With a competitive pointspread that's sure to interest both sophisticated and casual sports betting fans, Super Bowl betting really could be super this year. Sportsbooks opened the New England Patriots as 3-point favorites to beat the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Feb. 5. The total for the game is 55, another number that should draw action on both s

While upwards of 90 percent of sports betting involves football, basketball, baseball and soccer, with the occasional gambling foray into boxing, tennis, auto racing and hockey, there remains a group of fearless wagering wonks who find golf betting appealing. Admittedly, choosing an individual event winner from among a field of 130 or more quality golfers is a daunting task, but the rewards

All five starters return from a North Carolina team that won 29 games and reached the Elite Eight last season, reason enough for sportsbooks to list the Tar Heels as 4/1 future book college basketball betting favorites to win the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship in New Orleans, next April. UNC also may get the benefit of some good karma in that the Crescent City has been kind to the Tar He

We're now entering the third decade since the League voted to allow each team a week of rest during the regular season, a variable which savvy NFL betting fans always should consider before matching hard-earned cash to conviction.   The obvious assumption would be that teams coming off a bye week would benefit from the rest and, as long as their opponent also hadn't enjoyed a seven-d

Some self-professed experts claim that NFL over/under betting, where the gambler wagers on the whether the total points scored between two teams will be over or under a predetermined number, is for suckers. Why, then, don't sportsbooks allow bettors to risk as much on the total of a game as they do on the "side" or outcome of a game?   In fact, the operators of sportsbooks f

Newly minted No. 1 ranked Novak Djokovic and 27-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams opened as respective favorites to win the men's and women's singles titles at the 2011 US Open at Flushing Meadows, Queens, New York, Aug. 29-Sept. 11.   Serbia's Djokovic, who opened as a 3/2 favorite over long-time tennis betting darlings Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, assumed the world's top r

The last dozen Major golf events have produced 12 different winners so it's no wonder that golf betting on the last Major of the season, the PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club, Aug. 11-14, is spread as wide as a duffer's tee shots.   Rory McIlroy, who went off as a solid 9/2 favorite in the most recent Major, the British Open, is a more modest 8/1 betting choice to win the

College Football betting is comprised of dozens of variables but gamblers often overlook the wagering impact a new coach can have on an NCAA gridiron program. New coaches are eager to impress and many aren't reluctant to run up the score when they're able to do so, often covering large spreads. In situations where their team is an underdog, a number of head coaches will play conservatively

Fresh off a record-breaking triumph in last month's US Open, offshore sportsbooks have listed Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy as a solid 9/2 favorite to capture the third Major of the season, the British Open at the Royal St. George Golf Club, in Sandwich, Kent, England, July 14-17. McIlroy, who also had the lead with nine holes remaining in The Masters before faltering and finishing 15th, w

College football betting fans who are overwhelmed with trying to select one national champion from among more than 100 schools can improve their chances of achieving wagering success by betting on which teams will win more than a half-dozen individual conferences. And for those wary gamblers who want to narrow the field even more, where it's applicable, many sportsbooks even have future book

There's still some concern that a labor dispute will delay or even derail the 2011 NFL season but, thankfully, college football betting fans have no such worries about the upcoming NCAA gridiron campaign. In fact, future book odds on teams winning the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) title are up and already taking action at most sportsbooks.   Oklahoma, a 7/2 favorite in most future bo

With at least three men given a realistic chance to bring home the singles title and the women's bracket considered wide open, tennis betting fans may want to take a forehand whack at the future books posted for Wimbledon, the sport's third Major, which takes center court outside London, beginning June 20.   Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are bunched atop the men's si

How do you fall from No. 1 to No. 13 in the world rankings, go 19 months without a victory and still wind up as the golf betting favorite to win the US Open at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, June 16-19? You probably have to have the cache and name recognition of Tiger Woods.   To be fair, Woods is only the co-favorite for the second golf Major of the year, locked

Rafael Nadal is an odds-on favorite to win a record equaling sixth French Open men's singles title but the tennis betting is wide open on the women's side where Carolina Wozniacki is listed as the tepid 4/1 choice to capture her first-ever Major. The French Open, the second of tennis' Grand Slam events, begins serve on the red clay courts at Roland Garros, May 17.   Nadal, who had hi

While NFL owners and players wonder how long it will take for the notoriously glacial moving federal court system to bring the game back on the field, NFL betting fans are wondering if the recently concluded draft will have any immediate wagering impact on this year's season...if there is one.   Certainly, if operators of sportsbooks are impressed with the allotment of collegiate tal

Every spring about this time, Kentucky Derby betting fans complain about the inscrutable handicapping puzzle that is the Run for Roses, grousing that the first leg of thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown, which gets its annual airing around the Churchill Downs oval in Louisville May 7 this year, is "wide open."   This year, it really is.   In fact, of the last nine Derby

The MLB campaign may not even be a month old but it's not too soon for baseball betting practitioners to assess if expectations have matched reality during the first four weeks of the season.   Start with the Phillies, who, after adding Cliff Lee to a rotation that already included reigning Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt, opened the season as a solid

We're not even sure there'll be a season this year but under the assumption that owners and players aren't greedy or stupid enough not to come to an agreement, or the latest ruling to halt the lockout from the courts gains the same results of football being played - NFL betting aficionados are gearing up for the April 28 Draft, a parade of talent that innovative sportsbooks have turned into t

For the gambler compelled to analyze as many as 20 precocious 3-year-olds running faster and farther than they've ever run before, successful Kentucky Derby betting probably comes down to an understanding of five fundamental factors: Preparation, stamina, running style, luck and value.   With the world's most famous horse race set for its annual spin around the Churchill Downs oval in

The irony, both for NBA teams and NBA betting fans, is that after an 82-game regular season that eliminates just 14 of the league's 30 teams, the playoffs offer a new set of challenges for athletes and gamblers. In fact, the post-season requires a different skill set, with savvy bettors fully aware that what might have been successful strategy in the autumn and winter may have no wagering re