Big Brother Gambling

The Reality Show Big Brother will have about £1million will be gambled in the final twenty four hours of the show accoring to bookmakers and the clear favourite are the twins, Amanda and Sam Marchant, overwhelming favourites to take the £100,000 prize tonight.

One firm, Boylesports, is convinced they will win and has already paid out thousands of pounds.  The Irish bookmaker said: “The twins have cost us a lot of money but they have been complete stars.”

 William Hill took a £50,000 bet on them at 5-1 on yesterday from a punter in Birmingham. It said: “We’ve taken some huge bets on Big Brother but none bigger than this. Millions will be won and lost.” It is thought most punters will back the twins, liked for their love of the colour pink and their singing sessions.

About three quarters through the show Big Brother gave teh twins the chance to be treated as one contestant which they readily agreed to and so knocking off Brian from top sport to win the show. Before going into the house they were studying social care at university but are now expected to cash in on magazine and modelling deals. A show source said: “We’re surprised one bookmaker has paid out. It’s closer than most people think.” Brian and Liam are in the running but the other three remaining contestants Ziggy, Jonty and Carole are seen as huge outsiders.

Betfair Odds: Twins 11-8, Brian 6-1, Liam 43-1, Ziggy 129-1, Carole 279-1, Jonty 759-1.

Source: Mirror

Betfair Laying a Horse

One of the great things about Betfair and laying a horse is that it permits you to become the bookmaker and it is so simple to do with an account on Betfair the betting exchange. betfair works by putting together backers with layers of any event online and the winning part of the bet pays a small comission to Betfair.

As the bookies have pointed out on many an occasion this can lead to fowl play but Betfair have put in place security systems where say if you had a bet with Betfair yesterday, Tom and Mark will know about it. Or they could, if they wanted to. If it was a big bet, laying a horse that ran well below form, they may have looked up your betting history since 2004 too. And the next time that you have a similar bet, they will probably know about that too.

Tom and Mark are the betting analysts in the security department at the British Horseracing Authority, and the breadth and power of the information at their disposal is remarkable.

“It’s a long process and you can’t just issue new rules. There are still some groups in racing who see us an unnecessary hindrance.”

A few feet away, Tom and Mark are still poring over the markets. “Of course, people will do their best to hide,” Mark says, “but even if they are using several accounts, we will be able to link them together. And sooner or later, people always tend to make mistakes.”

Source: Guardian

Betfair Horse Racing Bet

The online sports betting exchange Betfair could make a Horse Racing bet in the coming months as the online bookmaker totesport is about to pull the plug on their association with Channel 4 there are a number of other gaming operators looking to fill their shoes and in particular Betfair the online betting exchange which has really shaken up the online sports betting market in recent years.

It is reported that Paddy Power and Bet365 are also looking at this sponsorship but it is understood that their offers are lower than Betfair. It is believed that Betfair’s package is believed to be worth nearly £2m per year, while the offers by its two rivals are around half that amount. Negotiations are at an early point and any one of the packages could yet emerge as the winner. The successful bidder will also want to know precisely what they will get for their money, since changes to the laws on advertising for bookmakers come into force on September 1. This will allow rival firms to run adverts in Channel 4’s commercial breaks, and dilute the impact of the sponsor’s branding.
Betfair in particular would be keen to emphasise the unique aspects of its product. This could include the use of Betfair “starting prices” in coverage in addition to the SPs used by traditional bookmakers, and real-time betting information during races to publicise the exchange’s frantic in-running markets.

The high level of interest, following the Tote’s decision to cancel its current contract, will come as a considerable relief to the sport’s senior executives. Channel 4 will cover 80 days’ racing this year, and the British Horseracing Authority sees continued terrestrial coverage as essential if the sport is to maintain its public profile.

Source: Guardian

Blue Square Profits On the UP

The Blue Square internet gaming operation has been very good and has added to the half-year results from its parent the Rank Group. Revenues for the six months to 30 June were up 2.3% to £284.6m, with adjusted pre-tax profits up to £37.3m from £21.9m in the same period last year.

With the new casino laws about to come into operation in September and maximum payouts for Bingo to be able to reach £1 million the news that the wet weather has helped business at Rank’s Mecca Bingo halls provides sufficint encouragement to management that Bigo business is on the up and up.

While the ever growing Blue Square internet business saw revenues jump 40% to £26.2m the firm did state that the second half of the year would “prove more challenging”. This was due mainly to the impact of the smoking ban, which is now in place across the UK, and also because of changes in the law regarding gaming machines.

Source: BBC

Ladbrokes to Sponsor Irish Horse Racing

Ladbrokes Ireland which has a major presence in the Republic of Ireland with shops in many key locations throuhout the country are putting back money into Horse racing with the sponsorship of the Munster National at Limerick Racecourse on Sunday 14 October.

This is a three-year deal and this deal will will increase the value of this race by over a third and this brings this Grade A three-mile Handicap Chase to €120,000 in prize money, contributing in total prize money on the day of almost €300,000.

Adele Thompson Marketing Manager of Ladbrokes Ireland said, ‘We are delighted to announce our sponsorship of this €120,000 Munster National at Limerick. It is fantastic to be associated with such a respected and established race and we are proud to add another national to our portfolio’

Limerick’s oldest and most valuable race is a key fixture in the early part of the National Hunt season, and was won in 2006 by the locally trained and owned Pearly Jack, who is being aimed at the race again this year.

VCbet sign Deal with Racing UK

Racing UK which is one of the two major racing chanels in the UK has entered into an arrangement with VCbet as their sole sponsor on the station. Vcbet have put up an undisclosed six figure deal to be the sole sponsor of their coverage of 12 of the year’s Key Events including all the racing from The Cheltenham Festival, The Grand National Meeting, The Epsom Derby Meeting & Glorious Goodwood. Victor Chandler will promote their sports betting brand VC Bet through the sponsorship.

Racing UK covers 30 of the leading race courses and is a quality service for Horse racing punters and in a very short period of time is beamed to nearly 2 million homes and it offers exclusive live coverage of over 600 meetings in the horse racing calendar from 30 of the most prestigious racecourses in the UK. Racing UK as offered at VCBet, is also part of the Setanta Sports Pack allowing exclusive access to USPGA Golf and 46 Premiership matches.

Partygaming show First Half Year Loss

The First half year profits at online gambling firm Partygaming show how badly they have been hit by the US change in the law, as the this high flyer gaming operator posted a pre-tax loss of $47.1m (£23.5m) for the six months to June. Last year it reported a pre-tax profit of $320.5m.

Laws passed in the US last October effectively made it illegal to trade there, hitting the business. But continuing operations were performing “strongly”, the firm added. The City had been expecting worse news as Partygaming’s shares rose almost 19% to 27 pence in afternoon trading on this news.

But the firm’s shares are still less than a fifth of what they were at their peak at the beginning of 2006 when they hovered around 155p but everything changed for the company when last year, President George W Bush signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, criminalising the transfer and handling of payments from online gambling and as a direct result, Partygaming withdrew from the US market where it collected most of its revenue and profit.

Despite the huge setback, the group added a record number of non-US new players - up 83% to 403,713 - with its casino business showing the strongest growth in the first half.

Revenue from Partygaming’s continuing business, which strips out the impact of the loss of the US market, showed a 42% increase to $212.5m, up from $149.8m the year before.

Poker still contributed the biggest share of total revenue, with the company’s PartyPoker website leading this arm of the business.

Online Gaming Companies Set to Launch TV Campaigns

The New Advertising Laws that will govern the Gaming Sector means that a number of the big online gaming operators will be coming to your TV sets very soon.

The 2005 Gambling Act covers all the Online operators including, sports books, casinos including games and poker rooms will be allowed to commence television advertising campaigns next month but they shall be monitored very closely to ensure they do not go to far in the form of the messages they convey.

While we do not know for sure who will get the show on the road you can be sure that it will be a good time for advertising agencies who will be very keen to land one of the big names in the business as these online gambling companies aim to generate brand awareness in the UK market.

Sale of bookmaker Totesport set new deadline

The UK government has set September 28th as a deadline for investors in the horse racing industry to put forward its bid for state-owned bookmaker Totesport. The government is brokering a sale with the racing consortium, which includes Tote management, the Race Course Association and the Racehorse Owners Association.

The Labour government pledged to sell the Tote to the racing industry in 2001, but an attempted sale in 2005 was blocked by the European Commission, which said the price was so low that it constituted state aid. Following the Commission ruling, the government had the Tote valued by PricewaterhouseCoopers at a reported price of about 400 million pounds and invited offers.

Totesport was set up in 1928 and comprises 540 high street betting shops, 59 betting shops on race courses and Britain’s tote pool betting system. Some racing industry players have questioned whether the Tote would be able to meet its mandate of investing in racing if its new owner were burdened by heavy interest payments after funding the deal with debt.

An initial bid of around 320 million pounds from the racing industry consortium was rejected. Europe’s biggest gambling firm, Gala Coral, has offered to pay 405 million pounds ($796 million), but the government has pledged to sell the Tote to the industry.

Online betting sites look for UK move

Online gaming sites looking to comply with the U.K.’s new advertising guidelines are taking two different routes – moving their bases of operation to UK friendly areas or trying to get their jurisdiction approved.

More than 1,000 online betting firms will not be allowed to advertise in the U.K. after the 2005 Gambling Act takes effect on Sept. 1, according to a statement released earlier this month by the U.K.’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The new regulations state that in order to advertise in the U.K., online gaming sites must reside in an approved jurisdiction, must direct problem gamblers to the U.K.’s gamble aware Web site, must not target children and must not advertise on TV or radio before 9 p.m.

Currently, only sites located within the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Gibraltar, Isle of Man and Alderney are acceptable.

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