Sport is made for betting

Arsenal lead 3-1 and 4-2, matched for £800k at 1.01 on Betfair and then concede two goals in the last five minutes to draw 4-4. Now that's gotta hurt!! Note this is the inverse axis view of the market history, it allows you to see the price movements as a percentage, rather than severely skewed when markets go to 1.01 or 1000.

The Betfair Australia spruikers tell you which horses to avoid!

I as at Moonee Valley this day (1992), listen to the crowd roar when Bryan Martin first calls 'and here comes Let's Elope!' She had won the Caulfield/Melbourne Cup double the year before. Better Loosen Up had won the Japan Cup of 1990, and there were several other G1 winners in there as well. The roof nearly came off the grandstand. I did my nuts on the race (backed Naturalism), but what a feeling it was to see the old champ Super Impose (dual winner of the Epsom and Doncaster Hcps) get up on the line. The crowd is so close at Moonee Valley, the atmosphere is electric.

Unfortunately the Cox Plate is too close to the Arc de Triomphe and the Breeders' Cup for it ever to become a world-renowned contest. People around the world might only have heard of the Melbourne Cup, but that's just the people's race - a two mile handicap that any horse could win, a flat version of the Grand National. But both of those races are now quality handicaps with the better horses winning because the weight scales are more compressed. But the Cox Plate is the best race in the Southern Hemisphere. Here is some of the history of the great race.

Sounds a lot like Jon Barrett, the tennis commentator... Anyway, this is the stuff we want to get up and running with Betfair Education, but this guy has done a great job already. If you like this, he has several more on YouTube, just look up 'betfair trading'

It was on the cards since the casino part had gone bust recently. Lasseters website A shame considering the guy running it, Gerard Daffy, is one of the genuine good blokes of the betting industry. The important thing to note here is that the company hasn't gone tits up, they've jsut elected to close down, and like any Australian-licensed bookmaker, large security bonds are held to ensure all customers are paid out in full.

Big race at Caulfield tomorrow, can the Hussler rebound from his failure in the Turnbull Stakes to win the toughest G1 2400m handicap in the world? (To be fair, not many countries let G1s be handicaps!). The Betfair spruikers from the Aussie office share their 'wisdom' on the race. For mine, I think Red Ruler is worth a look each-way.

This isn't mine, just a handy video I found on YouTube about tennis trading.

Well at least if you have a local licence.... In news that was expected by most of the industry, the NSW and Victorian governments have backed down and admitted that their advertising restrictions on Australian licensed betting firms from other states were unconstitutional. Rumours have been rife in recent weeks that European bookmakers such as PaddyPower and Ladbrokes have been sniffing around as well for a licence. The Aussie wagering landscape has changed forever in favour of the punter. Article from the side of the those poor suffering corporate giants the TABS here . All I can say to them is boohoo, you've screwed the punter for long enough with your repeatedly-failing websites, and a monopoly on off-course betting outlets, now it's time to face competition.

Oh good grief, the ATP really are clueless.... The ATP men's tennis tour may ban 15 professional gamblers from attending tournaments after finding they were placing bets on site to exploit a 20-second delay in scores being received by bookmakers, a tournament director said. Full article here 20 second delay? Even Eurosport's not that bad. The delay on SkySports is 4-5 seconds at most, and fairly standard with most networks. Free-to-air TV is significantly faster, particularly on an analogue signal. Any bookmaker with a clue tests the latency of broadcast pictures, it's pretty obvious when you are 10 seconds or more behind because punters only want to back the same thing.

Not a great time to have funds in AUD betting accts, the Aussie dollar is collapsing. Not so bad if you're an Aussie with funds in Caribbean or UK accounts though... Just one of the things you have to worry about as a punter...

Hardly a surprise really, they came in with ridiculous amounts of money, spent it like a shopping addict on Oxford St and then couldn't develop a client base with any form of loyalty. And their sponsored team Spurs is at rock bootm as well. They closed the exchange over a year ago, now they're realising that the sportsbook doesn't work either. Apparently they're trying to keep it going via another brand Mansion88, but seriously why would you bother?

A 3yo filly has to be bloody good to beat everyone else in a race like the Arc. I think I have to be against her today. Vision d'Etat is unbeaten as well yet is in double figures, I'd rather be on him. Zambezi Sun might be a ridiculous price as well. I wonder how Duke of Marmalade will go if the French stewards give the O'Brien stable a warning about team riding? He's a very good horse, but has been flattered by questionable tactics recently.