In a Winter Games full of bizarre off-piste headlines from athletes going on walkabouts in the forest, public admissions of affairs, snapping medals, and a political helmet design, another surprise has come in the form of curling.
captured the imagination of US bettors
While the sport plays second fiddle to ice hockey gambling markets, its curling stones, fancy pants, and cheating allegations between Canada and Sweden at the 2026 Olympics have captured the imagination of US bettors.
Reuters cited Caesars Sportsbook Senior Trader Chris Pearce as stating that the betting share going to curling was more “than what was expected.”
“The curling alone is going to take seven figures overall; it’s going to take a million dollars overall.”
The trader added: “If you would have told me at the start that we’d turn over a million on curling, I wouldn’t have believed you, but there’s a lot of interest there.”
BetMGM Sportsbook Senior Trading Manager Christian Cipollini said curling was a bettor favorite along with hockey, saying that the sport is “kind of relatable, it’s an easy watch, you can understand it very quickly.”
Cipollini added that the continued live coverage of curling “ends up getting it more popularity from a handle standpoint.”
Prior estimates pegged betting at Milano Cortina to far overtake gambling action at the 2022 Beijing Games, with Pearce confirming Caesars Sportsbook has already beaten its Beijing total “five or six days in.”
