What most people don’t know is that when their money goes behind the counter until the results come out,

Bet Managers examine the course of a game and spread sheets during work

is the work that goes on behind the scenes. Roughly 80% of all games across the board, (soccer, football, tennis and so forth), are based on statistics that have been gathered by professionals scraping up every last bit of information on individual competitors before even tallying up numbers on a single team. Still, facts can only go so far. As the experts will say, roughly 20% of all games are a fluke.

That being said, here are the two largest bets ever placed in individual sports.

Football

The Super Bowl long been hailed as the pinnacle of an American pastime, and the money that goes into the stalls is proof of that legacy. Over ten billion dollars is estimated to be spent in bets on the Super Bowl by over 200 million people around the globe. It is one of, if not the, biggest gambling match in the world.

Rugby

Rugby, Football’s brutal ancestor, holds just as much of an impressive place in betting history with a total of $30,200,000 dollars this year; a record setting amount according to New Zealand’s TAB agency.

Since it is extraordinarily difficult to pinpoint exactly how much money a single-person bet on any one sport, (bets are typically placed for a single match, game, or respective play), it’s simpler to bring up the sports that bring in the most bets as a whole.

Additionally, individual bets are more often than not based on that individual’s income. A man in the upper-lower class won’t be blowing off thousands of dollars on a team he speculates will win on a gut instinct. Similarly, even those with means to spend more, the base middle class all the way up to millionaires, aren’t likely to spend more than a few hundred or thousand dollars. Skeptics may say that bets do go on under the table (not managed by a professional broker), but those can’t be accounted for and are usually charged as criminal activities if discovered.

Soccer

In the UK during the world championship of 2010 the betting losses were calculated to be a little over £70 million. This is all just in the UK and only during the world championship. The total betting loss of the whole world would probably be somewhere near £100 billion or even more.

Tips for Potential Bets

1. Never place a bet with the intention to get rich quickly. A hopeful circumstance can very quickly turn into a horrible decision.
2. Don’t bet out of your means. This should be obvious; if you don’t have the money, don’t spend the money.
3. Research your avenues first, leave no statistic unchecked, and no game un-observed. Staying on top of the times and the probabilities of the teams you’re interested in is paramount.
4. Don’t take “insider” information. An “insider”, essentially someone that claims to have overheard plans or strategies in a locker room or other team hang-out, (the truthful and far less mysterious reality of their job), is usually someone that says things beautifully, but has no idea what they mean. The professionals behind the counter have spent years tracking information, which often times reveals patterns that have a solid foundation. Don’t take a bigger risk when already risking something.
5. Expect the Unexpected. Human beings surpass their limits every other day. Of course the general fact is that there are ranges that are completely normal, and they usually hold consistently over time. But if this were true in all ways, then gambling itself would lose its meaning because everything could be predictable. Humans are anything but. You aren’t placing your money on numbers, but people. If charts tell you to put your stakes on one side, but your gut tells you something else, go with whatever you feel most comfortable with. Lady Luck is a fickle mistress, and at the end of the day all you can hope for is her company.

Fortunes were quite contrasting for France and England at the recent world cup with England being shunted out of the cup at the quarter final stage by our gallic neighbours with quite some ease. Given that France could (and perhaps should) have gone on to win the final, they might seem to be a stronger bet than England to take six nations honours.

However, France have always been a nation of contradictions, and their recent results point in this direction again. If rumblings from within the French camp are to be believed, the entire world cup campaign was a barely organised chaos. Some of Marc Lièvrements selections certainly support this (Morgan Parra at fly half anyone?). The world cup final also saw the end of Lièvrement’s 4 years in charge and has been met by a huge sigh of relief by most French supporters. He is replaced by Philippe Saint-andré, who is proving to be as good as a selector as he was as France’s captain a few years ago. Whether in England at Sale or over the channel in Bourgoin and more recently Toulon, Saint-André has been very good at picking the best players available and getting them to sing from the same hymn sheet.

This is all that has been missing for France’s national side, because they can match anyone for talent. There are players doing the rounds in the French top 14 who would walk into some international teams. And this isn’t just the famous French flair. Hard-nosed forwards like Pascal Papé and Lionel Nallet and a host of hard-scrummaging props make France feared up front. If and when this all clicks, they could run up cricket scores against the likes of Scotland and Italy.

Which brings us to the mess that is England. A world cup exit amidst tabloid stories of partying players, followed by two months of squabbles at the heart of the RFU isn’t really grounds for optimism. If Martin Johnson was unable to turn this lot around, who can? And yet his caretaker replacement, Stuart Lancaster, is an extremely shrewd coach who has been working within the England set up for the last few years. Since 2008, nobody knows better the state of up and coming talent in the English game. He is working with less pressure than Johnson as well because a six nations win in the circumstances would be a bonus.

On the paying front the cupboard is actually far from bare. Up front, there are plenty of good younger players from Cole and Corbisiero to Croft and Haskell. At the back Foden, Armitage and Ashton are as potent as anyone. If the coaching team can unlock the key to setting their outside backs free, England could be back on top. Unfortuately, time is short and who knows if all the off field problems have had a longer lasting effect than predicted.

As always, there is a tendency to look no further than France or England for this year’s winner, but that might well be a mistake. The team that look to have the best dynamic both in terms of playing and coaching, is Wales. Off the park, they have some of most astute coaches in world rugby at their disposal. Hard-nosed Kiwi Warren Gatland knows a thing or two about creating a winning group as he showed at Wasps. With Wales he has surrounded himself with other top-notch performers. Shaun Edwards is in demand from a host of sides in both Union and League, and is a man who knows his rugby inside and out. And Rob Howley and Neil Jenkins, whilst not in the spotlight, offer real expertise to this young generation.

Captain Sam Warburton has probably been playing as well and anyone in the world over the last year. Other youngsters like George North have huge potential and are seeing a lot of the ball with the wide apporach shown by Wales. Perhaps the real key to success is avoiding injury. Wales don’t have the same quantity of players available to France or England and losing key performers (as shown in the world cup) can make life complicated.

Ireland find themselves in a contrasting position to the young Welsh side, but also have a hard edge of experience that few sides can match. They are 7th in the current IRB rankings, but as shown by their domination of a dynamic Aussie side in the world cup, they can strangle the life out of good sides. Unfortunately for them, they have struggled to do so when it matters. Although it might appear the the end of the O’Driscoll generation is going to hit them hard, a quick look at the results of the Irish provinces in the H cup shows that ther is a wealth of talent out there. Men like Sean O’Brien are clearly world class performers and could take the Irish side towards a more dynamic game.

Both Wales and Ireland could do well this year then. Even without the genius of Shane Williams, Wales are a good bet to be in some high-scoring games and make the overs markets worth checking out. In the same vein, Ireland should never go down by many points and it can be a good idea to look at the Irish games for a bet on small points difference between them and the opposition. Of course, whether either of these two can string together a few good performances to win the tournament outright is another question.

The outright winner market looks to be fairly open this year. Mark Selby has the number one ranking and has been in decent form so far in 2011. However, he isn’t head and shoulders above the rest of the field. His first game on Saturday saw him put in an impressive performance, dominating Ryan Day from Wales. The challenges facing the “jester from Leicester” will certainly get tougher over the next few days. What is for certain is that nobody in the field is going to be more motivated than Selby. He is the only member of the world’s top six who doesn’t have either a world or UK title to his name and this has lead to some criticism of his top spot.

One other that might push Selby close is John Higgens. Last year’s winner has been critical of the reduced number of frames this year, which see matches before the semi-final stage being decided over the best of 11 rather than 17. Higgens also finds himself in the bottom half of the draw, away from Selby, but with a few other big guns in Trump, O’Sullivan and Robertson. If he can make it past these three, he could be a good bet to line up a second straight title and a fourth win overall. Higgens doesn’t make many mistakes and is notoriously difficult to get into trouble, so if someone is to knock him out, they will have to be playing very well indeed. His tough 6-5 first round clash against Rory McCloud will at the very least have blown away any cobwebs and helped him to avoid becoming complacent.

One who hasn’t yet played his first match is Mark Williams. Williams always looks like a good bet in the big tournaments, simply because he never seems to suffer from nerves and always looks relaxed. His opening game is against journeyman pro Joe Jogia who shouldn’t have enough firepower to pose any serious sort of threat. In fact Williams has probably the easiest route through to at least the quarter finals of any of the major contenders this year. Williams also has experience on his side. He has been to the final four times and come away holding the trophy on two of those occasions, so he is hardly stepping into unknown territory. The last of those was last year’s final against Higgens which looked to be all but over as he lead 9-5 before eventually going down by a single frame.

Of course, a surprise in a major chamionship is always a possibility and there are a few interesting-looking outsiders this year as well. However, between Higgens, Selby and Williams there is a lot of big game experience and quality which makes any of them good candidates to be this year’s winner at the end of the week.

This looks like a good fixture for Liverpool who have ceretainly looked like a better outfit altogether away from Anfield, with a win away to Chelsea this season and running Man city close as well for example. After an ordinary start to the 2011-2012 campaign, the reds are undefeated in their last 12 games and confidence must really be a high in the camp. In fact, Liverpool or on a winning streak of 5 straight games in all competitions. The steady progress up the table has been hidden by all the attention currently on the Manchester sides, but there are more and more shrewd punters who are looking towards the Merseysiders.

However, Liverpool has looked like a much better side when facing good opposition and has dropped a few surprising points against weaker sides. Swansea and Sunderland have both come away from Anfield with points. This should suit Fulham down to the ground and they will be looking to maker life as difficult as possible for the visitors and to get as far away as possible from the relegation dogfight. Fulham haven’t been the happiest side in front of goal so far and against Liverpool’s defence this is unlikely to change, with only fifteen goals in thirteen outings and a goal difference of minus 1. Liverpool have only scored 17 times in the Premier league themselves, but have been far more solid at the back and have a goal difference of +5. With only 12 goals conceded, they top the league. Given all this, it doesn’t look like being a high-scoring encounter and it is worth taking a closer look at the unders markets to see what sort of value is there.

On the injury front, the loss of Lucas Leiva looks to be a big blow for Liverpool. His knee injury against Chelsea has almost certainly spelt the end of his season and will no doubt give Kenny Dalgleish a headache or two. Lucas has been pivotal in most of the good football played by the reds so far and it will certainly take a few matches to find the best way of replacing him. However, in Suarez, Liverpool have a real matchwinner. Although he hasn’t scored as often as he (or the club) would like so far, it seems to be just a matter of time. The team have carved out plenty of opportunities, and Suarez will inevitably start putting them away. The big question remains, is it going to be this Monday night against Fulham?

Harlequins have been off to a fantastic start this season, playing some great rugby. After 8 matches they have yet to lose or even draw. They have also been scoring a lot of points with a free-flowing approach. However, they have been showing steel when necessary too, as shown by last weekend’s win at fortress Kingsholm against Gloucester. Several of the Quins players will be looking to further their England ambitions and make a favourable impression on the next coach, whoever that may be. Chris Robshaw is being touted regularly as the next England captain and has been leading from the front this season much as he did last, being perhaps the standout backrow player in Permeirship rugby.

Newcastle come off a morale-boosting European win, if only a 34-03 Amlin Challenge Cup win against Petrarca Padova. However, after notching up only a solitary victory in the Premiership, anything that can boost confidence a bit must be good. There look like being 8 changes to last weekend’s line up, with coach Alan Tait giving a run to three of the club’s new signings. Taiasina Tu’ifua is a beast in the centre of the back row and could do a lot of damage with the ball in hand. Suka Hufanga also has plenty of gas and looked very useful in the recent world cup and South African Adriaan Fondse is an athletic, abrasive 6ft 5 who will be looking to make an impact off the bench.

Newcastle may be concerned with their scrummaging, given that of the first choice front row, two are injured and the third (Euan Murray) doesn’t play on Sundays as usual for religious reasons. Harlequins have looked like a much tougher pack in the tight this season and will be looking to make life difficult for Newcastle in this area.

Newcastle will be banking on a repeat of last season’s LV Cup semi-final victory. In recent seasons, the Northern outfit have had a pretty successful time of it against the Londoners in fact, even away from home. Discipline looks like it will be key once more with Jimmy Gopperth at 10 one of the premiership’s best goalkickers.

So it looks like Harlequins should have too much power for Newcastle. However, this probably won’t be the one-sided contest that it has been cracked up to be either. Newcastle can be threatening ball in hand, especially with an injection of pace out wide in the form of Hufanga. If Gopperth can kick his goals early on, the spread of 15 points looks somewhat generous. If the Harlequins front five out-muscles the opposition, then things could turn ugly and a try-scoring bonus performance is probably a good even-money shot.

The fixture that really jumps out is Manchester City’s visit to Liverpool on Sunday. Top of the table city will be looking to bounce back after their midweek loss to Napoli, following on from their other European loss away this season to Bayern Munich . In the premier league obviously it has been another story altogether, given that they are still undefeated after 12 games. Above and beyond these results, city have really been putting sides to the sword, with a goal difference of +31. The pace of Clichy and Richards has been doing all sorts of damage to the opposition.
Comparing this to sixth-place Liverpool’s +5 and things don’t look that good for the Merseysiders. But looking at their recent form, they have shown their best football against some of the stronger sides in the division, beating both Arsenal and Chelsea away from home. The reds look good value to inflict the first defeat on Man City and at the very least to earn a draw.

Swansea host Aston villa on Sunday in what promises to be a tough, mid-table clash. Swansea went down at home for the first time this season at the hands of Man Utd last weekend, but up till then had proved a tough nut to crack on home turf.. Their away form might have let them down, but not many sides will travel to Wales and come away with three points, with only 2 home goals conceded so far. Although Villa are sitting 5 places higher in 8th, they are in something of a slump and are struggling to play quality football at the moment. Sunday will be a tough time for them to notch up their first away win.

Saturday sees a top of the table clash as 4th place Newcastle visit Manchester United. Manchester haven’t been the most convincing side out there recently, particularly against supposedly weaker opposition, which, when you are Man U, is more or less everybody! Newcastle are solid at the back and this doesn’t look like being a high scoring encounter. Manchester have certainly looked better at home than away (apart from against Manchester City). Berbatov looks like he is starting to hit form and Alex Ferguson doesn’t have any major injury worries for once, apart from Danny Welbeck.
Newcastle have a couple of injury worries, notably Gabriel Obertan, but still have plenty of experience and talent. One goal either way might well be enough to decide the outcome here.

Three potentially interesting match-ups this weekend then. If Manchester City can keep putting goals away like it’s going out of fashion, it will put a lot of pressure on other sides like Newcastle and Manchester, who will be looking to close the gap to the top if at all possible.

This is a unique betting market exclusive to betfred, signup at the link below.

Saturday sees a couple of interesting fixtures, the first of which is when 16th place Fulham travel to Sunderland, currently sitting one place above them. This might not have the glamour of a Manchester derby, but should be a fascinating contest; After a host of signings this Summer, Sunderland have taken time to get going, but there are signs that things are starting to come together and they will fancy their chances against a Fulham side who have struggled away from home this season so far.

Norwich (9th) host Arsenal (7th) in another mid-table clash. Norwich have looked shaky defensively so far this season and their 9th place probably flatters them a bit. Arsenals big guns will fancy their chances of putting a couple past a side that hasn’t changed greatly since they were playing a division lower this time last year, especially if all the London club’s internationals have recovered from last weekend’s action. After a terrible start to their season, Arsenal look to be heading for a top four place with Van Persie hitting top form and should be too strong for the Canaries.

The standout fixture this weekend looks to be 6th place Liverpool’s visit to fourth place Chelsea. Stamford bridge doesn’t have the same aura as a season or two ago and Chelsea are on a particularly poor run of form, especially the 5-3 home loss to Arsenal. Their defense has looked far from composed and in danger of conceding goals even against some of the weaker sides in the league.
Liverpool have also had their shaky moments recently and there were a few sighs of relief as they managed to avoid going down at home to lowly Swansea. However, if Liverpool had put away a few early chances, the match would have been very different. The merseysiders look like they could really run up a big score the day things click in the first 20-30 minutes. The question is, will this be on Sunday?

The bottom two sides met on Saturday in another battle to avoid relegation as Blackburn visit Wigan. Wigan apparently look destined for the drop, having lost their last eight premiership fixtures. Statistics don’t always tell the whole story though. in four of these eight games, Wigan has actually managed more shots on goal than their opposition. Their run of luck in front of goal has to turn around sometime. Historically, games between these two sides have always produced goals and with both teams needing a result, this could well continue this weekend. High-scoring games tend to follow the referee for this fixture, Andre Marriner, too, so there is a good chance for Blackburn’s strikers, Formica and Yakubu.

A few interesting encounters this weekend then, with the possibility of a high-scoring game or two as well, which should make the over/under markets good value as well.

As the games draw closer the full range of betting options will open up for example one of the most popular betting markets it for the total number of gold medals won on a per country basis, this is a nice bet for patriotic sports fans as it allows you to follow all the sporting events your country is taking part in throughout the games while having a nice wager on the side

Other markets include, total amount of golds won by country, total amount of medals won, winner and runner up in each event, over all winner by country and ofcourse you have markets on each event such as fastest speed, longest jump etc.

Generally Betfair will give you the best odds but be prepared for some fantastic promotions from Paddy Power and other major UK bookmakers as this will be the biggest gambling opportunity for a long time after all it’s not often the games are hosted in a country that loves to have a flutter as much as the Brits!