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Centrebet Capers FOOTBALL Australia is off to the World Cup! Not since Sydney was awarded the Olympic Games have we seen such euphoria in Australia and many of those happy faces also held winning tickets on last night’s match. The Socceroos went into the second leg against Uruguay as heavily backed favourites at 2.15. Numerous big bets were taken, including $30,000 at 2.25 and three $20,000 wagers at 2.20. While all of Australia was getting behind our side, nearly all of our overseas clients were betting against the Socceroos, including two wagers of €5000 for Uruguay at 3.30. Already we have seen a wave of business come in for the World Cup finals which will be held in Germany next June. Brazil remains favourites to lift the Cup at 3.75 but this week we have layed England to win nearly $50,000 at 8.50. Australia is at 67.00. CRICKET A 'spinner friendly' wicket awaits the West Indies in Hobart today (Thursday) as the second Test gets under way, which has seen punters eager to take the very short odds for an Australian win. The West Indies have always struggled against a turning ball and the prospect of having to front up to Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill has seen the Aussies firm from 1.28 into 1.25. Some hefty wagers have been taken and include $30,000 and $22,000 (1.28) and another of $20,000 at 1.25. The possibility of bad weather has kept the draw in the betting at 5.00 but we haven't seen much interest at that quote, whereas we have taken three separate bets of $1000 for the Windies to spring a major upset at 13.00. Ricky Ponting holds a commanding 98 run lead in the series batting which has seen a client part with $10,000 for Ponting to win the batting aggregates at 1.33. Ponting has the added advantage of playing on his home ground in this Test, which has seen plenty of money come for him to be the hi-bat for Australia in the first innings. We have already taken close to $5000 for Ponting at 4.00 but there has been some support for Matt Hayden at 4.50. Betting on the second Test will be updated at each break. Hopefully the contest isn't as one-sided as the first Test was. GOLF The golf season is winding down but the standard of golf certainly isn't and fans in countries like Japan and China are seeing some of the finest players the world has to offer. The HSBC Champions Tournament in China saw some of the best players on the US PGA, European and Asian tours assemble together in Shanghai. No surprise that defending Tiger Woods was installed favourite at 2.50 over former world number one, Vijay Singh, at 7.00 and then a host of players from the European tour including Padraig Harrington at 17.00, Michael Campbell and Colin Montgomerie at 19.00 and David Howell at 26.00. There was plenty of support for Woods as expected but also for Singh, with one $8,000 wager at his opening quote the largest bet we laid on the event. Others well tried were Harrington at 19.00 and Australian Nick O'Hern at 41.00. However, it was in form Englishman David Howell who produced the goods finishing 20 under par and never being seriously threatened on the final day. This week the Japanese tour remains in full swing as Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk take on the European tour hopes of Michael Campbell and Colin Montgomerie. Woods is favourite again at 2.50 with Furyk at 12.00, Campbell and Montgomerie at 15.00. Swede Thomas Bjorn is a two time winner here and the 17.00 represents good value. RUGBY UNION With the autumn tours well and truly underway, the punters, bar Wallaby supporters, are filling up. Wales seem to have lost their 6-Nations gloss by getting a drubbing from New Zealand and then playing catch-up rugby against Fiji for 76 minutes. Given the advantage England had over Australia in the scrums, rolling maul and the set pieces, the 10 point victory over the woeful Wallabies wasn't enough especially as the All Blacks have rolled into town. Ireland is not the same team without Keith Wood and Brian O’Driscoll and was seriously outclassed in Dublin by the New Zealanders. Scotland resorted to old habits and failed to defend a winning margin for 80 minutes. The big boys all face off against each other this weekend but gone are the "International Test" matches of days gone by. This weekend we see Australia as 7½ favourites at Lansdowne Road, the All Blacks as 15½ point favourites against England at Twickenham and South Africa conceding 16 ½ points to the Welsh. Early money has come for Australia at 1.40 but we expect to see some support for the home side especially given the inexperience in Eddie Jones’ likely front row. AUSTRALIAN IDOL Kate DeAraugo just keeps defying the critics and the betting, and now finds herself in the final of Australian Idol. Emily Williams will go into the all female final as favourite after Lee Harding was voted out by the public on Monday night. Lee had been solid in the betting to win the final at 3.00 but that accounts for nothing as voters often ignore the betting boards. Kate was a 6.00 prior to last week’s show but it seems as though a concerted effort from the media around her home town of Bendigo in Victoria has had the desired effect. Emily has been favourite for five of the past six weeks and is now into 1.36. We have taken nearly $6000 in bets for the Queensland youngster since the final pairing was announced but there is also money coming for Kate at 3.00. MISS WORLD The border cities of Albury-Wodonga are getting right behind Dennae Brunow in her bid to win the Miss World beauty pageant. Dennae, a former legal secretary, is a 26.00 chance in betting to win Miss World and nearly all of the bets we have taken for her have come from the Albury-Wodonga area. Dennae has been mooted as a realistic chance by media watchers, especially given that Jennifer Hawkins won the Miss Universe title for Australia two years ago. New Zealand will be represented by Kay Anderson, who hails from the Auckland suburb of Howick but it seems as though Kiwi punters don't rate Kay as a winning chance. We posted her at 67.00 but have only taken a few small bets. Miss Phillipines was our opening favourite at 11.00 and that is the way that it still stands. Not surprisingly, Miss Norway (13.00) has been well supported by our Scandinavian clients, having been backed to win close to $25,000 in early trading. Others to attract attention in the early stages of betting have been Canada (15.00), Iceland (17.00) and Nicaragua (101 into 51.00). The pageant will be decided on December 12. 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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