Betting Big On The World Cup
Posted on 5 July 2010 by LynThomas in sports
The global gambling industry is anticipating its busiest five weeks ever, with turnover that will make history, as fans rush to place bets on the 64 games between 32 nations, competing for the once every four years, FIFA World Cup. If history is a guide, the World Cup is expected to change the wagering profile.
“This is going to be a massive betting year for us,” Graham Sharpe, a spokesman for Britain-based bookmaker William Hill, told MartketWatch.com in describing World Cup wagering. “Almost by definition, turnover increases exponentially every four years. We are very optimistic that there will be 1 billion or more pounds bet with British bookmakers alone.”
Nevada is the only place where American soccer fans can legally wager on the World Cup soccer teams.
Special offers abound, aiming to attract the betting dollar, as sports book operators are unsure what to expect. The trend online is to offer ‘Free Bets’, such as ‘register and get up to a $300 Free Bet that can be used for any of the World Cup markets, or any sport you want’.
Another promotion offers a money back guarantee on every game, a tipping competition, as well as multibet promos. Others offer a free World Cup jersey, plus a $100 Free Bet when you register and deposit a minimum of $150. While still others offer generous monthly, reload and pick-the-score super bonuses.
The list is endless. However, the high rollers take a different tack altogether. They use insurance companies.
Warren Buffet was an unexpected beneficiary of France’s 2-0 loss to Uruguay, which eliminated the beleaguered, scandal ridden Les Blues, from the World Cup.
Bloomberg reports that the Oracle of Omaha wrote an insurance policy to an unnamed individual that would have paid out in a very big way if France won the World Cup. In March, Buffett told CNBC that he was going to lose something in the neighborhood of “30 million bucks” if France won. Bloomberg adds that bookmakers put France’s odds of winning a championship at 12-1.
Whether or not this is ultimately a form of high-finance gambling on Buffett’s part, the $30 million payout dwarfs the individual insurance policies taken out on World Cup players, the Insurance Journal reports. A high-priced World Cup player could have their bodies insured for upwards of $70 million. Lloyd’s estimated the total market for World Cup insurance this year to be worth nearly $9 billion.
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[...] With turnover that will make history, the global gambling industry is anticipating its busiest five weeks ever, as fans rush to place bets on the 64 games between 32 nations, competing for the once every four years, FIFA World Cup. If history is anything to go on, the World Cup is expected to change the betting profile. Read how Warren Buffer stood to lose $30million if France won… [...]