Quirky curling has turned into a betting magnet at the Milan Cortina Olympics

MILAN — Hockey is the top Winter Games sport among gamblers, but curling with its sliding stones, spirited sweeping and cheating allegations has surprised oddsmakers.

Bettors are showing significant interest in the quirky sport, which piques viewers' curiosity every four years at the Winter Olympics.

''There's definitely a stronger curling-hockey split than what was expected,'' said Chris Pearce, a senior trader at Caesars Sportsbook.

It's expected that the handle — the total amount wagered — on this Olympics will far exceed that of the 2022 Beijing Games mainly because legalized sports betting has expanded in the U.S. and these Games are easier to track live because of the time zone.

''The curling alone is going to take seven figures overall — it's going to take a million dollars overall,'' Pearce said. ''If you would have told me at the start that that we'd turn over a million on curling, I wouldn't have believed you, but there's a lot of interest there.''

The International Olympic Committee says it closely monitors betting on Olympic sports to protect the integrity of the Games. The worldwide aggregate betting volume on the 2024 Summer Games in Paris was a record 11 billion euros ($13 billion), the IOC said.

Summer Games now have nearly three times the number of events than Winter Olympics so naturally get higher figures. But it's widely expected that betting on Milan Cortina will far surpass that of the 2022 Beijing Games.

The curling competitions are being held in Cortina, where Sweden beat the U.S. to win the gold medal in mixed doubles. The men's and women's team events are in full swing, and the allegations of rule breaking has added a dash of controversy.

''It looks to be one of the more bet-on winter sports under ice hockey," said Christian Cipollini, BetMGM Sportsbook senior trading manager. ''It's kind of relatable, it's an easy watch, you can understand it very quickly.''

Some other sports — like speedskating — are over in minutes. Curling takes hours and can include frequent lead changes.

''Curling is one that continues to go live, so that's what ends up getting it more popularity from a handle standpoint,'' Cipollini said.

The handle for a curling match, he estimated, is equivalent to that of a low-to-mid-tier college basketball game.

Olympic athletes in sports like curling, ski jumping and biathlon aren't exactly household names, so U.S. bettors tend to default to Americans, Cipollini said.

''It does appear the U.S. bettors, very much so, are more patriotic and willing to bet on their team kind of blindly, where the European countries it doesn't happen so much,'' he said, noting the longer history of sports betting in Europe.

Even when the athletes are well known, gamblers can be quite optimistic, like when they bet on Lindsey Vonn despite her skiing with a torn ACL. The American star crashed in the women's downhill and broke her leg.

Figure skating is a hugely popular Olympic sport but can be tricker with gambling because the outcome relies on judges' decisions.

''Basically any event for us, if USA is listed, that's the one that has the most amount of bets in it," Cipollini said. "Hockey is a little bit different because Canada is the favorite.''

''If we get a men's U.S.-Canada game, we think that will be our biggest bet-on hockey game of the year, including NHL finals, all the regular-season NHL games,'' Cipollini said.

Gambling carries risks

In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a ban on sports betting, but scandals involving athletes and officials have followed. Recent polling also suggests that Americans have become increasingly critical of the role of sports betting as bad for U.S. society and sports.

The National Council on Problem Gambling reports that the ''rate of gambling problems among sports bettors is at least twice as high as among gamblers in general.''

Public health advocates like the Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling warn that problem gambling can lead to not just financial and legal problems, but also higher divorce and suicide rates, and can damage job performance. Gambling has become widespread on college campuses, and Common Sense Media recently found that children are also participating.

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