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John Church has never shied away from a bet. The 75-year-old has been a regular at the Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track in Bonita Springs since 1958. Excuse the pun, but Church visits religiously — rain or shine.

“I’ve never been away more than two weeks,” said Church, a former cement worker.

But you’ll never catch Church betting on the weather. He considers it sacrilegious to wager against the “big man upstairs.” And he isn’t talking about someone eating prime rib in the dog track’s clubhouse.

With Alberto — the first storm of the 2006 season — hammering Florida’s west coast on Tuesday, online betting sites are tallying the winners and the losers. Web sites such as BetCrisis.com and WagerWeb.com were taking bets on how many hurricanes will hit the United States. These betting sites are receiving a fair share of criticism, too.

Church grumbled about having only half of the exacta in the fifth race being simulcast from Delaware Park on Monday afternoon. But you’ll never catch Church going to the window asking for an Ernesto/Helene in the hurricane daily double even if the dog track took future wagers on storms.

“I don’t want any part of betting on a hurricane,” Church said. “I’d be afraid to bet against a hurricane because as much as I lose, it would end up coming right here.”

As Church crumpled up his losing ticket, he complained about the horse races being fixed. He said at least that wouldn’t happen in hurricane wagering.

“I know they’re crooked,” Church said about the jockeys and the horse owners. “But you don’t mess with God’s will. Here I’m gambling with money, but you bet on a hurricane and you’re gambling with your life.”

Yet, not everyone thinks hurricane wagering is off limits. Michelle Barna, a BetCrisis.com spokeswoman, said the site took nearly 1,400 future wagers on the hurricane proposition bets.

At BetCrisis.com you could have wagered $100 on a Category 3 Hurricane hitting Florida and picked up $180 if you were a winner. Then again, if the hurricane hit your home, you could be a winner and a loser.

“Why not?” Barna said. “Over the last several years we’ve provided odds on everything from sports to politics. So with the high interest in hurricane forecasting, it only seemed natural.”

At BetCrisis.com, everything has odds. You can even bet on where “American Idol” Katherine McPhee’s version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ will end up on the Billboard charts. But you couldn’t get a Hurricane Debby/”Over the Rainbow” parlay, Barna said.

WagerWeb.com offered an over/under on the total number of Atlantic hurricanes. The magic number is 10.5. Interestingly, not a single betting site dared to put an over/under on the days it takes FEMA to respond after a hurricane.

Even though wagering on everything from cockfighting to the presidential race, which is sometimes confused, is commonly accepted, I have to agree with Church.

“I don’t need the money that bad,” he said. “If I bet against God, I know I’m going straight to hell.”

And that’s always a losing proposition — even if your last name is Church.

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E-mail Tom Hanson at tahanson@bonitanews.com