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Aussie
Rules
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Centrebet Capers
[Cricket | CRICKET] There hasn’t been a lot of joy on the cricket betting front as Australia continue to cut a swathe through their two opponents. Sunday’s match was basically giving money away, even though the Aussies were without Adam Gilchrist and Jason Gillespie. Such is the strength of the Australian team that punters are still prepared to take the short odds with big name players out. We thought $1.16 for Australia to beat Sri Lanka was short enough, but even at that quote, bets of $30,000 and $25,000, from Australian’s, came in when betting opened. As far as a betting contest goes, the game was over after half a dozen overs, and when you look at the form of some of the sides around the world, Australia and South Africa deserve to dominate the upcoming World Cup at $2.50 and $3.50 respectively. Exotic betting on Sunday’s match was also firmly focused on the performances of the Australian players. A Sydney punter placed $5000 on Matthew Hayden ($2.40), Ricky Ponting ($2.40) and Damian Martyn ($2.10) all scoring less than 30 runs. While the latter two failed to reach 30, netting our punter just over $7500, he was probably unlucky not to collect all three as Hayden looked like he was caught before he reached 30. Darren Lehmann’s 119 came at a cost as well. The gritty South Australian was well supported at $5.50 to be the highest scorer, and also had several bets, including $500, placed on him at $8 to be the “man of the match”. The one day series will resume after the fourth test, with the all important batting and bowling aggregates being today. There will be plenty of cricket action on Boxing Day. The Melbourne test will be the centre of attention, and there is money for Australia at $1.33. None of it has come from India, but Aussie punters have placed bets of $22,000 and $10,000 (twice). Some small bets have been placed on the draw ($4) and England at $11, but again we are just hoping that either one of those two options can get into the betting at some stage. A few of our newer English punters think that the Poms will go OK. As we have taken just over £1000 in bets that England will gain a first innings lead at $4.75. Fox Sports will also be covering the first one dayer between New Zealand and India, and the first test between South Africa and Pakistan. New Zealand go in as $1.75 favourites in Thursdays one day match against India ($2.05), and we have already taken a bet of $USD 10,000 from an Indian client, for New Zealand to win. The same person has also had $USD 4000 on the draw between South Africa and Pakistan at $2.70, but that seems well under the odds. A host of exotic bets will also be available on these two matches along with the Melbourne test. [Yachting | YACHTING] This would be the quietest Sydney to Hobart Yacht race we have ever had, and it seems as though most are of the opinion that barring a catastrophe, Alfa Romeo ($1.30) will win easily. As yet, we haven’t taken a single bet for the favourite to win, and to be honest, we are not that fussed if we don’t. Second favourite Canon Leopard ($4.50) has attracted $400 worth of bets, and Nicorette ($10) has had a win bet of $300 placed on her, as well as a $1200 bet at $2.25 to finish in the top three. The good news is that while we haven’t taken too many bets, that means we can’t lose much as our record on this race is shocking! Conjecture still surrounds the America’s Cup, but what is becoming more and more obvious is that Alinghi will beat Oracle to claim the Louis Vuitton Cup, and that we will have an exciting seven race series to see who wins the America’s Cup. This week we took another $2000 bet for Alinghi to win the America’s Cup at $2.40, and Alinghi will go into the series against Oracle as a raging $1.20 favourite. [Basketball | BASKETBALL] Just when we start giving the Sydney Kings a few wraps, they go and create another of their infamous “form slumps”. The press haven’t really gone too hard on the Kings over the past week as all the news has been about the Canberra Canons. Whilst the league has found some new owners for the Canons which will allow them to complete this season before moving to New Zealand, it would be fair to say that judging by some of the comments of ex-coach Cal Bruton, the Canons look “gone” for this season as there isn’t a lot of happiness in the camp as a result of the sale. At this stage, it is doubtful that we will bet on Canberra’s game next week. Last weekend, Brisbane continued their good form when they beat the Tigers 92-79. The Tigers ended up being the best supported side of the round, with bets of $5000 placed at -5½ points, then $8000 and $5000 (twice) at -6 points. A bet of $10,000 was placed on Townsville conceding 8 points start to the Victoria Giants, a game which the Crocs won easily 101-83, while the other Saturday night match saw a bizarre finish which went our way. We took nearly $6000 in bets for Adelaide with 7 points start against Perth, and those bets looked certain to win when Perth led by 2 points with 3 seconds to play. A technical foul against Adelaide, and a turnover to Perth after the free shots were give saw the Wildcats win 122-114. The Boxing night match between Victoria and Sydney is open, and the Kings are rated a $1.12 chance to win. The handicap has been posted at 14½ points, with a couple of our regular NBL clients placing $2000 on Victoria with the start. There are three matches on Friday night, and these will be available Thursday afternoon. [Entertainment | ENTERTAINMENT] Golden Globes nominees Nicole Kidman and Rachel Griffiths are Centrebet’s second favourites to receive the Best Motion Picture Actress (Drama) and Best Television Actress (Drama) gongs respectively at next month’s awards ceremony in Hollywood. Kidman is $3 to poll more votes than Julianne Moore ($1.70), Salma Hayek ($6), Meryl Streep ($7) and Diane Lane ($8) to win a Golden Globe prize for the second straight year. Twelve months ago, Hollywood’s foreign critics bestowed one of their awards on “The Hours” star for her Moulin Rouge performance. Griffiths is $3.25 to fend off Edie Falco ($3), Allison Janney ($3.25), Jennifer Garner ($3.50) and Marg Helgenberger ($8.50) for one of the major television gongs. Like Kidman, the Six Feet Under star is bidding to win back-to-back Golden Globe prizes, although her triumph last year was in a supporting role category. Centrebet is betting on ten Golden Globes awards, including Best Motion Picture (Drama) and Best Motion Picture Director, gongs for which Hollywood’s overseas press corps nominated The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Peter Jackson. The film is second favourite at $2.75 and it’s Kiwi director is third favourite at $3.50. [Special Events | SPECIAL EVENTS] Would you bet on New Year’s Eve 2003 falling on a Wednesday? Well, that is one of the 12 betting options on Centrebet’s exciting new market that invites sports fans to predict which of a dozen nominated eventualities will happen first next year. Centrebet is taking bets at $13 that the last day of 2003 is a Wednesday and will pay calendar punters so long as, among other things, Lleyton Hewitt does not win the Australian Open men’s singles title, Brisbane do not win the Australian Football League competition and The Bulldogs do not win the National Rugby League crown. Here are the 12 betting options, with one Australia-specific eventuality for every month of the year. All you have to do is decide which outcome will happen first in 2003. 3.50 Lleyton Hewitt wins Australian Open men's singles (Tennis). 15.00 Adam Scott wins Johnnie Walker Classic (Golf). 3.00 Australia win World Cup (Cricket). 6.00 Sydney Kings win National Basketball League (Basketball). 6.50 Perth Glory win National Soccer League (Football). 10.00 Mark Webber wins one or more Monaco Grand Prix points (Motor Racing). 15.00 Robbie McEwen wins Tour de France points competition (Cycling). 19.00 Cathy Freeman wins World Championship women's 400 metres (Athletics). 26.00 Brisbane Lions win Australian Football League (Australian Rules Football). 41.00 The Bulldogs win National Rugby League (Rugby League). 34.00 Australia win World Cup (Rugby Union). 13.00 Last day of the year is a Wednesday. [Football | FOOTBALL] Punters had a “shocker” on English football when only three favourites won their Premier League matches last weekend, but they will have a few opportunities to get that back over the next week. There were four draws on Saturday, and while all four were good results, we did take bets of $4000 for the draw in Birmingham v Charlton game at $3.25, as well as the West Bromwich v Sunderland match at $3.30. Our “love affair” with West Ham continued when they were once again a heavily backed favourite, and failed to win. The $1.80 was taken with a bet of £15,000, and while there was a sprinkling of money for Bolton, the 2-2 result was huge as the largest bet for the draw was only $500 at $3.40. The wins by Arsenal ($1.45), Chelsea ($1.45) and Newcastle ($1.50) came at a cost as all three were coupled up in several big multiples. Sunday was a bad day for punters when Blackburn ($4.50) had a 1-0 win over Man United, and Liverpool ($1.80) continued their poor form when held to a 0-0 draw by Everton. There were lots of small winners on Blackburn, but the big money was for Man United. They opened at $1.90 before starting at $1.75, but ironically the biggest bet was $16,000 ($1.80), and that came from Australia. The Liverpool game saw a much better spread of money, with the “draw” option landing two bets of 10,000 NOK ($AUD 2000) as well as bets of £1500 and £1200 at $3.45. Liverpool attracted two bets of $10,000, and several in the vicinity of $5000, and the more games they lose, the more interest there is in them! They all do it again on Boxing Day, and along with all other divisions, and Scottish football on, we are expecting a big day of betting, naturally looking for upsets. There hasn’t been any sign of Asian money yet, but the public have been eager to back favourites, while a couple of astute followers have bet against some. It mightn’t sound much, but one of our regular football winners has had £600 on Fulham ($3) to upset West Ham, and has also had the same bet on Man City at $4.25 to beat Man United. Of course, the bulk of the public support has been for Man United at $1.80, similarly to Chelsea ($1.50) against Southampton and Arsenal ($1.57) against West Bromwich. Newcastle ($2.20) are “away” to Bolton, and have already had a bet of €7000 placed on them, and it goes without saying that this would be a good round to get a couple of upsets in. That’s it for this year, have a good Christmas, and we will be back next week with a wrap up of the year just gone. Until next week, good punting. For
further information contact Gerard Daffy at Centrebet on 08 89555800 or
on centrebet@centrebet.com.
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