2011 Rugby World Cup Betting

New Zealand will be hosting the rugby union World Cup in autumn with the final taking place on 23rd October and there will be a flurry of betting excitement surrounding the quadrennial event with all the home nations in action, as well as the power houses of the southern hemisphere: Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

England have a great history in this competition and will be traveling with high hopes, having placed in the top 4 sides in 4 of the last 5 World Cups, and of those have been finalists 3 times. Wales’ best finish was 3rd in 1987, whilst Scotland took 4th spot 4 years after that. Unfortunately, Ireland’s best finish were 4 quarter final finishes but regardless, the whole of the UK should be entranced by this tournament and betting interest should be high with many of the fixtures having some interest for the average British punter.

With this 6 week rugby fest beginning on 9th September, a number of online bookmakers will be encouraging UK punters not to walk down to their local bookies but surf the internet and open their own account with the lure of a Free Bet or even Free Bets. In particular, online bookmaker 888sport will be offering a £50 Bet Basket worth of Free Bets, rewarding its new customers for making bet after bet after bet. Not only do online bookmakers offer Free Bets but also purported ‘guaranteed best odds’. However, a predictor of Rugby World Cup outcomes should ensure very carefully that he compares these ‘best guaranteed odds’ with other online bookmakers for such an offer so that what he is offered is bona fide.

The only downside to the World Cup, as it was with the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia 8 years before, the time difference could affect the punters’ propensity to make bets. If there is a big match but it’s at 4am UK time, how many rugby fans will be awake to put bets on the game? The punters will just have to see how the fixtures fit in with their plans or otherwise make their bets and then just watch the highlights afterwards. If highlights after knowing the results and ante-post betting is not enough, a sport gambler can engage in ‘in play’ or ‘live betting’, which means betting on the event as it’s happening, even watching it on television. Live betting has been increasing in the standings of how online betting customers want to make their punts, so online bookmakers are investing more time and money into this innovation.

Before making final money backed predictions, it is always advisable to wise to check out the current standings of the sides, the results they achieved to make the finals of the tournament and maybe even view highlights of previous matches in order to make informed decisions.