SOURCE: Associated Press

Continued from page 1

It is sentiment laced with knowledge. It is legion this time of year. It results in mass romantic bets on the Englishman Colin Montgomerie, and it is part of the reason the British Open reigns as "the biggest sporting event of the summer," Hutchison said. He estimates Ladbrokes will take in 5 million pounds ($10.23 million) this week, and that because Ladbrokes usually gobbles up 20 percent of the market, he can reckon that a national take of "25 million pounds to 30 million pounds for four days of golf isn't bad."

That trumps Wimbledon by about 20 percent, ranks alongside the Grand National steeplechase race of springtime and lures roughly as many wagerers — if not the money — of the FA Cup soccer final, Adams said. It also illustrates how gambling has made the trek from "from sin to vice to socially accepted leisure activity," Griffiths said.

For centuries, betting rustled underground, dating into the 17th century for cricket matches, to name one sport. Then the government's 1968 Gaming Act brought it into the daylight, and began to sprout the by-now-ubiquitous betting parlors sitting not just in this resort or that, but on the main — or "high" — street of most every village, town and city.

Britons bet on such matters as who will be voted off the "Big Brother" TV series and which country will win the all-the-rage Eurovision Song Contest, as well as golf and what-all, as businesses "fight for that gambling leisure pound."

Ladbrokes still reels from having decided that Tiger Woods wouldn't win the 2006 Open at Royal Liverpool, thus offering him at 6-1 early on.

"The thinking was he didn't like links golf," Hutchison said, and that thinking cost about 5 million pounds.

Note: Two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal, 41, withdrew from the tournament.

Page 1, 2