Quirky curling has turned into a betting magnet at the Milan Cortina Olympics

MILAN (AP) — Hockey is the top Winter Games sport among gamblers, but curling with its sliding stones, spirited sweeping and cheating allegations has surprised oddsmakers.

Bettors are showing significant interest in the quirky sport, which piques viewers’ curiosity every four years at the Winter Olympics.

“There’s definitely a stronger curling-hockey split than what was expected,” said Chris Pearce, a senior trader at Caesars Sportsbook.

It's expected that the handle — the total amount wagered — on this Olympics will far exceed that of the 2022 Beijing Games mainly because legalized sports betting has expanded in the U.S. and these Games are easier to track live because of the time zone.

“The curling alone is going to take seven figures overall — it’s going to take a million dollars overall,” Pearce said. “If you would have told me at the start that that we’d turn over a million on curling, I wouldn’t have believed you, but there’s a lot of interest there.”

The International Olympic Committee says it closely monitors betting on Olympic sports to protect the integrity of the Games. The worldwide aggregate betting volume on the 2024 Summer Games in Paris was a record 11 billion euros ($13 billion), the IOC said.

Summer Games now have nearly three times the number of events than Winter Olympics so naturally get higher figures. But it’s widely expected that betting on Milan Cortina will far surpass that of the 2022 Beijing Games.

Pearce said they had already exceeded their Beijing mark “five or six days in.”

The curling competitions are being held in Cortina, where Sweden beat the U.S. to win the gold medal in mixed doubles. The men's and women's team events are in full swing, and the allegations of rule breaking has added a dash of controversy.

“It looks to be one of the more bet-on winter sports under ice hockey," said Christian Cipollini, BetMGM Sportsbook senior trading manager. “It’s kind of relatable, it’s an easy watch, you can understand it very quickly.”

Some other sports — like speedskating — are over in minutes. Curling takes hours and can include frequent lead changes.

“Curling is one that continues to go live, so that’s what ends up getting it more popularity from a handle standpoint,” Cipollini said.

The handle for a curling match, he estimated, is equivalent to that of a low-to-mid-tier college basketball game.

Olympic athletes in sports like curling, ski jumping and biathlon aren't exactly household names, so U.S. bettors tend to default to Americans, Cipollini said.

“It does appear the U.S. bettors, very much so, are more patriotic and willing to bet on their team kind of blindly, where the European countries it doesn’t happen so much,” he said, noting the longer history of sports betting in Europe.

Even when the athletes are well known, gamblers can be quite optimistic, like when they bet on Lindsey Vonn despite her skiing with a torn ACL. The American star crashed in the women's downhill and broke her leg.

Figure skating is a hugely popular Olympic sport but can be tricker with gambling because the outcome relies on judges' decisions.

“Basically any event for us, if USA is listed, that's the one that has the most amount of bets in it," Cipollini said. "Hockey is a little bit different because Canada is the favorite.”

The NHL-run 4 Nations Face-Off tournament one year ago proved popular with bettors. The showdown in the final — Canada beat the U.S. in overtime — was seen as an Olympic preview.

“If we get a men’s U.S.-Canada game, we think that will be our biggest bet-on hockey game of the year, including NHL finals, all the regular-season NHL games,” Cipollini said.

In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a ban on sports betting, but scandals involving athletes and officials have followed. Recent polling also suggests that Americans have become increasingly critical of the role of sports betting as bad for U.S. society and sports.

The National Council on Problem Gambling reports that the “rate of gambling problems among sports bettors is at least twice as high as among gamblers in general.”

Public health advocates like the Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling warn that problem gambling can lead to not just financial and legal problems, but also higher divorce and suicide rates, and can damage job performance. Gambling has become widespread on college campuses, and Common Sense Media recently found that children are also participating.

Advocates recommend apps such as GambBan and BetBlocker, which limit access to gambling sites externally.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

United States' Auston Matthews, center, celebrates with teammates after scoring his sides fifth goal during a preliminary round match of men's ice hockey between Latvia and the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

United States' flag barer Erin Jackson arrives during the Olympic opening ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Canada's Ben Hebert, Brett Gallant and Marc Kennedy compete during a men's curling round robin match against Switzerland at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Norway's Magnus Ramsfjell looks over the stones during a men's curling round robin match against China at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Pakistan’s military killed at least 70 militants in strikes along the border with Afghanistan early Sunday, targeting what it described as hideouts of Pakistani militants it blamed for recent attacks inside the country, the deputy interior minister said. Kabul rejected the claim.

Talal Chaudhry, Pakistan’s deputy interior minister, offered no evidence for his claim in an interview with Geo News that at least 70 militants were killed in the strikes. Pakistan’s state-run media later reported that militant fatalities jumped to 80.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said in a statement that “various civilian areas” in the provinces of Nangarhar and Paktika in eastern Afghanistan were hit, including a religious madrassa and multiple homes. The statement called the strikes a violation of Afghanistan’s airspace and sovereignty.

Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on X the attacks “killed and wounded dozens, including women and children.” He said Pakistan’s claim of killing 70 militants was “inaccurate.”

Mawlawi Fazl Rahman Fayyaz, the provincial director of the Afghan Red Crescent Society in Nangarhar province, said 18 people were killed and several others wounded.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Pakistan’s ambassador to Kabul to protest the Pakistani strikes. In a statement, the ministry said protecting Afghanistan’s territory is the Islamic Emirate’s “Sharia responsibility” and warned that Pakistan would be responsible for the consequences of such attacks.

On Sunday, villagers cleared rubble in Nangarhar following airstrikes, while mourners prepared for funerals of those killed. Habib Ullah, a local tribal elder, said those killed in the strikes were not militants. “They were poor people who suffered greatly. Those killed were neither (the) Taliban, nor military personnel, nor members of the former government. They lived simple village lives,” he told The Associated Press.

Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar wrote on X that the military conducted “intelligence-based, selective operations” against seven camps belonging to the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, and its affiliates. He said an affiliate of the Islamic State group was also targeted.

Tarar said Pakistan “has always strived to maintain peace and stability in the region,” but added that the safety and security of Pakistani citizens remained a top priority.

Militant violence has surged in Pakistan in recent years, much of it blamed on the TTP and outlawed Baloch separatist groups. The TTP is separate from but closely allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban. Islamabad accuses the TTP of operating from inside Afghanistan, a charge both the group and Kabul deny.

Hours before the Pakistani strikes, a suicide bomber targeted a security convoy in the border district of Bannu in Pakistan’s northwest, killing two soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel. Pakistan’s military warned after the attack that it would not “exercise any restraint” and that operations against those responsible would press on.

Another suicide bomber, backed by gunmen, rammed an explosives-laden vehicle last week into the wall of a security post in Bajaur district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, killing 11 soldiers and a child. Pakistani authorities later said the attacker was an Afghan national.

Tarar said Pakistan had “conclusive evidence” that the recent attacks, including a suicide bombing that targeted a Shiite mosque in Islamabad and killed 31 worshippers earlier this month, were carried out by militants acting on the “behest of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers.”

He said Pakistan had repeatedly urged Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to take verifiable steps to prevent militant groups from using Afghan territory to launch attacks in Pakistan, but alleged that no substantive action had been taken. Tarar also asked the international community to press Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities to uphold their commitments under the Doha agreement not to allow their soil to be used against other countries.

In Islamabad, security analyst Abdullah Khan said the Pakistani strikes suggest that Qatari, Turkish and even Saudi-led mediations have failed to resolve tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan. “These strikes are likely to further escalate the situation,” he said.

The Qatari-mediated ceasefire between the two countries came about after deadly border clashes in October, killing dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants. The violence followed explosions in Kabul that Afghan officials blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad, at the time, conducted strikes deep inside Afghanistan to target militant hideouts.

The truce between Islamabad and Kabul has largely held, but several rounds of talks in Istanbul in November failed to produce a formal agreement, and relations remain strained.

Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Riaz Khan and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

Local residents stand next to a damaged car at the site of a cross-border Pakistani army strike in the Behsud district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Hedayat Shah)

Local residents gather as bulldozer clears the rubble of a house hit by a cross-border Pakistani army strike in the Behsud district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Hedayat Shah)

A man inspects a damaged car at the site of a cross-border Pakistani army strike in the Behsud district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Hedayat Shah)

A bulldozer clears the rubble of a house hit by a cross-border Pakistani army strike in the Behsud district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Hedayat Shah)

Local residents and civil defense workers look on as a bulldozer clears the rubble of a house hit by a cross-border Pakistani army strike in the Behsud district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Hedayat Shah)