Sport is made for betting

No dodgy betting plunges here, but how on earth anyone could tip this as a winner other than using the theory of complete randomness in juvenile hurdles is beyond me. Usually horses matched at 1000 that win get matched for pennies in-running, this was a Betfair SP of 1000 (vs bookies SP of 200/1). Trained by Jennie Candlish, ridden by A O'Keefe. Sorry, never heard of either of them... until now. Bolted in by nine lengths as well. Cue Betfair sending out a press release to boast about 400% better odds on a horse which probably five people backed in the entire country......

There's no denying that Australia is a nanny state now. Political correctness, occupational health & safety and ambulance-chasing lawyers have changed the fabric of society, almost entirely for the poorer. A couple of years ago, a constitutional challenge by corporate bookmakers and Betfair threw out the age-old ban on bookmakers advertising in states other than the one they were licensed in. It defied the constitutional notion of free trade across state borders which every other industry had benefitted from since federation in 1901. But the nanny state mentality fought back in order to protect their once state-owned monopoly TABs, with the banning of incentives for free bets - standard marketing practice anywhere else in the world. Bookies charged for bet offers CHARGES have been laid against three bookmakers just four days out from the biggest event of the Spring Carnival. The Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulaion has laid charges against three bookmaker firms ove...

Stop playing tournaments in Russia - it's that simple. No respect for authority and importantly, no prosecutable laws for sporting corruption. The latest fix, which was actually a spoof manoeuvre, designed purely to gain better odds for the syndicate pulling all the strings. Tursunov was never going to lose this one but he's obviously been approached to tank the first set so the syndicate could get far better odds on the victory... From Tennisform again: 26 October 2010 17:14 Tursunov has been heavily opposed on Betfair from 1.23 to 1.9 (345K matched). 19:25 Tursunov came through in three sets against Michal Przysiezny in what appeared to be yet another predetermined outcome. The Russian rolled over for the first set before Przysiezny stopped trying in sets two and three. Tursunov won 82% of his service points but the stats are totally irrelevant. The Russian drifted hugely just prior to the off, to suggest that he wasn't going to win the first set, before the ...

Poor website, poor offering and overvalued - no surprises that Betshop didn't achieve the €5m asking price as their owners, Leisure & Gaming (LNG), are stone broke and desperate for a sale. LNG forced into administration and cut price Betshop sale Embattled Leisure & Gaming (LNG) has been placed into administration with its principal asset, Betshop Group (Europe) Ltd (BSG) sold as a going concern to Honeymead Services for €1m, less than a fifth of the price it had previously agreed with Pefaco earlier this month. Administration statement On 12 October 2010 specialist restructuring, recovery and insolvency firm, FRP Advisory LLP ("FRP"), on behalf of the Company, contacted 13 potentially interested parties with a deadline to receive indicative funded offers for BSG by 14 October 2010 with a view to completing both due diligence and a transaction during week commencing 18 October 2010. Separately, five turnaround funds were also contacted. The short timesc...

Ladbrokes have joined the list of UK firms avoiding setting up in France under the current unviable licensing structure. Several firms have simply decided not to waste their time and money in a market which will deliver nothing for several years, and only if/after the French government water down the current prohibitive licensing and taxation structure. The last straw for Ladbrokes was when the French govt decided on top of extortionate turnover tax and sports rights levies, they would also have to pay VAT as well. Unibet however, who have a similar model to Bwin, of taking vast numbers of low-stake bets, are pressing on. The Betfair IPO is off to a good start. Conditional trading has the shares trading at around £15.30, after the initial valuation of £13. Tomorrow is the acid test for them though, when they become available to the public. Betsson is going from strength to strength as live betting pushes their revenues higher. Bwin, Hills and Sportingbet have released similarly h...

The gambling world often gets criticised for encouraging the vulnerable to waste their money with not much given back to society. Most charitable efforts by the firms aren't reported, and Betfair and Sportingbet are just two of the firms with quite substantial charitable contributions on their books each year. But the biggest donations you ever see from punters usually comes from the media when they hire some 'experts' to make a few bets with the winnings (which are definitely not guaranteed!) going to a nominated charity. There may be others I've missed but there is rarely a co-ordinated charity betting campaign of any substance. Until now..... PuntingAce , a website and forum I write for regularly, have been running a charity challenge for quite a while. They started with a bank of AU$125k two years ago, and are now over AU$55k in profit . And that doesn't include the annual Charity Swim one of the owners does each year to benefit a local school for children w...

Here's what Tennisform had to say about the match yesterday. 24/10 2100 - Volandri hasn't played since retiring with a right forearm injury in the Palermo challenger earlier this month. Volandri's last match off the dirt was in this event 2 years ago, where he lost 6-4 6-4 to the Russian wild card Mikhail Elgin. It goes wthout saying that close attention should be paid to the market in his match against Gabashvili. 25/10 13:52 Gabashvili will have a 2-1 win over Volandri today if the set betting is to be believed. Nearly 60K has been matched on set betting on Betfair with plenty under 3.5 on the 2-1 option. The outright market has had plenty of interest too with the price on Gabashvili yo-yoing between 1.21 and 1.52. 18:52 Gabashvili advanced to the second round at the expense of Filippo Volandri, who didn't appear to have any intention of winning this match and acted out his part of the script well. Gabashvili was heavily supported throughout the one hour...

The ATP have been getting slack on fixed matches this year so it's only fitting that after last week's Janko Tipsarevic fix, we've got another one going on right now in St Petersburg, in front of a huge crowd of about 20 spectators. Filippo Volandri is obviously supposed to lose and is doing his level best to make sure that happens. He won the first set, yet Gabashvili's price to win the match shortened. Gabashvili then goes down a break in the 2nd set, takes an injury timeout for treatment on his right knee which is now strapped heavily. Volandri makes sure he can't go further ahead by throwing in two timely double-faults to lose his serve. Gabashvili wins the second set, then Volandri hands him a very soft break in the opening game of the third. At 2-1 in the third set, the Italian conveniently calls out the trainer for treatment on his right arm and pops a pill to make it look like there are reasons for his pathetic tanking. He is now doing everything he can ...

Ouch, this is messy. Peter Webb from BetAngel detailing a bizarre trading move yesterday at Newbury races. A 400/1 shot backed down to 1.08 (1/12) in pre-race betting , with no logic behind it whatsoever, it could only be a mistake. Fat fingers crucify punter £27k alone backing the 400/1 shot at 1.08 - you can't get that back! And it wasn't an omen either - the horse ran third last, beaten over 20 lengths. Bots can be brilliant when they have been properly tested and work perfectly, but by golly, they can be expensive when they go wrong.