When it comes to the 2008 Olympics and betting, not all online gambling websites are made the same and some barely offer bets on the games.
That's a shame. Perhaps overlooking the 2008 Summer Olympics while preparing for the upcoming football season, many online bookmakers have lost out on a lucrative event that has drawn millions of gamblers from around the world.
In the United Kingdom alone, a whopping £25m was expected to be bet on the 2008 Summer Olympics before all was said and done. Guesses at the worldwide market have ranged from £40 m to £100 m. Those numbers could actually be low.
At Gambling911.com, traffic numbers for the summer games have shot through the roof.
"Swimming and Gymnastics have garnered mass appeal from the gambling public," disclosed Gambling911 Senior Editor, Payton O'Brien, who has been monitoring the situation closely. "Gymnastics in particular the North American facing bookies should be making out well since most of the bets to win the gold would have been placed on Team USA out of sheer solidarity."
The swimming events have drawn gamblers, but not so much for Michael Phelps. His odds for the most part have been completely out of reach.
So which online gambling websites get the gold, silver and bronze medal?
Congratulations go out to BetUS.com. In the past, their website has looked like a hideous mess with lines that were enticing but almost impossible to find. The company just debuted its dramatically improved website (and word on the street is they are converting twice the number of customers). Best of all, the 2008 Summer Olympics betting menu is the most complete, covering events that most other sites won't dare to touch. There have been times where we have sought to find odds only to realize that nobody but BetUS.com had the offering we were looking for. Another great thing, they are offering odds on events days in advance, which we absolutely love.
"BetUS.com has been benefiting perhaps the most of anyone from Gambling911.com's extensive Summer Olympics betting coverage," O'Brien said.
BetUS.com gets the gold medal in its Summer Olympics betting options.
Bookmaker.com has the second best wagering menu out there with some limits, but they are better than 98 percent of the other websites offering Olympics odds. Keep in mind that Bookmaker.com - while welcoming the casual gambler - takes very large action from the world's pros.
As for the bronze. That medal can go to just about anyone featured on the Gambling911.com website. SBG Global is surprisingly limited considering their extensive line offerings but this giant bookmaker is tending to offer Olympic bets on more familiar sports such as basketball, boxing and baseball....not the old Olympics standbys like gymnastics and swimming. SBG probably.....okay, most definitively, has the best bonuses in the biz. Super Book has some of the best value when it comes to lines and they do have a super variety. Super Book does not necessarily offer odds on next day and later day events, at least not when we checked during Wednesday evening.
BetOnline.com recently upgraded its website and, in doing so, enhanced its offerings. They have a surprisingly good variety of Summer Olympics odds as well. The odds are sometimes a little hard to find. It is after all a slightly improved version of the old BetUS.com lines format. What's great about BetOnline.com is they are offering reduced juice/reduced vig on football and basketball games (not applying to the Olympics however). ----
Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
