Sports betting online had interest very historic high this past Sunday as Canada defeated the United States in the gold medal game of the Vancouver Olympics.Sportsbetting interest was so high in fact, that the ratings set record in Canada that may never be broken. Sports betting online interest in the United States was high as well as the ratings on NBC were excellent.
Sports betting online had Canada winning against the United States 3-2 in overtime. It was the most-watched television broadcast ever in Canada. It is estimated that nearly 80% of the population of Canada watched at least some of the game. To put that in perspective, 26.5 million people in Canada tuned in to see some of the game and half of the population in the country watched the entire game. The numbers are simply mind boggling. In terms of sports betting online interest, it dwarfed what happened in the United States for the Super Bowl where less than half the population watched the game.
The ratings in the United States for the sports betting online game between Canada and the U.S. were also great. It was the most watched hockey game since 1980 when the United States beat Finland in the gold medal game after shocking the Soviet Union in the Miracle on Ice game. There were 32.8 million viewers for that historic game. Sports betting online had Sunday’s gold medal game drawing an average viewership of 27.6 million and a rating of 15.2 on NBC. The best market in the United States as sportsbetting indicated was in Buffalo where Ryan Miller is the goalie. The game got a 32.6 rating in Buffalo.
Despite the fact that the sports betting online interest on the gold medal game was high, interest in hockey overall probably won’t change. The Olympics are a once every four year event and people simply don’t get too involved in watching the NHL except on occasions like the Stanley Cup Finals. In the U.S. the games are carried once in a while on NBC while Versus carries them on the weeknights. Unfortunately for many sportsbetting viewers, Versus is still locked in a battle with Direc TV so the channel isn’t even shown.
The NHL gets back into action immediately so it will be interesting to see if the Olympics have any carryover effect in sportsbetting.