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Team Mexico is the favorite to win against FIFA World Cup host team South Africa on Friday, the first game of the World Cup. Punters are backing Mexico at a clip of just over 80 percent at Bookmaker.com. The payout there with a Mexico win would be US$15 for every US$10 bet.
"This was the biggest bet coming into Friday," said Don Shapiro of Gambling911.com.
The line is virtually identical in the Group A game despite the heavy lopsided action going Mexico's way. A South Africa win Friday would pay out US$17 for every US$10 bet.
France was getting heavy lopsided action in its matchup against Uruguay, also on Friday. They would pay US$11.50 for every US$10 bet. Uruguay would pay out US$26.
70 percent of those betting France v. Uruguay were backing the French team.
Saturday afternoon's USA v. England game was going to get significant action on both sides of the pond. At Bookmaker.com, which focuses heavily on the North American market, it shouldn't surprise anyone that most of the action was coming in on Team USA, despite their being huge underdogs here. They would pay US$57 for every US$10 bet. England requires a US$20 bet to win US$10 (the bet amount is of course returned should the English team win). 75 percent of gamblers were backing the USA.
The other game on Saturday featured heavy lopsided action on Nigeria, which was the 4th most bet on team coming into Friday morning.
This is an interesting one since Nigeria is the huge underdog, promising a payout of US$68.50 for every US$10 bet should they somehow manage to upset Argentina (at -240 odds).
"Obviously there is heavy wise guy (professional) action on Nigeria at Bookmaker.com, a traditionally wise guy heavy betting firm," explains Shapiro. "The recreational books have mostly lopsided action with 85 percent or greater on the Argentina side."
Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
