Although the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act dominated the online gambling industry headlines across the board in 2006, there was much more to the year than just the exclusion of rail line and mass transit security for the sake of online gambling ban legislation in the Safe Port Act.

Life still went on for those in the industry, especially for those in sports betting.

People still found time to wager on sporting events and some interesting things took place as well.

Shortly after the New Year—and even before, for that matter—many people began wagering on college football’s Rose Bowl, which would determine the NCAA’s football champion. The favored USC Trojans were looking to earn their second straight Bowl Championship Series title against the underdog Texas Longhorns with the line and total closing at -7 and 69½ respectively. The battle between the BCS’ No. 1 and No. 2 teams not only caught the attention of sports fans, but it caught the attention of bettors too, who made it the most wagered college football game in history.

It was probably the most memorable championship game since the inception of the BCS system as Vince Young and the Longhorns pulled the upset beating the Trojans 41-38 in a true classic. Bettors who wagered on Texas and the over must’ve been overjoyed.

As 2005 ended and 2006 began, the NFL playoffs kicked off, the “experts” began projecting teams they thought would win the Super Bowl, with Indianapolis, Denver and even Carolina garnering consideration. But the two teams that actually made the big game were stark contrasts of one another.

Perennial AFC North favorite Pittsburgh wasn’t getting chalk or attention as they had abdicated the division title to the Cincinnati Bengals and made the playoffs as a wild card.

On the other side of the NFL, the Seattle Seahawks were uncharacteristically having a season for the ages. The regular wild card team cruised to the NFC West title and earned a first-round bye and RB Shaun Alexander was named the NFL’s MVP.

As Super Bowl XL Sunday rolled around, the Steelers were listed as 4-point favorites, but the action seemed to be going the way of Seattle, as a majority of the United States was laying their money down on reigning NFL MVP Shaun Alexander and his Seahawks.

With the aid of their strong defense—and the officials, according to some fans—the Steelers won a Super Bowl for the first time since the 70’s and covered the 4-point spread but failed to break the total of 47.

As March rolled around and college hoops bettors began filling out their NCAA basketball tournament brackets, the madness truly began in earnest.

Seeded 11 in the Minneapolis region, Wisconsin-Milwaukee surprised everyone in the previous year’s tournament and did the same in early in the 2006 tourney, knocking off sixth seeded Oklahoma 82-74, covering the 3½-point spread in the process.

12th seeded in the Atlanta region, Texas A&M humiliated the fifth seed Syracuse Orange in their first round bout. Vegas books had an inkling to the upset as they had the Aggies listed as a 1½-point chalk.

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