Golf Betting at 2012 British Open at Royal Lytham

Fifty years after its legalization, golf betting has become a $600 million industry in the U.K.

On his way home that evening, driven by a hunch and a personal allegiance, Carney stopped by his local betting shop and dropped £10 on Clarke (£5 to win the Open, and another £5 to finish in the top five), at long-shot odds of 150 to 1. When championship Sunday came, Clarke found himself in the final pairing, and Carney found himself in his living room, nibbling his nails in front of the TV. Phil Mickelson charged. So did Dustin Johnson. But the stronger the wind blew, the more Carney liked his chances. By the time Clarke lifted the Claret Jug, Carney was lifting pints at his corner pub, the start of a two-week celebratory bender. "Believe me," he says. "I was happy for Darren. But I needed that win a lot more than he bloody did." As feel-good stories go, it was hard to beat St. George's: a first-time major triumph for an aging icon, with fringe benefits for his part-time ...

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