THE late-season surge of St George Illawarra to the NRL finals is tipped to continue tonight at the Sydney Football Stadium when they take on a Roosters team that has been on the slide.
"The Roosters' form has been far from flattering. Even when they won against Souths last weekend they only fell in," Sportsbook.com.au spokesman Larry Hawke said.
"The money on their match against St George Illawarra indicates the Dragons will be too good for them this week."
Hawke said one punter wagered $5000 on the Dragons to cover a 1½-point handicap in the first half at $2, while all the big bets on who will win the game have been for St George Illawarra.
In tonight's other game, TAB Sportsbet's Glenn Munsie said there has been "good support" for Newcastle to upset Brisbane with one bet of $20,000 at $3.50 on the Knights to win along with $22,000 at $1.90 with 9½ points start.
Munsie said the "biggest betting match of the round" was the clash between Gold Coast and Wests Tigers.
"There has been strong support for the Tigers with 12½ points start," said Munsie, who reported bets of $22,000, $20,000 and $5000 at $1.90. Betting up big Multi punters have been out in force this week, with Alan Eskander's Betstar.com.au attracting an NRL-AFL four-leg all-up.
"The client outlaid $47,000 on Manly to win against Penrith, Gold Coast to beat Wests Tigers, Cronulla to beat North Queensland and Geelong to win against St Kilda at $2.13," Eskander said.
Hawke said a Sportsbook.com.au customer had $20,000 on an all-up of St Helens to win the English Super League, which they did last weekend, Geelong to win the AFL flag, Melbourne to win the NRL premiership and Australia to win the Rugby League World Cup at a dividend of $5.40. Year of the Cats, again? With the AFL finals starting this week, punters are relying on reigning premiers Geelong to put a boost into their bank balances.
"We've had one punter place a bet of $100,000 on the Cats at $1.15 to beat St Kilda on Sunday, while another staked $30,000 on them at $1.16," Sportingbet Australia chief executive Michael Sullivan said.
"And the punters are using the Cats as the banker for all their multis."
Hamish Davidson's Sportsbetting.com.au has taken good money for Sydney to win against North Melbourne tomorrow night at ANZ Stadium, while Hawthorn are popular against the Western Bulldogs at the MCG tonight.
"In the remaining final, the punters think Adelaide are over the line against Collingwood," Davidson said. Sibling rivalry Serena Williams was backed for a stack with Centrebet before she knocked sister Venus out of the US Open yesterday.
"Punters heavily fancied Serena to avenge her Wimbledon showdown loss to Venus in the US Open quarter-final, backing her from $1.75 in to $1.65," Centrebet's Neil Evans said.
"Nearly $100,000 was wagered on the match, with pretty much all the big bets on Serena, leaving Venus to ease from $2.05 to $2.25." Only in America The NFL season begins today with Munsie reporting "keen interest" in a number of matches.
"One punter was ready to go and paid up just over $135,000 as soon as the markets went up on Thursday," Munsie said.
The bets were $80,000 at $1.24 on San Diego to beat Carolina, $20,000 at $1.85 on Cincinnati against Baltimore, $15,000 at $2.10 on Seattle against Buffalo and $20,000 at $1.90 on over 43½points in the Philadelphia-St Louis match.
Munsie added that another punter had $24,000 on Indianapolis to beat Chicago at $1.23. THE BEST BET Hawthorn (-18.5) against Western Bulldogs at $1.91 with Sportsbook.com.au.
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