TAB review June 1

[dave nz]

Rugby, rugby league and basketball were the three sports that saw our larger punters lining up last week.

Rugby League took the honours in terms of the largest wager and it was a winner. The bet was $100,000 at $1.42 on the Wests Tigers to beat the Warriors, which they did very easily. There was also $64,730 at $1.10 on Manly to beat North Queensland, which they managed to do after holding off a late charge from the Cowboys. Other significant league bets, both winners : $17,611 at $1.70 on Souths to beat Penrith and $10,000 at $1.05 on the Melbourne Storm to account for the Bulldogs.

The Super 14 season ended at the weekend with the Bulls justifying their favouritism in beating the Stormers in the final. The biggest wager on the game was $71,000 at $1.09 on the Bulls in live betting. Some other interesting bets to report and these won't be resolved for some time. We took $26,000 at $2.40 on the All Blacks to win the Tri Nations and $26,000 at $2.40 on the Springboks to do the same.

The NBA is now very deep into the post season, in fact the Lakers and the Celtics are about to start their series to determine the overall winner.The Lakers had to overcome the Phoenix to win their way through and in game 5 we took a successful bet on LA of $60,000 at $1.22. For their part the Boston Celtics had to beat Orlando to make the final series and in game 4 there was a losing $40,000 at $1.30 on the Celtics.

Once again there was a good deal of betting action in baseball and week's biggest bet of $33,000 at $1.63 on Minnesota to beat Texas, was a winner. There was another bet live in the run of $10,000 at $1.12 on the Twins.

One of New Zealand's best sporting achievments of the year, the football win over Serbia, came at a price for one punter. That investor had a $12,000 bet on Serbia at $1.35.

The French Open Tennis Championships in Paris have been popular with punters , particularly those matches where we have live betting available. The biggest wager last week, and it was a winner, was $47,000 at $1.16 on Serena Williams to beat Shahar Peer. The big upset so far was the defeat of Justin Henin by the Australian Sam Stosur. In live betting we took $10,000 at $1.40 on Stosur.