Olympic betting golden, sets new handle record

2010GoldMedalThe 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics results are officially in the books, and it seems sportsbooks recorded golden results as well. There was unprecedented interest in wagering on these winter games, with some books showing as much as a 700% increase in handle since the 2006 Turin event. It probably didn’t hurt that the US/Canada men’s hockey final reportedly drew higher TV ratings than every World Series game since 2004, every NBA Finals telecast since 1998 and every NCAA Final Four game since at least 1998. It’s estimated that 1 in 3 Americans caught the game on TV, and fully half of all Canadian viewers tuned in. Half? That’s it? No doubt, the 16 million Canucks who didn’t watch the game will soon be visited by Mounties looking to verify proof of citizenship. Read more.