Sport is made for betting

I'm sick of this bullshit of the 'age of forgiveness'. Not that long ago, people had honour - when they laid their cards on the table and screwed up royally, they packed their bags and left. These days it's like the Aussie cricket team - harder to leave than it is to get in, no matter how shit you are at what you do. Ricky Ponting was allowed to lose the Ashes three times before being forced to walk the plank as captain. If you can bullshit with the best of them, you've got a job for life apparently. BHA Chief Exec Paul Roy has made at least three absolute blunders whilst at the helm which should have sent him to the dole queue a long time ago. But it seems he is impossible to sack and won't walk because he has less class than a Premier League footballer with a superinjunction. Blunder 1 - in his other role as big cheese of an investment firm, he recommended buying a big chunk of shares in Betfair. The fact he didn't notice they were massively overvalu...

Ladbrokes have joined the list of UK firms avoiding setting up in France under the current unviable licensing structure. Several firms have simply decided not to waste their time and money in a market which will deliver nothing for several years, and only if/after the French government water down the current prohibitive licensing and taxation structure. The last straw for Ladbrokes was when the French govt decided on top of extortionate turnover tax and sports rights levies, they would also have to pay VAT as well. Unibet however, who have a similar model to Bwin, of taking vast numbers of low-stake bets, are pressing on. The Betfair IPO is off to a good start. Conditional trading has the shares trading at around £15.30, after the initial valuation of £13. Tomorrow is the acid test for them though, when they become available to the public. Betsson is going from strength to strength as live betting pushes their revenues higher. Bwin, Hills and Sportingbet have released similarly h...

A heated confrontation yesterday at Doncaster races when professional punter Harry Findlay crossed paths with BHA Chief Executive Nic Coward. The reasons behind the angst can be found here in a previous post. Findlay accused Coward of ruining his life and demanded the resignation of Coward and BHA Chairman Paul Roy. Now, I'm not one to side with racing authorities very often, but the facts of the matter are that Harry knew the rules, and broke them - not once, which may or may not have been an accident, but twice - and that's only of the times that we know Betfair and the BHA Integrity Unit spoke. And then he had the gall to claim he had special privileges, despite all figures in the racing industry being told very firmly that using inside information to lay horses in the same stable was expressly prohibited. He was given a severe penalty which was later reduced on appeal, but he was still found guilty of the offence. You made your own bed Harry, now you have to lie in it....