Sport is made for betting

I'm sick of this bullshit of the 'age of forgiveness'. Not that long ago, people had honour - when they laid their cards on the table and screwed up royally, they packed their bags and left. These days it's like the Aussie cricket team - harder to leave than it is to get in, no matter how shit you are at what you do. Ricky Ponting was allowed to lose the Ashes three times before being forced to walk the plank as captain. If you can bullshit with the best of them, you've got a job for life apparently. BHA Chief Exec Paul Roy has made at least three absolute blunders whilst at the helm which should have sent him to the dole queue a long time ago. But it seems he is impossible to sack and won't walk because he has less class than a Premier League footballer with a superinjunction. Blunder 1 - in his other role as big cheese of an investment firm, he recommended buying a big chunk of shares in Betfair. The fact he didn't notice they were massively overvalu...

It wasn't much of a secret after rumours broke last night but BetFred have today been named as the successful bidder for the UK Tote. Traditionalists will have a bit of a moan but one bid was based on cold, hard cash; the other was based on a lot of hope which ultimately could have seen racing sink even further into the mire. It still puzzles me why people were so wholeheartedly in favour of a bid team which included the likes of Chris 'one race is fixed in Britain every day' Bell who had no problem with his former firm Ladbrokes operating its phone and online operations offshore to dodge tax and levy. Fred's no saint but he has to be admired for the empire he has built. Betfred named new owners of the Tote BOOKMAKERS Betfred have won the race to buy the Tote and on Friday morning signed a contract with the government to buy the state-owned betting operator for a total of £265 million. Net proceeds will be £180m, which will be split 50-50 between the government an...

Interesting discussion in today's Racing Post about 'plagues' of betting shops in city centres. Councils and residents are getting sick of them, the big bookies love them and can't get enough retail shops. Why I hear you ask? Racing's share of the gambling pound is ever decreasing, more and more punters are betting online and you rarely see anyone in the betting shops that already exist... except standing around the FOBTs (Fixed Odds Betting Terminals) or glorified slot machines. And that's what brings in the profits for the bookies. Racing, football and any other sport they show in the shops are mere sideshow value to the evil machines. Every licensed betting shop in the UK can have four FOBTs (little wonder Irish betting shops are struggling in comparison without them), which have much higher prize limits than pub fruit machines. Sources at the biggest High St firms have told me that they consistently make up to £1m per DAY across their network of outlets ...

Sportingbet Australia are banking on a change to betting in-running laws with this move to develop an IPTV betting platform . Racing provides the lion's share of their business but the big potential for growth is with sports betting. However due to a ludicrous piece of legislation, which is unlikely to be amended during the term of a minority government, you can only bet in-running on a sporting event via a voice call from within Australia. The Queensland govt needs more tax revenue so the easiest way to do that is put more pokies in the casinos . Evil bloody things that should be outlawed but they never will. The politicians hide behind the fact that it's no more for the state, but the fact is these ones will see far higher footfall than hidden away in a suburban pub, equalling more tax revenue and more damage to the moral fabric of Qld society. At least WA continues to resist the urge . The bidding for the UK Tote hots up with a consortium fronted by Martin Broughton lin...

William Hill - soon to channel all online business through Gibraltar Ladbrokes - soon to channel all online business through Gibraltar BetFred - online business goes through Gibraltar Stan James - all business goes through Gibraltar Victor Chandler - all business goes through Gibraltar Paddy Power - online business goes through the Isle of Man Boylesports - online business goes through the Isle of Man Blue Square - all business goes through Alderney Sportingbet - all business goes through Alderney SkyBet - all business goes through Alderney Betfair - all non-UK and non-exchange business goes through Malta Jennings - online business goes through Malta Totesport - have no choice, they are an organization created by the UK government Bet365 - online sports betting is licensed in the UK, other products through Malta If I have any of these wrong, please feel free to contact me and clarify. So the headlines are deservedly hard on Hills and Ladbrokes, but they're not Robinson Crusoe in th...