Punters think Ben Graham's fairytale ride to the Super Bowl will end in a thumping loss on Monday.
Graham's Arizona Cardinals are $3.25 outsiders and not attracting much interest in Betfair trading against the rampaging Pittsburgh Steelers at $1.43.
"Punters are very confident of a win for Big Ben, but sadly for Graham's fans it's not him, but rather the Steelers quarterback 'Big Ben' Roethlisberger," Betfair's Jake Norton said yesterday.
"The good news for the patriotic Aussie punters is that the layers are really prepared to take a stand against the Cardinals."
For the really ambitious, Graham is a $151 shot to win MVP - almost impossible for a punter to win.
Final push for Proteas
SOUTH Africa has been backed from $2.80 into $2.65 to win tonight's fifth and final one-dayer in Perth, despite fielding a side well below full strength.
Such has been the Proteas' dominance of the series - they lead 3-1 - punters are willing to back them at value odds to beat an Aussie team ($1.45) that is strengthened by the return of batsman Michael Clarke.
Left out of in-betting
THE Australian Open and some thrilling one-day cricket matches has stirred the issue of why Australian punters are banned from betting during sporting events on the internet.
Sports betting is booming, especially in-running betting, so why are Australian punters put at such an outrageous handicap compared to those in other countries?
Betfair's Hugh Taggart said it was a by-product of the federal Interactive Gaming Act.
"It's frustrating. I know our punters would love to be able to bet in the run," Taggart said.
Interestingly, horse racing is not covered by the legislation.
Betfair launched "in-the-run" betting on a string of major horse races during last year's spring carnival to a huge response.
"It just took off and exceeded all expectations and we didn't have any problems," Taggart said.
Heath's Oscar support
HEATH Ledger's posthumous nomination for awards for his portrayal of the Joker is set to continue all the way to the biggest of them all, the Academy Awards.
Of the six awards TAB Sportsbet is betting on so far, Ledger is by far the most dominant at $1.07 for Best Supporting Actor.
Another raging favourite is Slumdog Millionaire at $1.25 for Best Picture.
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