How long does it take to go from wanting to place a bet, to your money being in the pool? My knowledge of bitcoin is lacking but I was of the understanding that there is some time before the transaction/transfer is verified? Thus if you wanted to submit a wager close to closing time, you would probably be unable to?
IS there trend data available? Can see see where the public money is going, or is it simply a case of monitoring the blockchain for transactions going to the wallets (pools) you're interested in?