Sport is made for betting

These guys were so minor you probably haven't heard of them anyway. BetBull, based in Gibraltar, and part of the Global network (which Betdaq is the main partner of). They promised a lot when they started on their own about five years ago, but soon realised it was an impossible task to get any decent volume and linked into the Global Sports Exchange network. From CasinoCity article As reported by Gaming Intelligence: "Betbull Holdings SE has this morning confirmed the closure of its betting exchange platform at Betbull.com, with effect from February 28th 2009. This follows the recent closure of its German-facing betting exchange platform Betbull.de late last year, prior to the enforcement of the German State Treaty on Gaming on January 1st 2009. These guys mostly focused on Germany and Spain where shops are profitable and exchange betting is simply too niche to make an imprint of the global penetration of Betfair.

Fabulous article here about one of the earliest form gurus, Pack McKenna. In this era of technology with everything available at your fingertips, it's very hard to imagine just what you'd have to do to properly analyse form back in those days. My old mentor Mark Read told stories of learning from his mother, creating his own database of horses using cards, recording trackwork, previous runs etc. And now most punters whinge about having to pay anything to get ratings and form guides.... Thanks to Pull The Pocket for highlighting this great article. It just goes to show, the more hard work you put in, the better your results will be.

The IAS sale plans take another turn. After Centrebet had a crack with a hostile offer then had a ruling against them by the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) over releasing details of private discussions late last year, Sportsbet Pty Ltd run by Matt Tripp have purchased 10.15% of IAS shares. This announcement can be found on the ASX site under company code IAS. An interesting development, particularly as Sportsbet have been rumoured to be chatting to potential foreign partners. Just where will this one head?

The former star footballer has been a leading bookmaker in Melbourne for a decade or more now, but an error on the books a few months back, allegedly showing bets being taken off the record, seems to have turned into a much deeper problem. Detectives probe bookie bets Not sure I'd want to be in his shoes at the moment...

Word got out on Friday night about this one. A mate allegedly told me on MSN but his typing is so crap I didn't have a clue what he meant so I ignored it.... Ah well, c'est la vie! Bookmakers lose £1m in betting plunge Read the last couple of paragraphs in the article from Steve Palmer and George Primarolo. Once again proving the point about the further you go off the beaten track to have a bet, the more chance you have of winning because every man and his dog isn't aware of the team news.

The Academy Awards - betting bonanza or complete dross? It's probably somewhere in between. I'm not a movie expert by any stretch of the imagination. In fact I reckon I've been to more race meetings this year (once) than to the flicks in the past two yrs. But there is money to be made on these markets. In my early days working for a bookie, we would have one client ring up from the States to bet on just one thing - the Academy Awards. And this guy was red hot. Not ringing an hour before the event when there may have been a leak but a few weeks beforehand, picking off the value because he knew his stuff much better the couple of guys who much preferred football and cricket. Awards markets are tricky. You have to understand how the voting is done, historical precedents, how box office figures mean little, the types of roles and films which appeal to the judges, the other award ceremonies (Screenwriters' Guild, BAFTAs etc) which provide strong formlines, how much or how li...

Just over two weeks to the fantastic Cheltenham festival in the UK, the World Series of jumping. This year promises to be as big any other, I really can't see the recession making an ounce of difference. But sadly, Cheltenham racecourse in Australia has closed its gates for the final time. Racing in South Australia (capital city Adelaide) is in a sad state of affairs. Once within sight of Victorian racing as a competitor, now it probably ranks below Tasmania and WA for interest and prizmoney. The govt really have let it slide and the big stables have deserted it in droves. Consequently, three city tracks in Adelaide had to be downsized. After debate lasting several years, Cheltenham in the north-west suburbs was put up for sale. By the picture above, you can see just how dry it is in Adelaide. Track three, Victoria Park, in the beautiful public access parklands (meaning they can never lock it up as a secure venue), will probably not be used again. Morphettville was always the prem...

Despite the tired whingeing of Robert Nason, the corporates always were going to start sponsoring country racing. Day-to-day racing is the bread and butter of the Betfair and the corporate bookies, they want daily business, not just on Saturdays. Rod Nicholson files a rather factual report, rather than putting his usual Tabcorp-patsy spin on things. Is it going to cut TAB turnover? I doubt it. The higher profile racing gets, the benefits flow onto everyone. Supporting racing is more than just about the return from bets being passed back to the clubs (by legislation). Betfair boost for the bush A good sign for Victorian racing, let's hope other states are open to allow similar deals as well.

Two of my favourite WTA players at the moment, young, talented and from the Bollettieri school of going for everything. I thought Lisicki was way too big a price before the match, took a position and then traded from that as she got into the match. Had a similar book on the Williams clash, Serena was still favourite (1.35) when Eurosport commentator Annabel Croft said she was limping, so I had to dive in for a trade. Had to sweat on it though, despite being on one leg she took it to a final set breaker!