By KEN MAGUIRE, AP Sports Writer

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.

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“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.”

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)

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.

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

Gamblers in the US are betting on Americans

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.

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)

Gambling carries risks

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

By FARNOUSH AMIRI and EDITH M. LEDERER

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council is set to hold a high-level meeting Wednesday on the Gaza ceasefire deal and Israel’s efforts to expand control in the West Bank before world leaders head to Washington to discuss the future of the Palestinian territories at the first gathering of President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.

The U.N. session in New York was originally scheduled for Thursday but was moved up after Trump announced the board’s meeting for that same date and it became clear that it would complicate travel plans for diplomats planning to attend both. It is a sign of the potential for overlapping and conflicting agendas between the United Nations’ most powerful body and Trump’s new initiative, whose broader ambitions to broker global conflicts have raised concerns in some countries that it may attempt to rival the U.N. Security Council.

Asked what he hopes to see from the back-to-back meetings this week, Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour told reporters: “We expect from the international community to stop Israel and end their illegal effort against annexation, whether in Washington or in New York.”

The foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Indonesia, among others, are expected to attend the monthly Mideast meeting of the 15-member council after many Arab and Islamic countries requested last week that it discuss Gaza and Israel’s contentious West Bank settlement project before some of them head to Washington.

The board to be chaired by Trump was originally envisioned as a small group of world leaders overseeing his 20-point plan for Gaza’s future. But the Republican president’s ambitious new vision for the board to be a mediator of worldwide conflicts has led to skepticism from major allies.

While more than 20 countries have so far accepted an invitation to join the board, close U.S. partners, including France, Germany and others, have opted not to join yet and renewed support for the U.N., which also is in the throes of major reforms and funding cuts.

Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., dismissed concerns about the composition of the Board of Peace, telling conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in an interview Monday that the most relevant countries, including Qatar and Egypt, which are in touch with Hamas’ leadership, have accepted the invitation.

“All of those countries are on the Board of Peace, singing the same tune as the United States,” he said.

The Security Council will be meeting a day after nearly all of its 15 members — minus the United States — and dozens of other diplomats joined Palestinian ambassador Mansour as he read a statement on behalf of 80 countries and several organizations condemning Israel’s latest actions in the West Bank, demanding an immediate reversal and underlining “strong opposition to any form of annexation.”

Israel, whose U.N. mission did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday’s meeting, is launching a contentious land regulation process that will deepen its control in the occupied West Bank. Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said it amounts to “de facto sovereignty” that will block the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Outraged Palestinians, Arab countries and human rights groups have called the moves an illegal annexation of the territory, home to roughly 3.4 million Palestinians who seek it for a future state.

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The U.N. meeting also is expected to delve into the U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal that took effect Oct. 10 after more than two years of war between Israel and Hamas. The U.K., which currently holds the presidency of the council, said the meeting will include briefings by U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo and by Israeli and Palestinian civil society representatives for the first time since the Oct. 7 attacks.

Aspects of the ceasefire deal have moved forward, including Hamas releasing all the hostages it was holding and increased amounts of humanitarian aid getting into Gaza, though the U.N. says the level is insufficient. A new technocratic committee has been appointed to administer Gaza’s daily affairs.

But the most challenging steps lie ahead, including the deployment of an international security force, disarming Hamas and rebuilding Gaza.

Trump said this week that the Board of Peace members have pledged $5 billion toward Gaza reconstruction and will commit thousands of personnel to international stabilization and police forces for the territory. He didn’t provide details. Indonesia’s military says up to 8,000 of its troops are expected to be ready by the end of June for a potential deployment to Gaza as part of a humanitarian and peace mission.

By DANICA KIRKA

LONDON (AP) — British police forces are working together to assess potential crimes revealed in documents from the U.S. Justice Department’s investigation into the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including allegations of wrongdoing by the former Prince Andrew.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council, which brings together police leaders from across the U.K., said on Wednesday that it had set up a national coordination group to support forces looking into issues arising from the more than 3 million pages of documents released late last month.

“It may take some time due to the volume of material and the complexity of international jurisdictions, but policing and its law enforcement partners are taking this matter extremely seriously, and will assess all information thoroughly,” the council said in a statement.

While the council didn’t specify the police forces involved in the effort, at least eight have said they are “assessing” information in the files. They are looking into issues ranging from concerns that Epstein’s private jet may have been used in sex trafficking to allegations that the former Prince Andrew sent confidential reports to the financier when he was Britain’s international trade envoy.

Police in Surrey, the county south of London, on Wednesday said the documents contained allegations of sex trafficking in the village of Virginia Water between 1994 and 1996. The force didn’t provide any details about the alleged perpetrators or victims.

The force encouraged anyone with information about the alleged crimes to contact police.

“Where relevant, and via the national coordination group, we will engage with law enforcement agencies to obtain access to further information which may support our enquiries,” Surrey Police said in a statement.

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Another force, Essex Police, said Tuesday it was assessing information about private flights to and from Stansted Airport following information in the latest document dump.

The Epstein scandal has rocked the royal family and British politics in recent months because of his links to the former prince, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and Peter Mandelson, the U.K.’s former ambassador to Washington.

King Charles III in October stripped his younger brother of his royal titles, including the right to be called a prince, in an effort to insulate the royal family from the continuing revelations about his friendship with Epstein.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer was criticized for poor judgment and faced a challenge to his leadership after the documents revealed Mandelson had a closer relationship with Epstein than he acknowledged at the time Starmer sent him to Washington.

By JOHN WAWROW, AP Hockey Writer

MILAN (AP) — A medal isn’t the only keepsake Hilary Knight is bringing back from the Milan Cortina Games.

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There’s also an engagement ring after the U.S. women’s hockey captain posted a video Wednesday of her proposing to American speedskater Brittany Bowe.

Under the heading “Olympics brought us together,” the video on Instagram shows Knight dropping to one knee and presenting Bowe with a ring. Bowe nods yes, and Knight then slips the ring on her finger.

Knight is scheduled to speak after the Americans practice later in the day. Team USA also confirmed the engagement.

The two first met at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. And both have said this year’s Olympics will be their last, with Knight appearing in her Team USA women’s hockey record fifth Games.

The video was posted a day before Knight and the favored U.S. team play Canada in the gold medal final. Bowe is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist.

Brittany Bowe of the U.S. skates to a fourth place in the women’s 1,000 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

This year, she failed to medal in her first two events by finishing fourth in the 1,000 meters and women’s team pursuit. She will close the Games competing in the 1,500 meters race on Friday.

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