TAB Review March 3

[dave nz]

Live betting has become very popular in the last 12 months or so and last Friday we had a busy time of it with live wagering on both Super 14 and international cricket. Both attracted plenty of interest with the Hurricanes - Crusaders match fluctuating between a large Hurricanes lead and a Crusaders comeback and the cricket was always close with New Zealand winning off the very last delivery.

The week's largest bet was part of live betting and it was a winner - $100,000 at $1.18 on the Waratahs to beat the Highlanders. Other significant bets in that game on the Waratahs, all live betting, $12,900 at $1.04, $10,000 at $1.18, $10,000 at $1.08 and $6,505 at $1.06. Other rugby bets worth mentioning from last week, both winners: $10,000 at $1.25 on the Bulls to beat the Lions and $8,000 at just $1.03 - live betting - on the Hurricanes to down the Crusaders. On a losing note there was $8,160 at $1.92 on the Chiefs to beat the Sharks.

A very big week for racing in all three codes with the upcoming Auckland Cups in greyhounds, harness and galloping. The prelude to the Auckland Cup at Ellerslie was the $2.2 million New Zealand Derby and we took some big bets on that event. The Aussie horse Conniston Blue won the race so all these were donations to the greater good. $20,000 at $11.00 on Easy Ryder, $7,000 at $18.00 on Late Edition, $5,000 at $31.00 on Spontaneous and $5,000 at $51.00 on I Robot. Mixed success on the harness front for punters. A good winning bet was $5,000 at $4.50 on Ohoka Dallas at Alexandra Park and not so good for the investor who placed $5,000 at $3.00 on River Belle also at the Park.

The rugby league season is not far away and this was signalled by the annual Charity Shield match between St George and Souths which was comfortably won by Souths. A couple of significant bets were placed on the Dragons (St George) - $15,000 at $1.40 and another $15,000 at $1.30.

American sport at this time of the year is about basketball, both the NBA and college, and some bets to talk about in the past week: $16,000 at $1.82 on Oklahoma and Kansas to produce 145 points or less (loser), $10,000 at $1.85 on Cleveland giving Memphis a 15 and a half point start (loser), and $5,500 at $1.11 on the LA Lakers beating Phoenix (winner). Speaking of basketball and the Breakers very good season is over after the Melbourne Tigers took them out in the semi finals of the NBL. One large bet on the Tigers was a winner: $5,500 at $1.37.

Now to the cricket and two fine wins for New Zealand in the Twenty20 matches against India, the world champions. Live betting was extremely popular here and some of the bigger winning bets on New Zealand were : $10,000 at $1.40, $10,000 at $1.35, and $8,173 at $1.07. We expect even greater interest in the one-dayers and also the three-test series to follow.

Several other random bets worth mentioning, both losing wagers. $10,000 at $1.28 on Karlovic to beat Chiudinelli at the ATP in Dubai and $10,000 at $1.57 on Villarreal to beat Panathinaikos in the Champions League. The match was drawn.