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Centrebet Capers CRICKET Australia thumped New Zealand in their first one-day match last weekend and it was one of the rare occasions where the Aussies went in as favourites and we wanted them to win. After initially seeing some money for Australia, it was all one way traffic for NZ leading into the game, with the Kiwi's firming from 3.50 into 3.10. Most of the money, including three bets of $USD 5000 came from India. Game two is being played today (Wednesday) and while Australia are hot favourites at 1.26 there has been money for New Zealand. Two of our Indian clients each placed $USD 4000 on NZ at 3.75 but the bulk of the other big bets, including one of $22,000, is for Australia. Even though the game is being played mid-week and isn't available on free to air TV, there has been a surprisingly high level of interest. The third and final game in the series will be played on Saturday and the betting for that game will open as soon as game two is over. The betting for the upcoming Test series against South Africa will open on Monday. GOLF In a year on the US PGA tour where Robert Allenby failed to fire, this week he has an opportunity to create Australian golfing history by becoming the first player to win Australia's Triple Crown. Betting in last week’s Australian PGA event was dampened not only by the weather but by the injury cloud on Allenby who was fresh off a win at the Australian Open the previous week. Stuart Appleby was installed favourite at 8.00 ahead of Michael Campbell at 9.00, Peter Lonard 11.00, Nick O'Hern 13.00 with an unfit Allenby at the attractive price of 15.00. The publicity had deterred punters away from Allenby as he was totally unlayable, while the likes of Appleby, Campbell and O'Hern all had their admirers. It was Tasmanian Matthew Goggin who the surprise elect from rank and file punters however as he was backed from 51.00 into 34.00 and taken, including one wager of $250 each-way at his opening quote and ending with a $300 wager at 34.00. Robert Allenby is rated a 9.00 chance to win this week’s Australian Masters at Huntingdale, which is more in keeping with his world ranking. The task will not be easy with Adam Scott favourite at 8.00, beaten in a play-off by Jim Furyk at last week’s Nedbank Challenge and the consistent Nick O'Hern 11.00, his greatest hurdles. TENNIS Croatia won the Davis Cup and that was good news for punters who backed them from 1.60 into 1.38 in the three weeks leading up to the final. Tennis now has a break before resuming 'down under' next month and while there won't be any action on the courts for a few weeks, there is plenty of action in the betting ring. We have posted up odds to win both the men’s and women’s finals of the Australian Open and there has been an enormous amount of interest. Roger Federer heads up the men’s market at 1.55 ahead of Rafael Nadal at 6.00 and while it is hard to go past either when looking for the winner, it seems as though punters don't agree with us. Lleyton Hewitt has been in the news this week following the birth of his daughter and many think that fatherhood might assist Lleyton in winning his first Australian Open. We hadn't seen any money for him at 15.00 but this week he has been backed to win close to $30,000. Croatian, Ivan Ljubicic (41.00 into 26.00) has been backed to win close to $50,000 this week, with American James Blake (67.00-34.00) and Czech Tomas Berdych (67.00-41.00) backed to win similar amounts. The women's event looks decidedly more open than the men's and Kim Clijsters is an easing 3.40 favourite. Clijsters has struggled in the past when it has counted but there is no doubt she was the form player in the later part of this year, along with Amelie Mauresmo and a rejuvenated Mary Pierce. Mauresmo has already been backed to take out nearly $45,000 and has firmed from 21.00 into 12.00, while Pierce has been backed to win close to $100,000, and is into 14.00 after opening at 34.00. FOOTBALL The euphoria surrounding Australia's entry into next year’s World Cup is lingering a bit longer than we expected and in the past seven days we have taken two massive bets for the Socceroo's to hold the Cup aloft. After Australia qualified, we took hundreds of small bets for them at 67.00 to win. Late last week a new client plonked $3000 on Australia at that quote and this week another new client weighed in with a bet of $4000 at 51.00. There is also support for most other teams, including $10,000 for Brazil at 3.75, and a £4000 pound wager for England at 8.00. The draw will be conducted at the weekend and following on from that there will be many new betting options. The Champions League has also attracted some hefty wagers to win the title recently, including a $20,000 bet for Lyon to win the title at 13.00. Barcelona's remain the heavily backed favourites at 5.00. Sydney FC has gone to Japan to take part in the World Club Championship. They go in as one of the outsiders at 21.00, but look like they have run into the form that their impressive list should be capable of so we are looking for them to be more than competitive. POLITICS John Howard and his off-sider Peter Costello have been in the news over the past week, and it hasn't all been positive for the prime minister and his would-be successor. That has caused a major revamp to the betting on who will win the next Federal election and now we are quoting both the Coalition and Labor at 1.85 equal favourites. Prime Minister Howard has received a huge pasting over his workplace reforms and Peter Costello has been getting hammered about his involvement in the appointment of Robert Gerard to the RBA Board. In fact, if there was an election this week, Labor would be a fairly warm favourite no matter who they had at the helm, but with plenty of time before the next election, the Howard government has time on their side to woo back the Australian voters. While we don't really expect to see big lots of money thrown around, there has been nearly $4000 invested on Labor over the past two weeks at 2.00. This will be the first time since October 2001 that the Labor Party has been favourite or co-favourite. AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR While Peter Costello may be under siege at the moment, the treasurer's brother has been installed as Centrebet's favourite to be 'Australian of the Year'. Tim Costello has long been recognised as a crusader for the homeless and afflicted, but it was his work following the tsunami in Asia that really brought that work to the public arena. Tim Costello is the CEO of World Vision Australia and he became the public face of the tsunami appeal which raised millions of dollars that went directly to the afflicted areas. Costello would be a worthy winner of the Australian of the Year, and punters agree as we have taken several bets for him at 3.25. Second pick in the betting is Justice Michael Kirby, who is a 3.50 chance. Justice Kirby became a High Court judge in 1996, and while he has done a tremendous amount of work in this country for the community in general, he has also been recognised by the United Nations for the work he has done in establishing judicial systems in struggling countries. We have also taken several bets for Justice Kirby and these two have easily been the best backed of the elite field of eight. Until next week, good punting For
further information contact Gerard Daffy at Centrebet on 02 9206 8715 or
centrebet@centrebet.com
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