if you're going to sign a bookmaker as sponsor, at least check they are licensed

Cardiff City FC showed that wisdom and commercial acumen aren't amongst their fortes with this deal.

Unlicensed 777Ball Told to Suspend Football Sponsorship

Days after signing a one-year shirt sponsorship agreement with 777ball.com, Football League Championship side Cardiff City FC has been forced to remove its sponsor's logo from shirts, after the Gambling Commission warned that the Asian online gaming operator had not obtained a UK operating licence which would enable it to advertise in the country.

Has anyone ever heard of them? Apparently they have a licence in the Philippines, in the First Cagayan Leisure and Resort Corporation. They don't have a UK licence and the Philippines isn't a country of the UK Gambling Commission's White List of territories outside the European Union, implying naivety at its best from both the club and the bookmaker.

The bookmaker says it will now apply for the relevant licence - good luck getting that before next season then!

Comments

It's all gone Pete Tong at Betfair!

The Christmas Hurdle from Leopardstown, a good Grade 2 race during the holiday period. But now it will go into history as the race which brought Betfair down. Over £21m at odds of 29 available on Voler La Vedette in-running - that's a potential liability of over £500m. You might think that's a bit suspicious, something's fishy, especially with the horse starting at a Betfair SP of 2.96. Well, this wasn't a horse being stopped by a jockey either - the bloody horse won! Look at what was matched at 29. Split that in half and multiply by 28 for the actual liability for the layer(s). (Matched amounts always shown as double the backers' stake, never counts the layers' risk). There's no way a Betfair client would have £600m+ in their account. Maybe £20 or even £50m from the massive syndicates who regard(ed) Betfair as safer than any bank, but not £600m. So the error has to be something technical. However, rumour has it, a helpdesk reply (not gospel, natur

Spot-fixing - you will never, ever be able to stop it

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lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

Dabbling with laying the field in-running at various prices today, not just one price, but several in the same race. Got several matched in the previous race at Brighton, then this race came along at Nottingham. Such a long straight at Nottingham makes punters often over-react and think the finish line is closer than it actually is. As you can see by the number of bets matched, there was plenty of volatility in this in-play market. It's rare you'll get a complete wipe-out with one horse getting matched at all levels, but it can happen, so don't give yourself too much risk...

Sport is made for betting

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