Super Bowl 2011 betting

NORTH Texas on February 6. Cowboys Stadium in Dallas will become the centre of the sporting world for a few hours when the best two teams the National Football League have to offer meet in a sporting extravaganza like no other.

It is one of the highlights of the sporting calendar, an event with a rich history where the best in the NFC and AFC meet to decide who will top the standings for one glorious year.

The results of the match can affect the stock market, let alone betting markets with the odds on any outcome ferociously monitored and debated before the final match of the NFL season.

However, even the UK-based predictor with little more than a passing interest in the final outcome can still reap a rich reward from their bet. How so? Online bookmakers, keen to attract business, dangle a range of free bets in front of would-be punters and offer betting across an equally wide variety of markets.

Indeed, such has been the exponential increase of in-play betting that it is worth burning the midnight oil before making final predictions on one of the world’s greatest sporting fixtures.

The sentiment is echoed by one UK-based American sports writer, who said: "Sky have done such a tremendous job with the NFL that interest in the game is growing all the time. We've come a long way from one-hour highlights shows on Channel 4 and there is now a knowledgeable and sizable UK market who know all the results and which teams are topping the divisional standings.

"The play-off fixtures will be merely an appetiser for the main course to come and, even as we write, bets on powerhouse teams such as the New England Patriots will have already been made. But internet betting customers will be looking at the odds on teams further down the rankings before making their bets.

“Once the two Super Bowl finalists are known, betting will be fast and furious, leavened by a host of in-play deals and a succession of offers marked “free bet” available through virtually every online bookmaker under the sun.

"Of course, it’s also one of the sporting world’s biggest events of the year and, therefore, a chance to have some fun. Your Super Bowl bets should reflect that. Look at matching the winner with a points spread and grab another Bud.”

As a worthwhile strategy, it has plenty to commend it.