With the NBA and the NHL seasons over and football still a couple of months away a lot of sports bettors find themselves lacking something to bet on in the summer – especially if they are not fans of betting on the endless grind that is baseball. If you aren’t interested in taking a break, though, then there are all sorts of summer betting options available, so you can definitely find yourself some action. Here are nine different sports or leagues you can look to for good betting opportunities during the summer months:
AFL – After taking the year off in 2009 to get their act together, Arena Football is back and growing. There are 18 teams in the league, and they play an 18 game schedule starting in March. A lot of fans wouldn’t even know the league still exists given the lack of coverage the new version gets. That’s good news for bettors because public interest means low betting volumes, and soft lines.
UFL – The United Football League is back for a third year starting in early August. Given that the financial picture of the league isn’t exactly rosy you might want to bet on the five team now before it is too late. The public doesn’t care much about this league, either. It can be particularly attractive to bettors because most of the players and coaches are familiar, and because they play a style quite similar to the NFL.
CFL – The Canadian Football League is more attractive than the AFL or UFL because it is stable and well established. The rules are a bit quirky, but the games are high scoring, the coaching is stable, and the games often pack a ton of value. The league starts play in early July, and continues into the fall.
WNBA – The 12 team WNBA runs from early June until October. Women’s basketball may not be the most interesting sport to watch, but a lot of serious bettors love betting on the league. The games are relatively predictable, statistics are well kept and easily available, and the lines are soft.
Golf – Between the end of the NBA season and the start of the NFL season there are three major championships played – the U.S. Open in June, the British Open in July, and the PGA Championship in August. As attractive as those events are to bet on, though, the best opportunities may come in some of the lesser events in between when the public isn’t paying a lot of attention but players are focused on getting ready for the big events so they are playing hard.
Wimbledon – Late June brings Wimbledon, the most formful and predictable of the four Grand Slam tournaments. There are opportunities to be had all over the tournament – especially in the earlier rounds when seeded players often don’t deserve the seeding they have been given.
Car racing – The choices here are plentiful during the summer. NASCAR is the most popular in the American market, Formula 1 is the biggest series in the world, and Indy cars provide more predictable action than NASCAR typically does. With all the levels of NASCAR and the other leagues there are several events each weekend to bet on.
Soccer – If you like low scoring action then soccer can provide plenty of choices. The MLS season runs for a very long time – from March until October – and is an attractive betting league if you are willing to put in the time and effort to get to know the league. Later in the summer European league action also gets underway. The English Premier League is a particularly attractive option, and it gets underway in August.
Horse racing – A lot of people quit paying attention to racing as soon as the Triple Crown ends, but the summer is when the est racing of the year happens. The crown jewel of the racing calendar is the month log meet at Saratoga. Del Mar outside of San Diego also offers a brilliant summer meet. Major races also happen in Illinois, New Jersey, Kentucky, Ontario, West Virginia, and elsewhere. Every weekend offers major races, and a whole lot of strong races occur every day during the summer.
