On September 17th, 2007, Mr. Ricky Punter Ponting's Australian team is one of the favored teams in the online gaming world to triumph at the ongoing 20/20 World Championship event in South Africa.
Australia recovered after suffering a stunning defeat at the hands of Zimbabwe after defeating England and Bangladesh and retains their chances as prospective title holders with English bookmaker Ladbrokes making Australia 13-8 favorites.
Online bettors have backed Ponting's team to get the winners prize of $2.24 million. Host team South Africa are the second team that are favored to win in a 4-1 odds followed by World-Cup runners-up Sri Lanka(5:1), New Zealand(8:1) and Pakistan (12:1) according to the boylesports. English bookmaker William Hill is featuring odds 14:1 on England to win the championships after they were defeated by the Australians.
India has a 28:1 ratio while Bangladesh, who knocked the West Indies out of the tournament, has 100:1 odds on paddypower. Bookmakers said that with more than $5 million of cash money on the line, the inaugural tournament has received millions of dollars in wagers, with some bettors using different betting technologies to avoid long queues at wagering shops.
As technology improves and betting gets faster, gambling organizations like Ladbrokes and William Hill are now allowing cricket fans to place wager even from cellular phones or through television. WAP or Wireless application phones also allows gamblers to use the Internet with mobile phones or other mobile or PDA devices, Interactive television allows users to wager using a remote control.
Online wagering seems to be popular with the younger crowd, who preferred wagering in private compared to waiting in line outside a wagering shop. Betfair has batsmen Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara who are among the favorites of bettors who can score 50.
Paddypower is featuring odds of 9:1 that opener Matthew Hayden will be the tournament's top producer, followed by teammate Adam Gilchrist with the odds of 10:1. Betfair has batsmen Brad Hodge, Luke Wright, Peter Fulton, Lou Vincent and Brendon McCullum with odds of 25:1. Australian paceman Brett Lee, who performed extremely well against Bangladesh, remains a top favorite with 11:1 odd and Sri Lankan paceman Lasith Malinga with 14:1 odds.
September 30, 2007
Nancy Parker