June 11 (Bloomberg) -- Tony Soprano lived, and online gamblers were the worse for it.

As television's most successful cable show ended its eight- year run on Time Warner Inc.'s HBO last night, Tony, the New Jersey mob boss played by James Gandolfini, sat in a diner with his family as the screen went to black. His New York nemesis, Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent) was not so lucky, his head suffering a bullet hole, then the crush of a car tire.

Bodog.com, one of several online gambling sites that offered odds on final outcomes, had Tony living at 1-to-4 and dying at 5-2, which means the winning bets paid only 25 cents on the dollar. Had he died, he would have paid $2.50. Betting Phil to die paid 20 cents on a $1.

Another major plotline was left unresolved as Tony's chief lieutenant, Silvio Dante (Steve Van Zandt), who was shot the previous week, remained in a coma. Bettors who said he would be unconscious at the end won 50 cents on every $1 bet.

Other developments appeared more certain, including the future of Tony's ranking lieutenant, Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico). Tony promoted him, and Paulie finished the series alive, paying $3 for a $1 bet that he would.

The 86th and final episode, ``Made in America,'' ended as the series began, ambiguously, a hallmark of David Chase, the creator who wrote and directed the final episode. As Tony, his wife Carmela (Edie Falco) and their son, A.J. (Robert Iler) waited in the diner for the couple's daughter, Meadow (Jamie- Lynn Sigler), the specter of uncertainty hovered in the persona of several patrons who may or may not have meant to do Tony harm.

Then the screen went blank -- the end -- leaving questions hanging, as Chase has done throughout a series that has been a critic and fan favorite from the start, in 1999.

The show reached a peak in viewers with episode 65, ``With All Due Respect,'' which opened season five. According to Nielsen Media Research, 12.1 million viewers, or about 40 percent of HBO's 30 million subscribers, watched.

The audience size for the final episode will be calculated this week.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Janofsky in Los Angeles at mjanofsky@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 11, 2007 08:57 EDT