It’s been blamed for costing our athletes gold at the London Olympics, now online bookmaker sportsbet.com.au has opened a market on which Australian athlete will jump off the Twitter bandwagon and be first to shut down their account.
A quartet of swimmers head the betting, with Stephanie Rice the $4.00 favourite, ahead of Emily Seebohm ($6.00), Eamon Sullivan ($8.00) and Alicia Coutts ($9.00).
“For obvious reasons there will be plenty of people who will be shattered by Stephanie Rice being the favourite to be the first athlete to shut down their Twitter account,” sportsbet.com.au’s Ben Hawes said.
Patty Mills and Matthew Mitcham are next in the market at $10, while Mitchell Watt ($19), Steve Hooker ($19) and Cadel Evans ($26) are the outsiders in betting.
Sportsbet.com.au has also opened a market on which governing body will be the first to ban athletes from using Twitter during official competition, with Swimming Australia the $3.00 favourite, ahead of Athletics Australia ($4.00) and Gymnastics Australia ($6.00), while the NRL and AFL are priced at $34 and $41 respectively.
Markets courtesy of sportsbet.com.au
First Athlete to close their Twitter account
$4.00 Stephanie Rice – @ItsStephRice
$6.00 Emily Seebohm – @emcbomb
$8.00 Eamon Sullivan – @Eamon_Sullivan
$9.00 Alicia Coutts – @Alicia_Coutts
$10 Patty Mills – @Patty_Mills
$10 Matthew Mitcham – @matthew_mitcham
$11 Lauren Jackson – @laurenej15
$11 Anna Meares – @AnnaMeares
$13 James Roberts – @James__Roberts
$13 Elizabeth Cambage – @ecambage
$15 Caroline Buchanan – @CBuchanan68
$15 Sam Willoughby – @SW91
$19 Steve Hooker – @stevehookerpv
$19 Mitchell Watt – @MitchellWatt
$26 Cadel Evans – @CadelOfficial
First Governing Body to ban Twitter use during official competition
$3.00 Swimming Australia
$4.00 Athletics Australia
$6.00 Gymnastics Australia
$8.00 Basketball Australia
$10 Cycling Australia
$11 Cricket Australia
$13 Rowing Australia
$17 Hockey Australia
$21 Yachting Australia
$34 NRL
$41 AFL