It's kind of hard to fathom this one, but an elderly British woman got stiffed at the window on her Olympics futures bet.
According to the story in thisisKent.co.uk, Linda Aldred placed a small bet at Betfred that her grandson Sam Oldham would win a medal in his sport of gymnastics.
"Before the Games started, Linda Aldred placed a small bet at 200/1 that Sam would win a medal in London. When he and his British teammates took home the bronze in the team competition, Aldred thought her £5 (about $8) ticket was a big winner.
But upon trying to cash out the ticket for £1,000, Aldred was told her bet was void because the medal was won in a team competition, not individual."
The grandmother is milking it a little, saying she could have used the winnings for a ticket to Rio to see Sam compete in 2016. But the story shows the ticket doesn't clearly state that Oldham needed to win an individual medal.
The issue has been taken up with the Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS), who handles claims like this one. They said they've handled a number of wager complaints from the Olympic Games in London.
Keep a close eye on the weather and MLB totals in the coming days. It's that time of year when temperatures start to soar and humidity will leave your shirt sticking to your skin - ideal conditions to help balls fly over fences at major league ball parks.
Over bettors take note.
The East Coast has seen temps of 100 degrees and hotter over the past couple of days and some savvy bettors have already benefited.
Yesterday the Braves and Yankees combined for nine home runs in a 10-5 Atlanta win. The 15 combined runs obliterated the total of 11, which equaled the highest total of the season in a Yankees game. The nine homers also matched a season-high for MLB and was the most ever in a game at the new Yankee Stadium.
Boston saw a 20-run game yesterday in a 15-5 win for the Red Sox over the Miami Marlins. That total was also set at 11, which matched a season high over/under for a Red Sox game.
Miami and Boston combined for six home runs in the slugfest.
Boston is going to see another hot one today, along with D.C., on a travel day with a shortened schedule. The Marlins and Sox have a total of 10.5 while the Rays and Nats have a total of 7.
Keep in mind, warm weather isn't a guarantee for the over but it's the time of year when you have to look closely at it when you're capping baseball.
What a difference a game makes. At least that’s what futures odds for Euro 2012 indicate after all teams have completed one game in the group stage.
Spain (+275) and Germany (+300) remain as the top two favorites but from there the odds board has been shuffled like a deck of cards.
Nobody climbed more than Denmark, who went from +7500 pre-tournament to +4000 after stunning the Dutch 1-0 in their first game. And nobody tumbled more than Ireland, who went from long shot to need-a-miracle from +10000 to +20000.
Greece also bounced from +5000 to +10000 even though it managed to scrape out a 1-1 draw in the tournament opener against Poland, despite getting stung with a red card in the first half of that match. The Greeks enter Tuesday’s match against Czechs with Sokratis Papastathopoulos serving his suspension due to the red card and a few other players nursing injuries.
In terms of the favorites, Russia appears to be the new darling of the tournament after hammering the Czechs 4-1 on the first day. They moved from +2000 to +1200 and are even money in three-way betting to defeat Poland on Tuesday.
France has been bumped up to the No. 3 favorite from +1100 to +800 after a draw with England. That one is strange because France was favored in that matchup. The Lions, meanwhile, stayed put at +1200, which seems to make more sense.
Perhaps it’s because bettors were wary to put their money on France following its debacle of a performance at the World Cup two years ago, but they showed some fight against England after falling behind 1-0.
Other key notes and moves: Holland was the third favorite at +500 and is now +1400 after the loss to DenmarkRussia moved from +125 to -400 as the favorite to win Group A The over/under for Croatia goals was 3.5 for the tourney. They need one more to go overNetherlands was set at 28-1 as the team to score the fewest goals before the tournamentSweden went from +7000 to +10000 after a 2-1 loss to the UkraineCzechs went from +8000 to +12500 after the 4-1 loss to RussiaCroatia moved up from +5000 to +3300 after beating Ireland 3-1
All odds courtesy of SportsInteraction.
Euro 2012 Gambler's Guide from SB Nation talks about some funny props and Ronnie's hot girlfriend.
This Yale Law School student has a better summer job than you ever did: pro poker player. And she's good. Good feature by Howard Stutz in the LVRJ.
Las Vegas sportsbooks never saw a "Double Crown" winner they didn't love. Lucky's Jimmy Vaccaro says Las Vegas may see "two times" more action than normal for the Belmont because a Triple Crown is on the line.
"Slot machine maker Bally Technologies received a unanimous recommendation by the Nevada Gaming Control Board for the first interactive gaming license ever to be issued to a manufacturer of online gaming systems."
I am amazing at making horse noises. True story. Now Derby favorite I'll have another (+100) is kind of doing the opposite and imitating humans with a Twitter account. I shit you not. He's @I'll_HaveAnother.
Did you know that India is having the same sports betting legalization debate that we are in North America? This one from the Indian Sports News, which I know you read everyday.
New Facebook app allows fans to bet 'virtual currency' you can cash in for prizes. FYI - you can win REAL cash (and prizes) in Covers Contests if you prefer that sort of thing, as opposed to iPads and PS3's.
The Golden Nugget will be releasing their college football games of the year on Monday morning. We'll have all 111 for you here on Covers. In the meantime here's an interview from Don Best with the Nugget's sportsbook director Tony Miller.
Hockey betting fever has swept Las Vegas. Well, kinda. Let's just say oddsmakers are relieved the Kings don't play in the NBA or NFL. Good piece from Case Keefer in the LV Sun about puck action in the sportsbooks.
"When I go off - that happens maybe four minutes a day and usually happens late - that's where I see the enormous injustice of ... having some horrible player make some crazy-ass move and outdrawing me. Then I'm melting down." The San Fran Chron interviews Phil Helmuth at the World Series of Poker.
The Jerry Sandusky jury selection is wrapping up. We didn't really want to go here, but EOG.com did back in the fall in discussing the betting implications for Penn State in its last game against Nebraska.
Survey in Bangkok says 27.5 percent of respondents plan on betting on Euro 2012. The other 72.5 percent lied to avoid prison.
Other betting bits:
The Texas Rangers were -1000 to win the AL West heading into Wednesday night's game vs. the A's. By the way, they'd also lost five of their last seven heading into that game.Rafa Nadal was -250 to win the French Open yesterday. He's -310 now. Maria Sharapova went from +150 to +110 as the ladies favorite. Sharapova is 16-1 on clay this year, though just 3-2 in her career against Petra Kvitova. Sam Stosur is 5-0 in her career against Sara Errani in the other semifinal. Russia and the Czech republic renew their bad blood this week. First in women's doubles Thursday when Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova face Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in the semifinals at the French Open. (Hlavackova is severly hot, btw.) Then Rooskia plays the Czechs in Euro 2012 play on Friday. Russia is -115 to win that one.