After spending a great portion of the first half of the year in the doldrums as a result of the worldwide recession, online sportsbook gambling has spiked over the past few weeks.  There are a number of reasons why online gambling sportsbook sites have done a box office bonanza business lately.  The four events are:  The Masters Golf Tournament; the NBA Finals; the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and the Confederations Soccer Cup Tournament held in South Africa.

Sportsbooks across the Internet have reported brisk action over the past few weeks.  The Masters Golf Tournament was a big winner for the sportsbook parlours as Tiger Woods failed to finish in the top three in the Tournament, after being the prohibitive favourite to win it.  However, Mother Nature failed to cooperate; rain upset his play, and Tiger finished four strokes off the pace.  

The NBA Finals seemed anticlimactic after the Cleveland Cavaliers and Lebron James bowed out in the semis.  That left the gates wide open and the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant took the Orlando Magic in five games to cop the title.  With the trade of Shaquille O’Neal to the Cavs late last week, next year is already shaping up as a showdown between the Lakers and the Cavs.  Smart money players are already placing wagers on the Cavaliers taking the title next season.

The Wimbledon Tennis Championships have established stars favoured to win the titles in both Men’s and Women’s competition.  Roger Federer and the Williams Sisters, Serena and Venus (either one, take your pick) have the big money bet on them.  If you had wanted to win some good money on Wimbledon, you would have had to wager on a long shot, but it appears that the favourites will not disappoint their followers.

The greatest online sportsbook betting fury, however, was on the Confederations Cup Soccer matches just completed in Johannesburg, South Africa.  The betting became furious on the Cup Finals when the United States upset Spain, unbeaten in its last 35 games, in the semi-finals to advance to the finals against powerhouse Brazil.

The U.S. was a 6-1 underdog until gamblers from the U.S. and other countries placed huge amounts of money on the chance of a once-in-a-lifetime upset.  By game time, the odds had shrunk to +550 for the U.S.  What that means is that if you wagered $100 on the U.S., you would win $550 on the contest if the U.S. sprung the upset.  Without the U.S. in the finals, the sportsbooks would have experienced another average Sunday afternoon. 

The U.S. led 2-0 after the first half, and those who bet on the U.S. were counting their winnings.  However, a second half showed why Brazil is a world power in soccer, as they came storming back to score three goals and defeat the outmanned U.S. squad by a score of 3-2.  The online sportsbook gambling houses are looking forward to the U.S. Open Tennis Championships and some close pennant races in Major League Baseball to keep the betting momentum going.