Sport is made for betting

Not got as much time on my hands at the moment, so I'll try to keep the site fresh with a weekly update as a minimum... Betfair shares break back through the £10 mark as their financial trading arm LMAX flounders . The newly-recruited CEO has gone after just three months; sounds like either a major difference of opinions or a long walk off a short pier. Also leaving is 'Chief Products and Services Officer' Matthias Entenmann. Considering the service these days is the most criticised part of the business from customers and the major shareholders will be looking for scapegoats, my guess is his share options had matured and he decided to jump before he was pushed. The quest for licensing in Europe continues, and is messy as always. Greece started off with a ridiculous 6% turnover levy and have now switched to 30% GPT, which won't be too popular either, but at least it's manageable in a jurisdiction switching from monopolistic margins. The Greek government has also...

Bloody new job, virtually missed everything! Went on Tuesday but barely had a bet outside of that. Poor planning on my part, although it did save me quite a bit of money.... that's not really the point of Cheltenham though is it?

Another broker says sell, another week of dreadful unplanned site outages, another marketing campaign criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority.... It's not looking good for Betfair shareholders, now trading in the 850p range, getting dangerously close to half their market peak of 1610p just a few months ago. The Cricket World Cup is underway and Cheltenham's just around the corner - a few folks in the ivory tower will be praying for some record figures, otherwise there has to be some blood spilling from the board room soon as the value of the company continues to slide.

When a state capital of over 1m people has two racecourses close to the city, the inevitable pressure to sell one of them will occur as the popularity of horse racing continues to diminish relative to alternative entertainment options. Racing in Western Australia has been strong in recent years, with metropolitan prizemoney embarrassing South Australia and making it a viable option for owners and trainers. But that has come at a cost - Perth Racing has robbed Peter to pay Paul and now they are struggling to cope with interest payments of $1m per year. Premier puts Perth Racing under the pump WA Premier Colin Barnett is mounting pressure on cash-strapped Perth Racing to sell Belmont Park racecourse to make way for the development of a 100,000 seat football stadium. With Perth Racing to announce major prizemoney cuts this week, the WA industry is supporting Barnett's call to dump the ageing Belmont as a winter racing venue. Traditionally Ascot is the A-grade track in Perth,...

Sportingbet have been announced as the naming rights sponsor of the Queen Mother Champion Chase during the Cheltenham Festival. They replace Seasons Holidays, who like most travel companies, will be feeling the pinch from the recession. Why bravo? Unlike several other bookmakers sponsoring at the Festival - Stan James, William Hill and Ladbrokes - the Alderney-based firm pay the full amount of their UK horseracing levy voluntarily. The others pay very little on their online business. A bookmaker with a conscience rather than bloody-minded greed. Makes a pleasant change doesn't it with UK racing prizemoney levels ridiculously low? Other major race sponsors at Cheltenham - Coral and the Tote are fully based in the UK and pay their respective taxes and levy.

The jumps season goes out with a bang this week as the big Irish festival, Punchestown, runs from Tuesday to Saturday. If you've never been over for it, it is definitely worth a visit, but unless you want to be stuck in traffic for five hours per day, book your accommodation early! Today's action is a late starter at 15:40, and has three big Grade 1 races on the card - the Champion Novice Hurdle, Champion Chase and Champion Novice Chase. Like Aintree and Cheltenham, don't try to peak too early - it's a long festival. For those who like laying the field on Betfair , it has been known to work well at Punchestown, but it depends how low you go with that lay price. There's usually at least one 1.01 that gets rolled for the week.

Betfair have hired a Morgan Stanley director as head of strategy as the IPO gets closer. For them, the best thing that can happen this year is a World Cup with all the favourites winning, bookies taking a hiding and Betfair just laughing all the way to the bank. But can they have all the prospectus documents ready in time for a float this year, if they wait that long? This isn't the first float-related hire they've had, they have been making them since 2005 and the media still haven't tired of predicting when it will happen. Just get it over with.... Betfair IPO moves closer with Morgan Stanley director hire Sportingbet are stepping up to the London Stock Exchange (LSE) from the Alternative Index Market (AIM) next month, a move showing they really have graduated to mixing it with the big boys. Their financial reports are quite interesting. Unlike the British retail bookies who were moaning about all the favourites winning and no draws in the early part of the Premier League...

Too many tidbits, not enough time for full-length articles... The mystery in the Betfair/Danny Nikolic/Neville Clements inquiry in Australian racing gets deepers with professional punter Neville Clements being warned off all Australian racecourses indefinitely , no doubt as a refusal to share phone records which will incriminate him. There is plenty more to come in this story. Let's hope if a conviction is warranted, then it is reached, unlike the farcical scenes of the Fallon case in the UK a few years back. It's March, so Italian football is looking dodgy again. On the weekend we had the Chievo-Cagliari boat race which went as planned, but last night a Serie B match was taken off the board by all and sundry but then didn't go as planned. All the money was for a draw between Vicenza and Crotone, but the away team won 2-0, even with 10 men! Did the authorities tell them they were being watched very closely, or was it the case of a few punters trying to spoof the market and ...

Ok, there are now only 90mins until the first race of this year's Festival. The roar from the crowd when the Supreme Novices' Hurdle starts the four-day festival is one of racing's great thrills. Have I got any winners lined up? Not a clue. Can't remember ever not copping a battering during Cheltenham, so I'll take it fairly easy I think.... but that's easier said than done and I'm sure I've said that before. It's the old saying, bet within your means, and make sure it's still fun. You're allowed to enjoy the moment rather than take it completely seriously once in a while. Whatever you do this week, good luck and make sure you shop around for the best prices and offers!

Went to the races as a paying punter today for the first time in ages. UK racing isn't cheap at the best of times, flat racing doesn't have the excitement most of the year and it's rather cold during jumps season. TV coverage is decent enough if you can't get to the track as often as you'd like. The two main races today at Newbury, the Long Distance Hurdle and the Hennessy showed just why National Hunt racing is miles ahead of flat racing in popularity in the UK & Ireland. Big Buck's is the best staying hurdler in training, he won the top races at Cheltenham and Aintree in his class, and is going around again to repeat the feat. He faced a small, but quality field at level weights and won very, very easily. Special thanks to the bookies who put up 1/2. It is very rare I bet at those odds, but this horse should have been 1/3 at best, so the value had to be taken. The Hennessy is the best handicap chase of the season. Note that key word which some purists dete...

Today's feature article in the Racing Post is all about the new project board charged with reinvigorating racing in Britain - Racing for Change. On the one hand, it is something the industry needs to drive it forward. On the other, it's a body full of chairmen and bigwigs who have had a big say in getting the industry where it is now. Some of the proposals: - Identifying key fixtures to clearly emphasise start and finish of premier Flat season Doesn't the Lincoln at Doncaster, soon followed by the Craven meeting at Newmarket already mark the start of the season? The Champions Day meeting at Newmarket virtually finishes the season already. - Create new showcase finale, to crown the champions of the Flat season The likes of Ballydoyle and Godolphin control racing in Britain because they pick and choose where their horses run (and how those races are run) in order to create more commercial value for their breeding operations. The champions are unlikely to run a dozen times in ...

Knowing which horses lead, which horse swoop home late and which horses are just plain hard work for the jockey can make a big difference to trading in-running. Wichita Lineman is infamous for his running style, he can only win with a jockey like AP McCoy aboard, a jockey who keeps on pushing him hard. A novice jockey would be hopeless on this horse, he is extremely hard work, but when he gets going, then he flies home and wins, like he did today. The third-placed horse Nenuphar Collonges is quite similar, looks to be tired and going backwards, then he fights back and makes a race of it. Maljimar pipped at 1.05, Wichita Lineman matched as high as 60. Did I back him? No, I'm a layer in-running, but I did managed to lay 1.1 on the runner-up. Every little snippet of information who can store away for the future is valuable.

The economy is cactus but Cheltenham brightens it up for everyone. All this talk in the press about bankers.. doesn't the world hate bankers with a vengeance at the moment?? Five hours of rain forecast tonight for Cheltenham... makes it very tough to finalise selections the night before. Paddy Power have a great offer in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle - all losing bets (win and each-way) refunded if Cousin Vinny wins the race. I thought he was a bit of a risk in that, so I'll be making use of that offer. I'll be betting around the favourites in the Arkle - Tatenen and Calgary Bay. I think they are unders and the form of the opposition doesn't suggest a gap between any of them. More to come later.

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...

Unbelievable. I've had tickets to Cheltenham twice this year. In March, I had hospitality tickets for the Wednesday which was called off due to high winds, and today we were going for the quality racing, but persistent heavy overnight rain led to the meeting being abandoned. £@$%@@%^&*$£^""#?!! Grr....

Cheltenham is over and a couple of new superstars at the top of the game have emerged. We already knew Denman was good, but he simply brained them, including even money favourite and defending champ Kauto Star in the Gold Cup. And trainer Paul Nicholls has another star in two-mile chaser Master Minded who looked like he ws still in the third gear when obliterating the field in the Champion Chase. Good links from last week : The Independent ran a great article on Britain's most outspoken punter, and co-owner of Gold Cup winner Denman - Mr Harry Findlay The Gold Cup replay Queen Mother Champion Chase replay

Wednesday's racing called off at Cheltenham after storm gales overnight and were forecast throughout the day. With thousands of punters in hospitality and temporary structures, course management really had no other option but to call the day off. 90% of travelling punters would have been able to change their travel plans. The forecast for the next couple of days is far more envouraging and all races from today will be absorbed into those day's schedules.

Now's the time to compare bookies for special offers, particularly non-runner, no bet. Offers differ between firms, so look closely for the best deal!