Recession Has Little Impact On 2009 US Masters Betting
As with the Super Bowl, Oscars and NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, traffic results from Gambling911.com once again indicate that a major sporting event has shattered all betting records. This time it's the US Masters Golf Tournament.
Traffic numbers for Gambling911.com, most of which were fueled by US Masters betting inquiries, came in just under 900,000 hits each day leading up to Thursday's tournament start. Over 900,000 hits were registered on Tuesday. These numbers were a vast improvement over last year, when under 500,000 hits were registered daily.
"Most of the betting on these major golf events take place the four days leading up to the start, usually on Thursday," said Payton O'Brien, Senior Editor of Gambling911.com. "This was promising to be among the most exciting betting events of all time due to the incredible payout potentials."
Even Tiger Woods, who was creeping up at the end as of press time, promised a payout of $1400 for every $100 bet for anyone who got in on Tiger odds Saturday evening. Bookmaker.com offered those odds. Early on and heading into Friday, Tiger Woods odds were somewhere between even and 2/1.
"The payouts for golf tournaments are usually amazing," says O'Brien. "Tiger Woods is considered the ‘safe' bet and his odds will often get longer after the second day as was the case this year."
Then you have folks who were atop the leaderboard like Chad Campbell promising an $11,000 payout on a $100 bet and Kenny Perry promising an $8000 payout.
"The bookies are not as concerned with a Campbell or Perry win despite the huge payouts," says O'Brien. "That's because more than half the gamblers were betting on Tiger Woods and probably another 10 percent or better were on Phil Mickelson."
Because both Woods and Mickelson had clawed their way back into the competition, bookies were no doubt sitting at the edge of their seats by late afternoon Sunday.
"The worst thing for the bookies is a Tiger Woods win. The second worst thing that can happen is Phil Mickelson winning."
Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
