William Hill to cease sponsorship at Ascot

Following the news from December 2008 that the BBC will only be covering 14 days worth of live racing for each of the next the years it appears the first high profile casualty has appeared.  The UK based operator William Hill who have sponsored key events at Ascot racecourse in previous years have confirmed they will not be continuing their sponsorship of jump racing at Ascot.

In 2008 the BBC which is funded by license payers covered five days of jumping from Ascot but these will now be absent from future television schedules, the move has been described by industry insiders as the “the first nail in racing’s coffin.”

Paddy Power payout on wee bet

The statement released by budget airline Ryan Air that they are considering introducing an in flight charge for toilet breaks has left most people speechless and a few people annoyed but for one punter its meant a great pay day.

Last year the Irish bookmaker Paddy Power ran a campaign as to what fees Ryan Air would introduce next to their flights service. One punter said they would charge to go for a wee and was given odds of 100/1 on a £3 bet as it was believed that would be a step too far! Although Ryanair has yet to fully confirm that they will introduce the fee, Paddy Power have decided to pay out £300 to the lucky punter.

A spokesman for Paddypower said: “Chances are the toilet charge but we had to admire our punters foresight! Who on earth could have seen that coming? At least if Ryanair do introduce wee fees, the £300 will cover the cost of a few hundred trips to the loo!”

CryptoLogic sign deal with DC Comics

Dublin based CryptoLogic who have recently won Gambling Online Magazine’s Top Casino Software Award - for the fourth year running has today announced that is has signed a deal with DC Comics and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution that will allow it to bring popular characters from the DC Universe such as Batman, Superman and The Flash to leading casinos in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Under the recently signed agreement CryptoLogic will use characters that will include most of the members from the JLA (Justice League of America) in games created especially for them. The list of characters will include Batman, Superman, The Flash, The Green Lantern and Wonder Woman, most of the characters have had major Hollywood films in recent years or as in the case of the JLA is due to be released in 2010.

The games will targeted for an adult audience that has grown up with the properties and CryptoLogic has reported that superheroes that have been used in its existing games have proven very popular with Internet gaming operators and their players alike.

Betting on Dancing on Ice evaporates as Todd Carty departs

Following the peoples favourite Todd Carty being booted off ITV1’s reality television show Dancing on Ice bookies across the country have noticed a severe downtown in punters betting on Dancing on Ice. A spokeman for one of the UK’s largest bettting companies William Hill said “”We have taken just under half as much as we did last week and we would not be surprised if the viewing figures take a hit.”

Now Carty has left the show the favoruite nominated by bookies to win the contest is now Ray Quinn who was formlery a contenstant from the X Factor television show in 2006.

Dancing On Ice Winner (odds supplied by William Hill)

• 2/5 - Ray Quinn
• 5/1 - Jessica Taylor
• 5/1 - Zoe Salmon
• 16/1 - Coleen Nolan
• 20/1 - Roxanne Pallett
• 33/1 - Donal MacIntyre
• 50/1 - Melinda Messenger
• 50/1 - Ellery Hanley

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Qatar in bid for 2018 World Cup

The Gulf state of Qatar on Monday announced its intention to be one of the countries bidding to be the host nation for the FIFA World Cup in 2018, and if it fails in that it will fallback to the 2022 World Cup.

The General Secretary of the Qatar Football Federation; Saud Al Mohannadi said “I can confirm that the Qatar football federation has today sent a letter to FIFA in which it officially declared its candidacy for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups. We have the stadiums and we have experience hosting top sports events. We don’t want to rush into anything, we need to find out what the full requirements are, but we are interested.”

FIFA the governing body of world football has started to accept bids on the 2018 and 2002 World Cups earlier this month and interested Football Associations have to make their bids by February 2nd 2009. The decision of who will be the hosts of both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will be announced in December 2010.

FIFA started reception of bids for the right to host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups earlier this month. All the interested national federations will have to make their bids before February 2, 2009.

If Qatar win the rights to host the prestigious event there is speculation as to how advertising rights particular in the gambling and alcohol arenas will be controlled by the strict gambling and drinking laws in Qatar.

BBC announce Sports Personality of the Year Nominations

The list of ten contenders for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year has been announced today. It features as expected seven members from the 2008 British Olympic team following their success in this years Beijing Olympics.

Viewers can vote for their BBC Sports Personality of the Year by telephone and details of how to do so and what numbers to ring will be announced live on the show.

Sports Personality Nominations

The list of ten nominations was put together from a panel of twenty eight sports editors from regional and national and newspapers.  Betting industry insiders will be putting Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington and Formula One Champion Lewis Hamilton high on their list of favourites, track cyclist Chris Hoy is expected to show high on their list as well.

• Rebecca Adlington
• Ben Ainslie
• Joe Calzaghe
• Nicole Cooke
• Lewis Hamilton
• Chris Hoy
• Andy Murray
• Christine Ohuruogu
• Rebecca Romero
• Bradley Wiggins

As well as the main award, the following awards will also be presented on the night.

• Team of the Year
• Coach of the Year
• Overseas Personality
• Young Personality
• Helen Rollason Award
• Unsung Hero Award
• Lifetime Achievement

The show will be broadcast live on BBC1 and Radio 5 Live from the Liverpool Echo Arena on Sunday 14th December from 19:00. It will be hosted by regular BBC sports presenters Gary Lineker, Sue Barker and Jake Humphrey.

Google to reintroduce gambling ads

The search engine giant Google has decided to amend its policy on gambling adverts and will recede its previous global ban on gambling advertising and will allow companies to target the United Kingdom. The advertisements will be reintroduced to Google’s UK website (except Northern Ireland) from today.

Google will start to accept adverts from UK companies that are registered with the Gambling Commission and non UK-based advertisers in the 30 countries that make up the European Economic Area.  Gambling companies in the EEA can target ads at Google users in Great Britain provided they hold a licence in the country where they are based. By including the EEA this will allow a large number of the off shore operators such as the Gibraltar based 888.com to advertise.

James Cashmore from Google said “Over the last few months we’ve been reviewing our gambling advertising policy in Great Britain to ensure it is as consistent as possible with local business practices. Following the review we’ve decided to amend our policy to allow text ads to appear against search queries related to gambling in Great Britain”. These adverts will be classified as “non-family safe” which means they will not appear if the “Safe Search Filter” is switched on.

Neteller becomes Neovia Financial

The popular Isle of Man based online payment processor is due to change its name on 17th November 2008 from Neteller to Neovia Financial and be listed on the Stock Exchange as NEO (meaning new way) as part of a major rebranding exercise. The change is subject to the passing of a special resolution which will be held at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of the company’s shareholders which is on Tuesday 11th November 2008.

Neteller currently process online payments for companies such as Ladbrokes and was famously one of the major victims of the US law change on Internet gambling in 2006, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) saw Neteller handed a fine of $136 million dollars.  This US act made a 90% reduction in Neteller’s revenue stream and the firm then targeted Asian and European vendors in attempt to recover the lost revenue.  It is the aim of Neteller that the new identity will distinguish the parent firm from its individual Neteller, NetBanx and Net+ brands.

Breeders’ Cup returns to Churchill Downs in 2010

Following several months of speculation it has been confirmed by the organisers of the Breeders Cup that the location for 2010 Breeders’ Cup will be Churchill Downs. The event will be held on the 5th and 6th November 2010 and is known as the one the most prestigious racing events in the racing calendar.

The 14 races take place over two days and will have a total prize fund of £13 million ($25.5 million dollars). The race will be shown live in over 120 countries and will be shown in the UK on Sky Sports.  Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Robert Evans said in a press release “Our state, industry and our Churchill Downs team take great pride in the unparalleled record of success of the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs. The bold idea that became the Breeders’ Cup was unveiled in our city by visionary breeder and Breeders’ Cup founder John Gaines, and we are excited to officially start the countdown to the first visit by this great event in its new two-day format to Churchill Downs in 2010.”

The return to Churchill Downs marks the seventh time that the famous Louisville track has held the event, most recently in 2006, but it will be the first time it has hosted it in the new two day format.  This years Breeders’ Cup races will be held on October 24th & 25th at the Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California as will the 2009 event.