If you love sport, you will adore the fact that the summer of 2014 sees the World Cup of basketball and football take place. The FIFA World Cup is on the brink of kick-off in Brazil. Basketball fans are currently focusing their attention on the 2014 NBA Finals but it isn’t too long until the big basketball sporting event of the summer takes place in Europe.
Some quick figures to keep in mind
- The FIFA World Cup will feature 32 teams, taking place in 12 cities and the tournament takes place in Brazil between Thursday the 12th of June and Sunday the 13th of July.
- The FIBA World Cup will feature 24 teams, taking place in 6 cities and the tournament takes place in Spain (and the island of Gran Canaria) between Saturday the 30th of August and Sunday the 14th of September.
- This is the last time both the FIFA World Cup and the FIBA World Cup will take place in the same year. The next time the FIBA World Cup takes place will be in 2019, as the tournament is moving to a five year cycle.
USA are the basketball World Cup favourites
If you fancy placing a bet on the FIBA World Cup, USA are the current favourites with Bwin who are pricing the American side at 1.35. Host nation Spain are available at 3.25 and then there is a big jump to 21.00 for France and 28.00 for Greece.
The outsiders for the tournament are Egypt, who can be found at 4001.00 but New Zealand, Senegal, Mexico and the Philippines are all available at 2001.00.
If you fancy placing a bet on the FIFA World Cup, Brazil are the current favourites with Bwin who are pricing the host nation at 3.40. You will the find odds of 4.00 for the current holders of the World Cup, Spain. You will then get odds of 7.00 on Germany, 11.00 on Spain, 12.00 on Netherlands and Italy while you will gets of 14.00 on Argentina. The odds on Argentina seem ridiculously far out, especially in comparison to the English and Italian teams getting better odds and you wonder whether this has something to do with the Bwin site trying to play the English market.
There will not be too many English football fans rushing to place money on Argentina winning the World Cup so lengthening their odds slightly may stimulate some demand. If you are looking for an outsider bet at the FIFA World Cup with Bwin, you will find that Costa Rica, Iran, Honduras and Cameroon are all priced at 501.00. When you think of the massive odds on the outsiders of the FIBA event with Bwin compared to the odds for the rank outsiders of the FIFA World Cup, it indicates the gulf in class between top and bottom is bigger in basketball than it is in football.
Bovada
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Pros
- Offers a fantastic range of North American sports betting options
- Provides live betting
- Offers a lot of promotions
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- Live in-game betting options
Cons
- Not a great deal of deposit and withdrawal options
- Not much focus outside of the US
Bet365 odds differ from what Bwin is offering
If you fancy placing a bet on the FIBA World Cup, USA are the current favourites with Bet365 who have priced the American side at 1.30. Host nation Spain can be placed at 3.50 on Bet365 and then there is a big jump to 29.00 for Argentina and France. The Bet365 site ranks seven outsiders all at the price of 2001.00. You can find odds for New Zealand, Senegal, Mexico, Philippines, Egypt, South Korea and Angola. While Bet365 is bunching more outsiders together, their odds for their biggest outsider is nowhere near as advantageous as what is on offer to Bet365. If you believe that Egypt could pull off the miracle to end all miracles, make sure you make your way to Bwin.
If you fancy placing a bet on the FIFA World Cup, Brazil are the current favourites with Bet365 who are pricing the host nation at 4.00. You will the find odds of 5.00 for Argentina and the odds of 7.00 for Spain. The odds for Argentina on Bet365 are far more reflective on the actual likelihood of Argentina winning the tournament but if you do fancy them to win, make sure you place money with Bwin as this will provide you with a better return.
You will then get odds of 7.50 on Germany, 21.00 on Belgium, 23.00 on France and 26.00 on Italy. You will find England and Portugal at 29.00 which seem far more realistic than what Bwin is offering to players. If you are looking for a good value outright bet, it makes sense to do your research because there appears to be a wide deviation on offer.
Bovada
Bovada Bonus: 50% up to $250
Pros
- Offers a fantastic range of North American sports betting options
- Provides live betting
- Offers a lot of promotions
- Offers plenty of assistance in getting you started
- Live in-game betting options
Cons
- Not a great deal of deposit and withdrawal options
- Not much focus outside of the US
There is scope to find value in summer sports betting
It may be that some bookmaking firms have experienced a raft of bets for one team which has brought their odds in. It may be that a bookmaking firm is trying to entice punters in by offering attractive bets. It may even be that the experts who these betting sites use have wildly differing opinions.
It is noticeable that the odds on offer for the FIBA World Cup are far more uniform for the betting on offer for the FIFA World Cup. Perhaps there is an expectation that the basketball event will run to form while there is a greater likelihood of shock, surprise and upset at the FIFA World Cup. Either way, there is great scope for summer sporting betting fun in 2014, so make sure to stay connected with the latest news on BasketballBetting.co.uk.
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