Gambling on cricket is massive in India

There is no doubt that sports gambling is a worldwide activity, but there are significant differences when it comes to which sports are most popular among sports gambling fans. Clearly some countries such as America have their own unique sports such as American football and baseball, as does Australia with their own version of football and of course Ireland with the GAA sports, but even sports which are played more widely across the world generate different levels of gambling interest. Cricket is a typical example which although it was invented and first played in England does not come close to competing with football and horse racing among British or Irish sports gambling fans, but in India gambling on cricket is by far the biggest gambling activity. Cricket has become the national sport in that part of the world, and cricket gambling is very big business in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka easily eclipsing any other sport. Cricket and cricket gambling has of course changed a lot over recent years and the shorter forms of the game have become the dominant force in many parts of the world, particularly the twenty20 games. Whereas many people will still have been gambling on the outcome the current Ashes series and the individual games within that series, the one day games and the twenty20 matches will undoubtedly attract much greater cricket gambling interest than five day test matches. Having said that the current Ashes series has not actually seen a five day match yet, so perhaps even test cricket is becoming a much quicker affair. Certainly the current series has shown us that gambling on cricket, or gambling on any sport for that matter is not simply a question of studying the form book, there will always be surprises which is probably why sports gambling is so exciting.