Daily Sports Betting Preview 4/3/2020: Celebrity Golf, Stock Betting, and Soccer

• Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson could be joined by Tom Brady and Peyton Manning for some PPV golf action!
• Sports bettors can now bet on stock prices, as well as the overall stock indices.
• In Belarus’ soccer league, Dinamo Minsk is favored over Zhodino by half a goal.

NEW YORK - Today’s Friday edition of the daily sports betting preview once again brings multiple opportunities to the table.

First, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are set to reprise their match from last year, only this time it could include Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.

Then, the Preview examines some stock market futures betting - betting on whether the Dow Jones or the Nasdaq will be up or down.

Finally, the Preview checks in with the Belarussian soccer league, one of the few leagues still running amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Without further ado, let’s get started.

Celebrity Golf 2020 Betting

As many sports bettors are aware, last year Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson spent a day golfing against each other. The two all-time greats were the mainstays of the PGA tour about 15 years ago but still carry a great deal of popularity even today.

The golf round was broadcast on Pay-Per-View, and was an interesting opportunity for sports bettors to bet on small events happening in a round of golf.

It turns out, it may have started a trend. The match is tentatively back on and will be raising money for COVID-19 relief.

However, this year, there could be a twist: the addition of famous NFL quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.

As an example, here are some odds from Bovada about this golf betting opportunity:

These odds do come with the following disclaimer: “Must Play on teams with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Must Play in 2020 for Action. If any other teams participate, wagers will be settled No Action.”

Basically, this bet only counts if Tom and Peyton each join one of Tiger and Phil for a round of doubles for a live broadcast audience.

This is certainly an interesting one and could be a huge event if it gets off the ground, especially with so many other sports canceled and fans of sports and the culture around it starving for events.

Stock Market Betting

One of the interesting side effects of the current situation as it pertains to sports betting is that many of the online sportsbooks have needed to fill voids left by the closure and suspension of the major sports leagues.

This has presented problems to this very column, as well - it is about sports betting opportunities, generally speaking and has had to branch out a bit.

This section is devoted to the idea of betting on the stock market, but without actually using the stock market. Many sportsbooks have found that they can get action on wagers regarding whether or not the stock market will be up or down in hourly increments.

As an example, let’s take a look at 3:00 p.m. EST’s hourly stock market betting.

These are the two main bets that people will see. Basically, they gave -115 odds on both outcomes for the major stock indexes.

A bettor can choose up or down, and receive -115 odds on that bet. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ composite are the two most commonly cited stock indices in the United States and generally reflect the overall stock market.

There are a couple of specific stock bets available as well - bets on Apple, Boeing, and Tesla:

These bets are very similar, they just refer to specific companies’ stock prices instead of the stock indices. Again, there are -115 odds on both sides, so there isn’t a lot of juice being taken out of this bet by the sportsbooks.

These are interesting additions to any betting portfolio and an interesting way to get a little more involved in the stock market as a whole.

Belarussian Soccer Betting

Belarus’ Vysshaya Liga has not stopped playing, as their leadership seems determined to keep playing in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Vysshaya Liga brings one game to the betting slate today, starting at 12 p.m. EST.

The match is between FC Dinamo Minsk and Zhodino.

Minsk is favored by a small but significant margin, entering the contest as a 0.5 goal favorite on the spread, and a +130 moneyline favorite.

One interesting note is that Minsk -0.5 has +125 odds, while Minsk to win outright has +130 odds. But these are effectively the same bet, in that both lose on a draw or Zhodino victory and both cash if Minsk wins by a goal or more.

Zhodino +0.5 is -165 on the spread, which is a fairly significant amount for a team that is ostensibly the underdog.

On the moneyline, Minsk’s +130 odds are a little higher than Zhodino’s +220 and a draw is +215.

The Over/Under is set at a miniscule two goals, although there is some significant shading towards the Over here, as Over 2.0 has -135 odds, while Under 2.0 has even odds.

This is expected to be a low scoring, evenly matched game of soccer, and the soccer betting odds for it reflect this reality.

Honestly, it’s likely that most sports bettors simply appreciate that there is soccer on at all!