SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The last game of the NBA Finals between Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers was the top match on bettingexpert in June, with more tips than for the Champions League final.
The Warriors beat the Cavaliers 120-129 at the Oracle Arena in California to cap a 4-1 triumph, after becoming the first team in NBA playoff history to reach the finals with a 12-0 series record.
Matchbook and Unibet shared the highest number of tips on the match (14% apiece), with William Hill coming in third on 9%. Meanwhile, bet365 and Unibet dominated the other big matches on bettingexpert last month, as the top two for Juventus vs Real Madrid in Cardiff, game three of the NBA Finals and for Germany’s Confederations Cup semi-final victory over Mexico.
Despite the interest in the NBA Finals, football still came out as the overwhelming top sport across the network, accounting for 60% of the tips. The French Open at Roland Garros contributed to tennis coming in second with 18%, while basketball was languishing in fourth with 6% after surprisingly missing out on the top three to its American-focused counterpart baseball (11%).
Finally, the U-20 World Championship, won by Paul Simpson’s England, proved to be less predictable than the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers which took place last month. 49% of tips made on the qualifiers were successful, against only 40% of selections on the 24-team tournament in South Korea.
