Some U.S. lawmakers would likely say BP plc CEO Tony Hayward bet the company with the disastrous Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Hayward might do well to click on UK-based betting website paddypower.com, which Friday was offering five-to-four odds that he would be the first to leave/lose his job at BP.

One day earlier Hayward’s staying power had better odds at four-to-one that he would be first to depart. And that was after President Obama famously said that Hayward wouldn’t be working for him.

Friday the UK’s Sky News was reporting that Hayward would step aside to make room for Managing Director Bob Dudley, who will manage the company’s response to its catastrophic oil leak in the GOM. Dudley was raised in Hattiesburg, MS. He is the former head of BP’s venture in Russia, TNK-BP.

The company had said on June 4 that it would create a separate organization to manage the long-term response to the spill. “Managing Director Bob Dudley will lead this new organization, reporting directly to the group chief executive [Hayward],” the company said at the time.

BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg — whose sympathy for the “small people” harmed by the spill has been widely reported — is to take over public relations duties during the crisis, Sky reported.”It is clear Tony has made remarks that have upset people,” Svanberg told Sky. “This has now turned into a reputation matter, financial and political, and that is why you will now see more of me.”

Hayward’s most infamous misstep was probably when he expressed the desire to have his “life back” from the Gulf crisis. Odds offered by paddypower that Svanberg would be the first to leave BP were nine-to-four on Friday.

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