What sport is the most gambled on sport in the world?

Squirrel · 10-13-09, 12:38 PM

American Idol would be top 5 if it wer' a sport

LT Profits · 10-13-09, 01:04 PM

1. Cricket
2. Soccer

dmtrader · 10-13-09, 01:19 PM

Thanks, Pavy, for the list.

I cannot say what sport draws the most wagers, but I will tell you that cricket is HUGE in other areas of the world. I have business in many countries in SE Asia, and all I see in the papers and hear in the pubs is CRICKET. When we drive out to plants in the interior of India, Malaysia, etc. I see countless children playing cricket games in the fields with makeshift wickets, just like when I played pick up basketball and baseball when I was a kid growing up in Mich (we didn't have Sony DS or WII back then to entertain ourselves).

Regul8er · 10-13-09, 01:19 PM

I notice pavy's list only included team sports. I'm thinking tennis would probably rank somewhere between #5-10.

Regul8er · 10-13-09, 01:20 PM

I'm actually kind of surprised rugby is below basketball and baseball.

pavyracer · 10-13-09, 01:28 PM

The list I posted has nothing with sports betting. I believe the author listed the sports in terms of their popularity worldwide. As far as cricket it is not drawing more betting money than soccer. The richest soccer clubs in the world like Milan, Real Madrid and many others are being sponsored by megabooks like bwin, betfair etc. Do you even know how much a jersey sponsor has to pay annually to be the sponsor of Real Madrid? Probably 40-50 million dollars. Now why will bwin throw away so much money in soccer sponsorship and not cricket if cricket draws more betting money.

Sforz · 10-14-09, 10:03 AM

...... I guess if we could find out what the largest international book is, and then find out what sport is wagered on the most there, we could derive an answer with a decent amount of certainty..

poker_dummy101 · 10-14-09, 10:28 AM

Cricket is the most popular sport to bet on.

Soccer has the most amount of money wagered.