The London Olympics are starting shortly and bookies are getting ready to handle millions of dollars’ worth of wagers. This year will be the busiest Olympics for both online and land-based sportsbooks, as a number of factors encourage even more betting activity this time around.
What sets the London 2012 Olympics apart from any other in the sportsbetting world is the vast availability of markets available. Bookmakers are not only offering odds on all 26 events; they are also offering a number of novelty markets, such as whether or not there will be a UFO sighting during the games. With such a wide range of betting markets, sportsbooks will appeal to a wide range of punters. From serious sports fans to those just looking for a bit of a sweat during the Olympic Games, plenty of punters will be placing wagers.
Ladbrokes, a UK-based bookmaker, is actually offering 11 000 different betting activities for this year’s London Olympics. British sportsbooks in particular are working overtime, as they see a very lucrative opportunity in this year’s games. Since the Olympics are being held in one of the world’s biggest gambling and sportsbetting markets, bookmakers anticipate that citizens will be wagering more – if not out of habit, then out of patriotism.
Another reason we will see even more betting activity is due to the amount of mobile gambling technology that is available. We saw this first during the 2012 World Cup – mobile wagers went through the roof, as players were able to use their smart phones to place wagers on mobile sportsbooks as they watched matches at their local bar. With the advent of tablet computers taking place in the past two years and an increase in betting applications, the 2012 London Olympics will reach out to a wide range of punters from around the world.
