popping of the "IT" bubble.