A bet on the Reggae Boyz to qualify for next year’s FIFA World Cup in Brazil could earn you 60 cents on the dollar, but wagering on Jamaica’s national senior football team to fail in their quest could more than double your money.

Local gaming company Supreme Ventures Limited yesterday, through its sports betting arm JustBet, released the odds — $1.60 (or 3/5) on Jamaica to qualify for the 2014 World Cup and $2.05 (or 21/20) on them to fail to make it to the tournament.

Jamaica is now locked in a three-way tie behind leaders Honduras in the final round of CONCACAF qualifying for the World Cup, after the historic nil-all draw against Mexico in the feared Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on February 6. The group consists of six teams with the top three advancing to the World Cup and the fourth-placed side moving onto an intercontinental play-off.

Andrei Roper, senior marketing officer for Sports Betting at Supreme Ventures, told the Business Observer yesterday that the company expects a strong response from consumers, especially after the surprising result for the national team in Mexico City last month.

“We really expect to see the pickup; we saw it with the cricket after the West Indies won the T20 (ICC T20 World Cup),” said Roper. “The success of the teams is very closely linked in some respects to a spike in betting.”

The Reggae Boyz’ remaining fixtures in the final round of qualifying are at home to Panama (March 22); away to Costa Rica (March 26); home to Mexico (June 4); home to USA (June 7); away to Honduras (June 11); away to Panama (September 6); home to Cost Rica (September 10); away to USA. (October 11) and home to Honduras (October 15).

Roper said the gaming company is not planning on offering odds on any other nation to qualify for the Brazil tournament, but will be offering odds on every game across all World Cup qualifying groups internationally.

Supreme Ventures posted $1.1 billion in net profits for the year ending December 31, 2012, a 76 per cent increase over the year prior. Total revenues jumped by six per cent to $29.7 billion, with sports betting earnings more than doubling to $230.3 million.

Sonia Davidson, the gaming company’s vice-president of group corporate communication, yesterday attributed the increase in sports betting sales primarily to growth in distribution channels, adding that the betting during the Olympics would have also contributed.

The company’s CEO Brian George last year said he wanted to see sports betting “three to four times its current size within a year”. His projection would place the company’s revenue from the business segment closer to $800 million this year.

Sporting fans can place bets on a range of other sporting events, leagues and tournaments at any of the more than 100 JustBet locations islandwide. Among the other events currently available for betting with JustBet are the NBA, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, Barclays Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A, Major League Soccer, CONCACAF Champions League, West Indies versus Zimbabwe, and India versus Australia cricket series.

Consumers have shown a preference to betting on football, as it accounts for more than 50 per cent of sports betting revenues, revealed Roper. Basketball is the second most popular sport in sports betting with more than 15 per cent of revenues, followed by American football, the marketing officer said.

Indeed, while the Olympics may have bumped up sports betting revenue at Supreme Ventures, the company has said that the 2014 World Cup is set to bring an entirely different ball game.