Sport is made for betting

Betfair's share price is up 35p this morning, including a recovery from a 20p drop after a climb of 40p in the first two hours of trading, after it fell to a new low of 752p last week. Here's one for you - how would you price up "First to leave their post - David Yu or Sepp Blatter?" The Czech lottery company Sazka has been declared bankrupt by the Prague Municipal Court . Surely there is something seriously wrong here - perhaps they should have spoken to FIFA about to keep a corrupt organisation in operation?? Centrebet shareholders are expected to support the Sportingbet buyout bid afte the Kafataris family and the board put their weight behind it. Spain’s new gaming law has been officially published in the country’s State Gazette and will be enforced subject to European Commission approval. In case you've missed it, the US Department of Justice is going after more than just the biggest US-facing poker rooms , with some sportsbooks in its sights as wel...

With confidence that the shambolic pre-Cheltenham site crashes are over now their servers are fully operational in Gibraltar, Betfair's share price has started to climb again. It has been helped today with a case win in the Netherlands , part of a long, protracted battle against the monopolistic Dutch government who refused to consider their licence application. Whether that eventually turns into permission to take bets from Dutch residents is another matter, but it's a start... Betfair stocks were trading at 935p this afternoon, on a steady rise from around 870p early in the week.

Another broker says sell, another week of dreadful unplanned site outages, another marketing campaign criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority.... It's not looking good for Betfair shareholders, now trading in the 850p range, getting dangerously close to half their market peak of 1610p just a few months ago. The Cricket World Cup is underway and Cheltenham's just around the corner - a few folks in the ivory tower will be praying for some record figures, otherwise there has to be some blood spilling from the board room soon as the value of the company continues to slide.