TAB review April 29

[dave nz]

Super 14 and the National Rugby League (NRL) provided some decent upsets last week and as a result it was a mixed bag for the larger punters.

The weeks biggest wager was a winner, $90,000 at $1.22 on the Brisbane Broncos to beat the Parramatta Eels. While on the subject of rugby league a couple of other bets to report : $18,000 at $1.22 on Newcastle to beat Wests Tigers (loser), several other winning bets on the Broncos , $14,000 at $1.04 (live), $12,000 at $1.25, and $10,000 at $1.75 on Penrith to beat the Gold Coast in live betting.

A big weekend, particularly in live betting, in Super 14 with mixed results. The biggest rugby wager was $40,000 at $1.25 on the Western Force to beat the Lions (winner). The Hurricanes were the only New Zealand team to have success in the round when they thrashed the Brumbies in Wellington. There was a good deal of money on the Hurricanes in live betting including $33,000 at $1.30 and $17,000 at $1.25. The Highlanders had home advantage over the Stormers but the South African team were able to finish their lengthy tour on a high note and leave several large punters lamenting. There were bets on the Highlanders of $30,000 at $1.37, $25,000 at $1.40 and $15,000 at $1.35. The Blues apeared to be back in the running for another title until they ran into a determined Reds at Albany and that result was most definitely unexpected. very early in the game, probably during the lengthy power cut, we took a couple of significant bets on the Blues : $20,000 at $1.10 and $15,000 at the same price. One other rugby bet worth talking about : $10,000 at $1.50 on the Bulls to beat the Chiefs, which they did.

The racing bookies have had some tough times recently with a lot of favourites bringing joy to the punters but we did have our moments. A couple of sizeable losing bets were : $17,000 at $2.50 on Yanna Marie in the Criterion Hotel 1400 and $10,000 at $2.30 on Sabino Creek in the Boags Draught 1600. A good winner was Justa Kinda Magic in the Wright Livestock 1600. That bet was $10,000 at $1.90.

New Zealand teams continue to lose everytime they head across the Tasman in the ANZ Championship but there were great hopes for the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic when they went to Australia to meet the Firebirds last week. One punter was very confident of success and invested $16,000 at $1.37. However the Magic were on the end of a hiding and the record remains intact.

Football is big at this time of the year with the English Premiership rapidly drawing to a close and teams vying for major trophies like the European Champions League and the FA Cup. However our blockbuster bet of the week came in Italian football where one punter invested successfully on AC Milan to beat Palermo. That bet was $40,000 at $1.45.

Baseball and basketball are the two American sports that are drawing the big dollars and certainly attracting the most interest. Firstly baseball and some of the bets worth talking about : $34,800 at $1.77 on the Boston - Yankees game producing 9 runs runs or less (winner), $30,000 at $1.67 on Arizona - San Francisco 9 runs or less (winner), $22,500 at $1.70 on Houston - LA Dodgers 9 runs or less (loser), and another $20,000 at $1.75 on the Arizona - San Francisco game. In basketball, which is now in the post season, we had $10,000 at $1.45 on Atlanta to beat Miami in game 2 ( loser ) and $10,000 at $1.50 on Orlando beating Philadelphia in game 4 (winner).