Gambling--online Soccer Betting News

<< Wolverhampton extends Bia's loan
Wolverhampton, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wolverhampton has extended the loan stay of Charleroi winger Geoffrey Mujangi Bia for a further 12 months. The 20-year-old moved to Molineux in January and made only five appearances for Mick McC

<< Barca's Iniesta returns to training
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barcelona's attempt to retain its La Liga crown have been handed a boost after Andres Iniesta returned to training. The 26-year-old has been sidelined for more than a month with a hamstring injury b

<< Dortmund swoops for Japanese star Kagawa
Dortmund, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Borussia Dortmund has signed Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa from Cerezo Osaka for a nominal transfer fee. The 21-year-old has spent the last four years with the J-League outfit and is widely consi

<< Reid plans to stay at Hamilton
Hamilton, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hamilton manager Billy Reid insists that he will still be with the SPL club next season, having guided the Accies to seventh place this term. Reid has been linked with a summer exit from New Do

Steelers WR Sweed placed on IR >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Steelers on Tuesday placed wide receiver Limas Sweed on injured reserve. Sweed had surgery last week to repair a damaged Achilles tendon. The injury occurred during the Steelers' recent

Stars G Lehtonen agrees to three-year, $10.65 million extension >>
Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Stars announced Tuesday they have agreed to a three-year, $10.65 million contract extension with goaltender Kari Lehtonen. The deal will keep the 26-year-old Lehtonen with the Stars through the 20

Flyers' Boucher likely done for season >>
Voorhees, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren announced Tuesday that goaltender Brian Boucher is expected to miss at least a month with a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his left knee as well as injurie

Ronaldinho left off Brazil's initial roster >>
Sao Paulo, Brazil (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ronaldinho was one of four players coach Dunga surprisingly left off Brazil's initial 23-man World Cup roster Tuesday. Ronaldinho, a two-time FIFA World Player of the Year, Adriano, Alexandre Pato and N

SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.