Sport is made for betting

Gee, never would have seen this coming - the Irish government wants to introduce a 2% tax on all wagers with firms licensed in Ireland. Very few of their competitors will have to pay it, so why should they for their online and telephone operations? So off to Gibraltar they will probably go.... Paddy Power considers moving operations abroad Paddy Power will consider moving its internet and phone betting operations abroad if the government goes ahead with plans for a 2 per cent tax on all bets, according to the company’s chief executive. Patrick Kennedy said that a new tax regime would unfairly disadvantage Paddy Power, which employs around 800 people in its internet and phone operations in Tallaght in Dublin. Most of its online competitors did not have a significant presence in Ireland and took a ‘‘catch-me-if-you-can approach’’ to regulation, so they would be difficult to tax, he said. ‘‘If we face a substantial tax, my board would - and should - turn around and say: at what s...

Excuse me while I piss myself, over and over again. The greatest gubbing of all time. That's over £8 million traded at 1.04 or shorter. Almost £5 million at 1.02 or shorter. £2.7m matched at 1.01. England, fresh from possibly the best ODI of all-time, the 338 runs apiece tie with India on Sunday. They scored 327 off 50 overs, a huge score against any side. Surely an ICC associate member like Ireland, a complete minnow in the world of cricket, couldn't chase that down? Enter Kevin O'Brien and a magnificent innings of 113 off 63 balls. The fastest World Cup century of all time. England brought their gun bowlers and on this perfect batting pitch, Ireland made them look like village pie-chuckers!

Irish racing stewards post a strong case for most useless in the world, allowing races to start while jockeys aren't yet on board , suspending a jockey for overuse of the whip despite the fact he dropped it at the start or an on-course bookmaker doing a runner after a history of struggling to pay up. Now we have another dagger in the back of Irish punters, but this isn't one under their direct control - this is a government issue, a government who set a very high standard for financial mismanagement and cluelessness. Irish bookmaking chain Celtic Bookmakers have gone into receivership with debts of over €6m, yet are still allowed to trade, taking money off punters as if everything was OK. If a bookmaker shows the slightest sign of insolvency, they should have their licence suspended immediately to protect the industry and the faith of punters. Yates bookmaking firm in receivership AIB has appointed a receiver to Celtic Bookmakers Ltd. A statement from the directors, f...

You'd think before finding a jockey guilty and suspending him that they'd at least look at the replay.... Jockey suspended despite dropping his whip Irish stewards were left red-faced after suspending a jockey for breaching whip rules despite the rider not using the whip on his horse at any stage. Stewards suspended apprentice jockey Ronan Whelan for three days after charging the rider with excessive use of the whip on his mount Monivea in the Emirates Equestrian Federation Handicap at the Curragh on Saturday. The only problem for stewards was the fact Whelan had dropped his whip in the process of leaving the barriers. Stewards come down hard on jockeys for making mistakes, how about the industry coming down hard on this mob of incompetent buffoons? This wasn't a bush track with amateurs, this was The Curragh on Irish 1000 Guineas day!

Is there any other sport ruled by a bunch of more overpaid, self-righteous pompous gits out of touch with the modern day? We see cheating pricks like Thierry Henry cost the Republic of Ireland tens of millions of pounds because the referees couldn't see what every person and every camera in the stadium could. We see Birmingham today beaten in an FA Cup quarter-final because the blind bastard posing as assistant referee couldn't spot what was blatantly obvious from the same position - daylight between the goalpost and the ball as it crossed the line. If it was Pompey in the same position, it could have spelt the end of the club. In amateur days, it mightn't have made much of a difference. This is when what happened on the field, stayed on the field, all the players shook hands and had a drink together after the game. The game is a long, long way from that in 2010. Poor decisions can cost players, teams and countries millions, and hoping the guilty player will hold his hand u...

It's the Punchestown Festival this week, which if you've never been, is most certainly worth a visit. Only problem is, it's about an hour from Dublin, there are too few places to stay nearby and that one hour drive in Festival week is more likely to turn into three hours on Irish roads. Two big stories this week - firstly, how earth did Dunguib start at 10/11 today in the Bumper? It touched 2.2 on Betfair and absolutely tanked in. Unbelievably high cruising speed, I really hope he can jump for next season. The story in tomorrow's Racing Post will be about the pathetic bluff of Irish bookies and the lack of spine from Punchestown racecourse in bowing to their demands. Betfair have spent plenty on sponsorship there this week, with the trailer in attendance and big screens on the in-field showing the live Betfair prices, in direct competition with the 180+% trash that Irish bookies continue to get away with. First race of the Festival, bookmakers threaten to stand down if ...

Idiot politicians are born everyday. Now it's Ireland's turn.... Ireland's Sports Minister Threatens Online Betting Ban Free trade, EU laws and an ever-growing preference for sports betting rather than racing are just some of the reasons this will never work. Irish bookies are already looking at sending their non-shop operations offshore because of the harsh tax regime. Threatening people with a big stick and trying to makes thnigs illegal only makes people more inclined to do it, especially with Ireland's broadband penetration growing.

If you ever want to witness how much punters over-react to media speculation, take a look at a Next Manager market on Betfair. The current Next Republic of Ireland Manager has had nine men matched at below 3.5, four or five of them at odds-on. Mug punters just jump on the bandwagon blindly and prices just keep on going down to ridiculous numbers. And then the Irish press have the gall to say it's all just a field day for bookmakers when they are the ones fuelling the fire! Cash in on the over-reactions - lay the short prices, no need to get involved laying someone at 100. Trappatoni crashed from 400 down to 1.73 on Betfair within 24hrs, and now he's back out to about 10. Think of the facts - Ireland have no need to appoint a manager any time soon. Apart fronm the friendly next week against Brazil (the squad has already been picked so no point hiring a new manager to take charge of a team he didn't select), they don't have a match scheduled until September. So there'...