Sport is made for betting

Take it with a pinch of salt though, after all, it comes from the Daily Mail.. Gambler in spot-fix claim is linked to England stars A gambler with close social ties to Premier League and England footballers is among those under investigation for involvement in an alleged ‘spot-fixing’ betting sting. The Gambling Commission and the Scottish FA have been passed details of multiple ‘irregular’ bets and attempted bets, many of them allegedly emanating from Merseyside, on a red card being shown during the game between Motherwell and Hearts in the Scottish Premier League earlier this month. Several betting firms have offered evidence. Motherwell’s Liverpool-born midfielder, Steve Jennings, who was sent off during the game for swearing at the referee, has denied any involvement in improper betting. The investigation has been described to me by some involved in the ‘integrity process’ as ‘a test of how seriously the Commission and sporting bodies want to take these issues’. . . ...

There's no hiding behind the facts. Australia have been completely outplayed by England in this Ashes series, an England side that aren't best in the world either. The best thing Cricket Australia can do now is give the current team a finale in Sydney, push Ricky Ponting and Simon Katich into Test retirement and commit to a plan to be ready for the 2013 Ashes. They must look further than next summer or the next series - the depth of players currently isn't there in Australia, they need to start sweeping out the dead wood who consistently underperform - Michael Clarke, Mitchell Johnson etc and not let them back into the Test XI unless they show sustained form at a lower level, above and beyond their rivals. Phil Hughes is to be stamped 'NTPFAA' (Never To Play For Australia Again), his technique is far too flawed for international cricket. A sustained period of success and the attraction of Twenty20 cricket has damaged Australia's cricketing future. Massaging ...

After initially buying a majority share of leading Australian bookmaker Sportsbet, the successful Irish firm has decided to acquire the remaining shares and take full control. Paddy Power to buy out Sportsbet Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has agreed to buy the remaining shares in Australian betting company Sportsbet, giving it full control of the group. Paddy Power will pay 132.6m Australian dollars ($133m; £86.2m) for the 39.2% stake that it does not already own. Paddy Power first bought 51% of Sportsbet in 2009. The overall buyout, which increases its exposure to online betting in Australia, is expected to complete by the end of February 2011. . . Patrick Kennedy, Paddy Power's chief executive, described Sportsbet as "a cracking business".

Well, not exactly, but last weekend I had a guest appearance on 'Sport & Spill' (Sport and Bets) on Norwegian channel TV2, who have the English Premier League rights, as the betting expert. A lot of fun, all went well, they seemed happy with it (my bits were in English, everything else in Norwegian), hopefully did well enough to receive another invitation next year so I can see the city of Bergen in full bloom, rather than covered in snow. Great place to visit, cheap flights available from Gatwick when the weather returns to normal. Luckily I managed to fly out on Friday just before the snow arrived, and then returned early Monday morning without a hitch. A few hours either way and it would have been chaos!

Four years after pulling out of a proposed deal because of concerns about US legality, Ladbrokes PLC have confirmed they are in discussions to buy 888 Holdings. It's been a tough few years for 888 who were valued at 240p per share back in 2006, but last week before the announcement were south of 50p (now 56p after peaking around 60p). According to this report though, Sportingbet (who are known to be looking around for merger and acquisition targets after recent talks with Unibet) and Harrah's could be sniffing around as well.... Meanwhile, in other trading news, Goldman Sachs have upgraded their Betfair rating from neutral to buy . Not much conflict of interest there considering they were the investment bank who floated them, and are now probably desperate to save face as the company trades more than £3 below IPO price, and over £5 below the peak during restricted trading.....

Ah, biathlon. A glorious sport for in-running trading :) Didn't have a big balance to play with today, most of my funds are tied up in cricket or SPOTY markets, but it wasn't too hard to generate a lovely green book with a fund of about £80.

Worrying signs north of the border as Scottish football has had some very unusual matches of late, backed up by suspicious betting patterns. The common denominator in both matches: Hearts. Motherwell midfielder Steve Jennings is in the spotlight this week after his red card in Tuesday night's match against Hearts was predicted by a lot of punters, particularly new ones, wanting to have bets well above the average for this usually trivial market. Several bookmakers have reported clusters of bets being placed on 'A Red Card to be awarded' at 10/1 on this match, far and above the average for a televised SPL match, with a widespread of accts, lumpy bets and numerous new accounts, particularly from the Liverpool area, where Jennings has links from one of his previous clubs, Tranmere. SPL - Jennings in betting probe over red card Motherwell midfielder Steve Jennings has denied any wrongdoing after bookmakers began an investigation into betting patterns over the red card he ...

From the tail of a Guardian article discussing the substantial fall in Betfair shares today: The slump in Betfair shares is another awkward issue for Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank which arranged the gambling company's float. It touted Betfair as a high growth investment at £13.00 in October but shareholders have now lost about a quarter of their investments. The investment bank's name was also on the ticket of this year's flotations of online grocer Ocado whose shares are down 12% and technology group Promethean World where the stock has fallen by 70%. The bank insists that it has a better record on flotations than rivals. A sample of three probably isn't a fair assessment but considering they are blamed by some as being a significant cause of the global recession, it's not doing their reputation any favours. But it cuts staff bonuses by £5k (of an average £500k), then I doubt anyone inside will care a great deal....

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...

Britain starts to thaw out and Betfair's share price starts to rise again. As I surmised last week , the icy weather appeared to be the trigger behind the plunge in price down to a low of 1150p on Friday. Seven days later, it's up over a pound to 1263p. No different to bookmakers' share prices around Cheltenham, the Grand National and World Cup - good results = expectation of greater profits = share price rises. Loss of revenue via favourites all winning or lack of racing = decline.

Australian racing is right up there with the best of the world on many fronts - the flagship event of Aus racing, the Melbourne Cup gets a local (not national unfortunately) public holiday; the prizemoney at stake considering the number of race meetings held each year; the facilities at Flemington; the press coverage etc... But the one issue where it really stands head and shoulders above UK racing in particular is stewarding and the regard for punters. National stewards decide to put punters first in overhaul of rules STEWARDS from around the country emerged from a two-day conference in Launceston with the punter in mind. A revamp of betting deductions issued when horses are scratched late, an overhaul of the rortable jockey-challenge betting, the old commission-agent bogey, etc, were on the agenda. Leading form student and respected punter Dominic Beirne overhauled the antiquated betting system. ''It will be a much fairer system and most kind to the punter,'' Ra...

There's not much left to say on the farce that was the World Cup bidding process. We know they are as bent as a three pound note, so why pander to them and waste millions in doing so? I don't have a problem with Russia winning the 2018 bid. The country has made rapid progress in hosting big events in recent years, there's plenty of money in local football so facilities are improving all the time and presentation was well organised. I'm quite excited by the prospect of going there. It's the Qatar one which defies all logic. Good luck to them if they can pull it off, but little regard seems to have been paid to fans when they are not inside the air-conditioned stadiums. Getting into a major event stadium can often take over an hour, and in 50C, that's potentially lethal. Are they going to build 200 hotels to accommodate and provide liquid refreshment for foreign fans? Will there be a market for hotel boats moored 2km offshore where all the alcohol is served? And...

Early last week - £15. Now £11.40 and falling. Is the bad UK weather, and thus cancellation of a lot of sporting events, particularly race meetings, the main reason behind it, or have some unfavourable pieces of advice made public by various brokerages hit hard? Take a look at the price graph yourself, it's not pretty to look at if you are holding shares. A drop after the early flurry of trading was always to be expected with so many smaller shareholders ready to sell up after years of waiting, but the sharpness of the decline has to be concerning for the firm. It's an over-reaction if you ask me - they are making good progress in the US with racing authorities. It will be slow going and the US can only go state-by-state for them, so don't expect a massive surge any time soon. On the other hand, long-term profits should be solid enough for the price not to fall much further....