Olympic Curling Sees Betting Surge Despite Cheating Controversy

With its sliding stones, frantic sweeping and now a full-blown cheating controversy, curling is turning into the unexpected gambling darling of the 2026 Winter Olympics, stunning oddsmakers by becoming one of the most wagered-on events of the Milan Cortina Games.Hockey remains king of the betting board, and a potential gold medal showdown between the United States and Canada might draw more action than an NHL Final. But curling — long regarded as a niche sport with a cult following — is capturing a significant number of sport bettors. “The curling alone is going to take seven figures overall,” a senior trader at Caesars Sportsbook,Chris Pearce, told the Orlando Sentinel. “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.”The Summer Games has nearly three times as many events as the Winter Olympics, so the numbers are difficult to compare. But betting on the Milan Cortina Games has already surpassed betting during the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, according to the International Olympic Committee, which closely monitors betting on Olympic sports to protect the integrity of the Games.The IOC estimated that around $13 billion was bet on the 2024 Olympics in Paris, up more than 20 percent from the 2021 Tokyo Games and 50 percent from Rio 2016.Curling has grown popular with bettors because it’s easy to understand and watch and takes longer than a sport like speedskating or downhill racing. “It looks to be one of the more bet-on winter sports under ice hockey,” Christian Cipollini of BetMGM said. “It’s kind of relatable. It’s an easy watch. You can understand it very quickly.”The action on curling grows despite cheating allegations that have scarred this year’s competition. The Canadian men’s and women’s teams, along with the British men’s team, have all been accused of the same violation: double touching — or touching the curling stone again after release — an infraction that results in the stone being removed from play.The controversy erupted when Oskar Eriksson of Sweden accused Canadian veteran Marc Kennedy of touching the stone after release. Mr. Kennedy responded with an expletive-laced denial before video from a Swedish broadcast appeared to show a clear double-touch. Canada won the match, 8-6.A day later, Rachel Homan of Canada was stopped mid-way through a game against Switzerland by an umpire who accused her of the same infraction and had the stone removed from play. Canada lost, 8-7.On Monday, British curler Bobby Lammie was accused of a double-touch during a round-robin match against Germany.Canada, a historic powerhouse in curling, has complained of being targeted through what he called “premeditated” planning. “They’ve come up with a plan to catch teams in the act,” Mr. Kennedy said.If anything, the cheating scandal may have brought more eyeballs to the sport. NBC Universal averaged about 26.5 million views across all events and platforms during the first five days of the Olympics, a 93 percent increase over the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.More viewers translates to more sports betting. The IOC has tracked betting across all Olympic events since the London Games in 2012 using analytical tools and human expertise. The IOC has also teamed with outside entities like the International Betting Integrity Association and sportsbook operators to detect and prevent possible integrity breaches during the Milano Cortina Games.The breaches can range from attempts at match-fixing to bribery to unethical behavior by accredited individuals.“We are fully confident in our ability to monitor the Games effectively, communicate swiftly with partners, and identify potential breaches,” stated the head of the Olympic Movement Unit on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competitions, Friedrich Martens.Meanwhile, bookmakers brace for potential marquee matchups that could drive historic betting volumes.

Olympic Curling Sees Betting Surge Despite Cheating Controversy

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