In the summer Olympics of 2008 the world saw Michael Phelps break world record after world record. While the majority of the world was busy celebrating this amazing once in a lifetime achievement, others were using this as a unique opportunity to place bets on the Olympics.

Sports betting sites all over the Internet were flooded with people placing bets on a number of events in the swimming category. There were people who were betting on the recorded time of Michael Phelps, others who were placing bets on how many gold medals he’d win and even people who were betting that he wouldn’t break any world records. At one point, odds were even placed on whether he would be able to swim as fast as people believed he could.

Normally sports betting sites are filled with bets on professional sports such as baseball, football and horse racing. This new interest in placing bets on swimming events has lead to a new trend on sports betting sites. The use of the sites for other events other then the professional sports.

Many critics of sports betting sites wonder exactly where the betting will stop. Currently on any given sports betting site you can place a bet on college events, professional events, the Olympics and even some amateur events. Critics believe that eventually these sites will start to allow betting on high school sports. At the moment, high school sports have been left alone but considering the interest in betting on the Olympics, it could be a matter of time before high school sports are being bet on.

Seeing how many people were interested in betting on the Olympics in 2008, it’ll be amazing to see what type of turn out these sites get when the summer Olympics roll around in 2012. Who knows what people all over the world will be betting on during those Olympic games.