GAMBLING SITE PREDICTS GOOD SEASON FOR NFL BETTORS

SportsBettingWorld.com, a website that tracks U.S. online gambling on each of the major sports, predicted Tuesday that the NFL will set new TV viewing records during the 2010 season. It cited “suggestions” that viewership for NFL telecasts on NBC and ESPN could set new records, rising as much as 15 percent over last season. The result could touch off a boom in online gambling, with both TV sets and PCs fired up during the games. In a statement, Jack Thurman, who runs SportsBettingWorld, said that there is a “very strong historical relationship between NFL viewership trends and betting on the games.” He added that NFL officials “may not like it, but the NFL is synonymous with betting. The more that fans are engaged with the NFL product, the more they’ll be betting on games.” On its website, SportsBettingWorld claims: “Betting on football constitutes the largest percentage of action at Nevada sportsbooks, and NFL betting is the single biggest contributor to their bottom line. The Super Bowl, in particular, is a huge moneymaker for bookmakers as it is the single most popular wagering event of the year.”