Friends and relatives of Olympic athletes, along with their trainers and coaches and millions of punters in Australia and across the globe, are making the Sydney Olympics one of the biggest global gambling events ever, with the help of the Internet.
Australians are reputed to gamble on anything and bookmakers like Centrebet of Alice Springs, one of 140 online bookmakers accessible anywhere in the world, have been quoting odds to domestic customers.
With the Internet wagers have come in from an estimated 100 countries. Many have come from Sydney where under New South Wales law, bookmakers may not accept wagers but citizens can bet online with turf accountants elsewhere.
Soccer is attracting the biggest bets, including one for 40,000 Australian dollars (£20,000) on Australia to beat Nigeria; it lost. In women's soccer, China and the US have been the subject of some big wagers. More than $100,000 is riding on the game between the US and Norway on Sunday. The Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe was quoted at impossibly short odds of 25:1 on for his first two individual events, which he won, but he has attracted accumulator bets.
"They must think it's free money, which it probably is. He looks as if he'll only fail if he slips off at the start, or gets disqualified," said Mr Gerard Daffy, sports betting manager at Centre bet, which has hired extra staff to deal with the rush. "Athletics will spawn some monstrous bets as the whole world is focused on that."
The US men's basketball "Dream Team" is also a hot favourite with odds varying from 25:1 on to 100:1 on. Mr Daffy said they thought some 20million dollars would be wagered on the Olympics, and described his operation as one of cat and mouse with the punters, though he is ahead at present. He expects betting to reach "astronomical" figures during the athletics next week.
A large number of bets come from Scandinavian countries where web access is highest. Centrebet's website is available in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish. "They're sports addicts there," Mr Daffy said. "They have high Internet usage and disposable income . . . And it's too cold to do anything else."
Officials and athletes are allowed to bet on their races, despite growing opposition from the International Olympic Committee's ethics commission, which is pushing for a ban on the practice.
Their bets tend to be modest, however, said Mr Daffy, and were simply a way of relatives cheering them on. The Australian Olympic Committee announced in July that its athletes were free to bet on themselves or rivals.
Under pressure not to disrupt the Olympics, Australia's lorry-drivers have put off for a week a decision on whether to blockade roads over rising fuel prices, the Transport Workers' Union said yesterday. The union secretary, Mr Hughie Williams, said: "We don't want to disrupt the Olympics. That would be a sinful sort of an act."