Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick are listed as the NASCAR betting favorites at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend as the Chase for the Sprint Cup rolls into the heartland of stock-car racing in Alabama for the Good Sam Club 500 on Sunday afternoon.
Earnhardt, who is listed at 9/1 odds to win the Good Sam Club 500, is in ninth place and a distant 60 points behind current leader Carl Edwards in the driver standings with only five races remaining in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. But with five career Sprint Cup victories already under his belt at Talladega, Earnhardt is sure to be a factor on raceday this weekend.
Harvick, who is just a notch behind Earnhardt at 10/1 odds, is in a much better position to translate good results at Talladega into a meaningful impact on the Sprint Cup driver standings as he currently sits in second place – just five points behind Edwards.
Jimmie Johnson, who won the Hollywood Casino 400 just two weeks ago at Kansas Speedway, is 35 points off the lead in eighth place as he seeks to win his sixth consecutive Sprint Cup title. Johnson won the Aaron’s 499 held in April at Talladega and is listed at 11/1 odds to visit Victory Lane again on Sunday.
A quartet of strong, experienced drivers is listed at 12/1 odds with Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch each looking to surge up the standings with a win at Talladega. Kyle Busch is in fourth place (18 points behind Edwards), Stewart is fifth (24 points behind), Kurt Busch is seventh (27 points behind), and Gordon is well back in 11th place (66 points behind).
The field has been set, and the top eight women in the rankings will take the court starting Tuesday at the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.
Eight women qualify for this season-ending tennis betting event, with Caroline Wozniacki the top seed for the tournament. The Dane had a won/loss record of 62-15 this season, but didn't make it past the semifinals in any Grand Slam event. Wozniacki, who won six titles in 2011, was the runner-up in this hardcourt event last season.
Maria Sharapova qualified second for the WTA Championships, going 43-12 this season with two titles and one Grand Slam final appearance (a loss at Wimbledon). Sharapova won the WTA Championships back in 2004.
Petra Kvitova, who qualified third for this tournament, went 53-13 this season with five titles – including Wimbledon. She'll be making her WTA Championships debut.
Victoria Azarenka and Li Na are the fourth and fifth qualifiers for the WTA Championships; Azarenka went 47-15 this season with two titles, while Na was 31-15 with two titles including the French Open.
Vera Zvonareva was the runner-up at the WTA Championships in 2008, and she qualified sixth for the tournament this year after going 54-18 with two titles in 2011. The Russian will be making her fifth appearance at this event.
Rounding out the field are Samantha Stosur and Agnieszka Radwanska. Stosur went 43-21 in 2011 with one title – the US Open – and she won the doubles final at this event back in 2006. Radwanska went 45-16 this season, winning three titles.
Death and taxes are supposed to be life's only inevitabilities, although people who believe in cryogenics and Sydney barristers who have successfully avoided taxes challenge this notion.
Indeed, there are certainties in horse racing, a sport where favourites are beaten and outsiders win.
Considering more than half the field in this year's Melbourne Cup are overseas horses and the dearth of top-line local stayers, it's a fair bet last year's winner, French stallion Americain, or another of the international raiders will triumph in our biggest race next Tuesday.
It's also inevitable wagering turnover on Melbourne's spring carnival will eclipse last year's figures.
Online corporate bookmaker Centrebet held a little less than $2 million on last year's Caulfield Cup card and wrote 80,000 bets. The turnover at this year's October 15 race was a little less than $3 million and Centrebet wrote 105,000 bets, up 23 per cent.
Centrebet, Australia's first listed corporate bookmaker, was acquired this year by Sportingbet, owned by the London Stock Exchange-listed Sportingbet plc. Another leading corporate bookmaker, Sportsbet, is owned by Irish giant Paddy Power, and the betting exchange Betfair Australia is half-British owned.
The sharks are circling and it's inevitable some of the smaller local online operators will be bought.
It's also worth punting that ''in the run'', ''push button'' or ''live'' wagering will increase.
Whereas horses once carried people, they now move billions of dollars, some of it changing hands during a race. Top gamblers, like Tom Waterhouse, are akin to stock exchange traders, backing some horses throughout a race and laying off on others.
In-the-run betting on horse racing is allowed in Australia online, via phone and at retail outlets under the Interactive Gambling Act.
Betfair estimates it represents between 7 per cent and 10 per cent of race wagering, depending on the quality of the race.
Tabcorp offers in-the-run only on the Melbourne Cup, Australia's longest race. ''Live betting on racing is difficult in Australia because the majority of our races are sprint races and are over in 60 to 90 seconds,'' Tabcorp's general manager of corporate affairs, Nicholas Tzaferis, says. ''That does not make it conducive to live betting, unlike an AFL or NRL game.''
But the act bars internet in-the-run betting on AFL, NRL and all sports other than racing. It's permitted by phone, or at retail outlets, or to overseas gamblers.
Allowing phone use is an anachronism and the concession to overseas punters is an anomaly, considering the foreign ownership of Australian betting institutions, including Tabcorp, where the majority of its top 20 shareholders are offshore, principally Hong Kong and the US.
The act is under review and it's a fair bet it will be amended to allow internet betting on sport, despite the risk of an increase in gambling and the associated social risks of family breakdown.
Sports will argue that allowing corporate bookmakers to take live bets online from domestic punters gives them access to betting records and protects the integrity of sport.
Sports will be accused of lobbying to increase wagering turnover and therefore a lift in their product fees.
However, the reality is sports do better from sponsorships and the sale of naming rights to corporate bookmakers than they do from revenue sharing.
This may change if the High Court upholds a decision of the full Federal Court allowing sports to charge a 1.5 per cent turnover tax on money gambled on their events.
Racing NSW believes thoroughbred racing in the state can make up to $50 million per annum if it survives the High Court challenge from Sportsbet and Betfair.
Other sports could generate significant amounts from wagering operators using their sport, with multi bets and exotic bets regularly generating a return of 30¢ on every $1 bet.
But counsel for Betfair/Sportsbet are confident they will win the case, although the outcome is not as certain as death and taxes.
There is no doubt about the fact that online sports betting is fast becoming one of the most popularly pursued forms of online gambling world-wide, and also with particular reference to mobile gaming. It is understandable therefore that many online sports-betting firms are lining up to get involved in business in the newly legalized Danish marketplace. Sports Betting Tech (SBTech), as a leading sports-betting software developer has signed a strategic partnership with Gaming Media Group. They will be launching a fully managed online Sportsbook product in this soon-to-be regulated country.
Gaming Media Group offers poker, casino and bingo online to European-facing players across various channels. They are the owner of the Poker Channel, which is Europe’s biggest betting TV channel. PokerHeaven.com, is also their business, and is one of the most favoured European online poker brands. Online poker in Europe is also extensively played.
This partnership adds to SBTech’s growing reputation as a leader in the online gambling game. They also recently became the sports-betting software solution for Winfootball – a regulated Austrian operator. They have a unique understanding of newly regulated markets, many of which are now opening up in Europe, so, this means they understand what it takes to operate, which of course if of great help in marketing their business activities.
European markets are a key focus for SBTech, but in particular they find Denmark an exciting prospect. As a relatively new company – formed in 2007 – Sports Betting Tech is able to provide cutting-edge sports-betting solutions. They offer a stable and secure software platform which is increasingly receiving more attention in this industry, as well as being adopted by online gambling operators globally. Both companies are looking forward to a long and successful partnership, and we can be pretty sure, we will be seeing more of these business deals taking place in Denmark in the near future.
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Denmark is setting the standard for how to open up a country to the online gambling market to the rest of the world and make it fair for all. The Danish regulatory platform is considered by many to be the best and firms are quickly looking for licenses to operate in Denmark. Sports betting and in particular mobile sports wagering is fast gaining the most interest from the greatest number of punting customers. Denmark is also fast becoming a very competitive place for companies who want to offer their online betting services there.
Sports Betting Tech (SBTech), which is a leading sports-betting software developer has signed a strategic partnership with Gaming Media Group. The aim will be to launch an online sports betting service in the Danish jurisdiction. SBTech was formed in 2007 and has developed its capabilities to deliver top notch fully managed betting operations at an impressive rate. The secure and stable platform has been getting lots of attention from the online gambling industry on a global basis.
Europe’s largest betting television channel is owned by the Gaming Media Group and offers numerous channels to play poker, and bingo, with PokerHeaven considered a premium brand for poker players throughout the European market. Among the Group’s other offerings there is CasinoJoy, BingoJoy, BlackjackHeaven, and the Poker Channel. The Poker Channel airs in over 30 million TV homes in 30 countries. In July 2010 the Channel launched for the first time into Mexico and Argentina in the Spanish language, and is set to launch for the first time in the USA next year.
Sports Beting Tech is a lucky and prosperous firm to have accomplished this strategic partnership with Gaming Media Group for the online sports book market in Denmark. It is a sure bet there will be more significant partnerships formed to enter the Danish jurisdiction.
Carl Edwards remains the leader in the Chase for the Sprint Cup with only four stops remaining on the NASCAR betting circuit before the champion driver is crowned for 2011. But Edwards and his #99 Ford is well down the list of betting favorites at 16/1 odds to win the Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway this Sunday afternoon (1:30 pm Eastern, ESPN).
Coming off a mediocre 11th-place finish last week in the Good Sam Club 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Edwards nonetheless sits 14 points ahead of second-place Matt Kenseth heading to the “Pretty Paperclip” oval track in Ridgeway, Virginia. Kenseth, who finished in 18th place last week at Talladega, is even further behind Edwards on the odds board at 30/1 to visit Victory Lane this weekend.
Neither Edwards nor Kenseth have previously managed to win a Sprint Cup race held at Martinsville, unlike fellow competitors Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick. Johnson, who is trying to remain in the hunt for his sixth consecutive Sprint Cup title but is a distant 50 points behind Edwards in seventh place, has won a half-dozen races on this track and is listed as the 6/1 chalk to win again on Sunday.
Harvick, who sits in fifth place a mere 26 points behind Edwards, won the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 held at Martinsville in April, while Hamlin has four career victories at Martinsville including three consecutive Sprint Cup wins in 12 months between October 2009 and 2010. Harvick and Hamlin are right behind Johnson at 13/2 odds to register the victory on Sunday.
Jeff Gordon (with seven wins at Martinsville) and Tony Stewart (with two) are both at 15/2 odds to win the Tums Fast Relief 500, with Stewart sitting 19 points behind Edwards in fourth place in the driver standings. Brad Keselowski, one point ahead of Stewart in third place, is well back at 18/1 odds to take the checkered flag on Sunday.
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The sight of prison vans leaving Southwark crown court ought to be sending chills down the spine of every professional cricketer in a position to accept the kind of inducements that have brought prison sentences for Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir.
We know that the arrest and conviction of the men responsible for the Great Train Robbery almost half a century ago did not put an end to armed theft, but the spectacle of the careers of three of the world's most talented players lying in ruins and probably beyond repair should, as Mr Justice Cooke intended, at least provide some sort of a deterrent to others tempted to follow the same path.
A blow was being struck for the integrity of professional sport, in an attempt to help preserve the fundamental transaction between the player and the spectator, who must believe in what he or she is seeing. It is a belief challenged most frequently by the spectre of doping, whether affecting sprinters, cyclists, weightlifters or snooker players. But the detection of the individual use of performance-enhancing drugs is more straightforward than that of collective match-fixing and spot-fixing, which is why the trial of the Pakistani trio and their agent, Mazhar Majeed, is such a rare example of its type, and so important at a time when modern communications enable gambling interests to extend their tentacles ever further.
Football – notably in the 1964 case of the Sheffield Wednesday players Tony Kay, Peter Swan, and "Bronco" Layne – and tennis and horse racing are among other sports to have been touched by the rigging of results. But not since baseball's infamous 1919 World Series, when eight members of the Chicago White Sox conspired with a professional gambler, Joseph "Sport" Sullivan, and the New York gangster Arnold Rothstein to lose to the Cincinnati Reds, has there been a trial quite like the one that finished in London on Thursday, exposing an attempt to affect a match at the very pinnacle of the sport in question.
The baseball players were lucky in that administrative errors led a Chicago grand jury to acquit them of criminal charges, although they were never allowed to play the game again. The three cricketers have been banned from their sport for specified terms, but it is hard to see them returning, with the possible exception of Amir, who was 18 at the time of the offence and was described by the judge as "unsophisticated, uneducated and impressionable".
Mr Justice Cooke took upon himself the responsibility of acting not just for society in general, which is his usual remit, but for the game of cricket –"the very name of which," as he said in his sentencing remarks, "used to be associated with fair dealing on the sporting field. 'It's not cricket' was an adage. It is the insidious effect of your actions on professional cricket and the followers of it which make the offences so serious."
If he seemed momentarily, in his wig and robes amid the full panoply of English law, to be speaking for the chaps in MCC ties drinking their pink gins in the Long Room at Lord's and dreaming of golden afternoons before the war, then it is worth listening to the response of Ali Shujaat, the head of Lahore's cricket academy, of which Butt was a graduate. "I am feeling bitter that the judge was so kind," he told Sky Sports News. "I was looking forward to longer sentences."
Someone such as Shujaat, far more than any figure of the old cricket establishment, represents the heart of the 21st-century game, which is to be found in the subcontinent. His words were those of a man with a clear sight of the present dangers that threaten to corrupt its soul beyond hope of redemption.
The revelation that the late Hansie Cronje had been an organiser of fixed matches while captain of South Africa, made as a result of investigations by the Delhi police 11 years ago, came as a terrible shock to the sport. The case of Butt, Asif and Amir, revealed by a newspaper during the 2010 Lord's Test between England and Pakistan, was even worse because the allegations, now proven, seemed to be part of a much wider, more systematic phenomenon. There was something almost matter-of-fact about the way the men behaved as they went about organising the schedule of no-balls, drawing a gifted 18‑year‑old from an impoverished background into their schemes as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Just as English football's match-fixing scandal was exposed by the Sunday People, so the Pakistani players' spot-fixing came to light as a result of the investigative work of the News of the World and its undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood. The fear must be that the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit, whose five regional officers represent half the number recommended by its former chairman, Lord Condon, lacks the resources and the special expertise deployed by Fleet Street. While Mr Justice Cooke's action may indeed exert a deterrent effect, the demise of Rupert Murdoch's Sunday tabloid may have lessened the chances of such activities being exposed in the future.
If the best that can be said on behalf of Butt, Asif and Amir is that the influence of corruption on almost every aspect of life in Pakistan may have distorted their view of the seriousness of a little light spot-fixing, it might also be pointed out that the real criminals were not in the dock in Southwark, a point to which the judge alluded while sentencing Amir.
"You have referred, in material presented to the court, to threats to yourself and your family, saying that there are significant limits to what you can say in public," he said, going on to give credence to "those threats and the strength of the underworld influences who control unlawful betting abroad". The Arnold Rothstein of the Fourth Test remains in the shadows.
The smoky betting shops of the subcontinent and Persian Gulf might seem far away, but no cricket country has been as tainted by gambling in its early years as Australia.
Pakistan, whose former captain Salman Butt and opening bowlers Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Amir were this week jailed for corruption, is still in relative cricketing infancy, as is India, where much of the illegal betting that threatens cricket's credibility takes place.
At a comparable stage of its development, Australia's national teams and cricket grounds were riddled with gamblers, fair and corrupt. So inseparable were gambling and cricket that the current era, when top players might be taken to be uncorrupted, is the historical exception rather than the norm.
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When cricket evolved in Australia, its ''underlying purpose'', as historian David Kynaston puts it, ''was as a vehicle for betting''. In the early to mid-Victorian era, cricket was, like horse racing, an excuse to gamble. Never mind gambling overpowering the economy of the game; gambling was the economy of the game.
This produced the greatest scandals of 19th-century cricket in Australia. When the crowd invaded the SCG and attacked the visiting English team in January 1879, it was at the instigation of gamblers unhappy that the heavily backed local hero, Billy Murdoch, had been given run out. Signs in the Members' Stand prohibiting bookmakers were openly ignored, The Sydney Morning Herald decried ''the impunity with which open betting was carried out in the pavilion'', and even the NSW and Australian captain, Dave Gregory, was accused of inciting the riot - he refused to send out a new batsman to replace Murdoch - on bookmakers' instructions.
Following the riot, gambling was banned (and the ban enforced) inside the SCG, but it flourished elsewhere. Two years later, the Weekly Times reported that players were manipulating Sydney club games to ensure closer results, in order to stimulate betting interest.
The next English tour was caught up in allegations of player corruption. When England played Victoria in December 1881, three tourists - George Ulyett, John Selby and William Scotton - were allegedly offered hundreds of pounds to throw the match. They tried to draw in one of their teammates, William Midwinter, who reported the approach to their captain, Alfred Shaw. A punch-up resulted between Ulyett, who denied the allegation, and Midwinter. Shaw placed money on England to win at the outlandish odds of 30 to 1 (so confident were the bookmakers that the game was fixed), and made a small fortune. England did win, though Shaw believed Selby took at least one catch when he was trying to drop it.
The Australasian newspaper condemned cricketers' morals in 1882, saying they ''are seen drinking champagne at a late hour with members of the betting ring when they ought to be in bed''.
Such admonitions didn't stop them. A decade later, Shaw said ''too many betting men favoured the pastime with their presence and support''. Bookmakers were not just taking wagers on win-loss results, but setting individual players against each other, and offering players big money to stage ''single-wicket'' contests purely for gambling. So called ''exotic'' betting options have a history as long as cricket. This was not unique to Australia: the original Test cricket laws set out by the Marylebone Cricket Club had four laws governing the acceptance and payment of bets.
At the height of the betting scandals, organised cricket in Australia had been played for as long as it has now been played in Pakistan. The question cricket faces after the Butt-Asif-Amir jailings is the same as it faced in the 1890s. How to stop it?
Corrupt wagering on big cricket was virtually ironed out by 1900. One reason was simple leadership, by disciplinarians such as Joe Darling and Monty Noble in Australia and the aristocrats Lord Harris and Lord Hawke in England. Misbehaving players had more to lose than gain by taking bribes to fix matches. They were not highly paid, but cricket's prestige grew to an extent where it did, for a period, largely justify its claims to embody an ethos of fair play. Most importantly, though, in Australia corruption became self-defeating: big gambling money deserted cricket for horse racing, as gamblers followed the maxim of only trusting competitors who could not speak.
Not that corrupt betting disappeared from cricket entirely. The Australian captain of the 1920s, Herbie Collins, a rails bookmaker, was accused by one of his teammates, Hunter ''Stork'' Hendry, of fixing the result of a Test match in 1925. The accusation was never supported, but history is so silent on the sudden blackballing of several early Australian Test cricketers that it would be naive to assume that gambling bribes played no part. There was no News of the World to catch them …
Larrikins of Australian cricket through the 20th century such as Keith Miller and Dennis Lillee admitted placing bets on matches, and Shane Warne and Mark Waugh were punished in the 1990s for taking payments from an illegal bookmaker. Lillee's backing England, with Rod Marsh, at 500 to 1 in the Headingley Test of 1981 was infamous, but ''harmless'' flutters were routine in the Ladbrokes' tents. In the Ashes tour of 1972, as 12th man in a county match, Lillee pooled teammates' money to bet on Australia taking five wickets by lunch. They took six. When Lillee went to collect, he was horrified to discover the bet he had placed was for exactly five wickets.
In Pakistani cricket today, as their former coach Geoff Lawson has pointed out, the disincentives to take bribes are for some players outweighed by the incentives. Butt, Asif and Amir were paid a fraction of their international rivals. Like South Africa's disgraced captain Hansie Cronje, they were motivated by bitterness towards their employers. The honour of representing their country had diminished when political unr
Last year the New Jersey Senate passed a law to legalize online gambling in the state. Their hope was that online betting would bring much needed revenue to the struggling economy and also take away some of the illegal betting that was already happening offshore. The Senate wasn’t concerned about a federal challenge since intrastate gambling was already legal under the UIGEA. After the vote, the only thing that could prevent the bill becoming a law was a veto by Governor Christie. To everyone’s shock that is precisely what happened. In March of 2011 Christie indeed vetoed the bill stating that the issue should be decided by a referendum.
“If the Legislature believes that expanding gambling outside of Atlantic City is in the best interests of the State of New Jersey, it should place the question on the ballot for the voters to decide,” Christie said in the veto message.
The decision, while surprising, was seen to be politically motivated by many gambling pundits. They felt that Christie’s presidential aspirations forced his hand since he could never win the Republican ticket while being viewed as the first governor to legalize online gambling in a state. Once Christie announced he was not going to run for president, however, the concern that his vote for gambling could hinder his political career was no longer applicable. Others closer to the situation, on the other hand, widely refuted those claims and stated that Christie’s concern was always about the optics of making decisions for the people of New Jersey without their input. One New Jersey legislator even stated:
“I trust that governor Christie is only concerned for the best interest of citizens of this great state. We’ll just have to work hard to convince New Jersey that online gambling is in their best interest and convince them to vote in favor of expanded gambling when it’s put up in a referendum.”
The other issue on the table that sat in the governor’s lap was sports betting. New Jersey is prevented under federal law from offering sports betting as a result of the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) which was passed into law in 1992. New Jersey was offered the opportunity to option out of the law as Nevada, Delaware, Montana and Oregon had as a result of legalized gambling in those states, but New Jersey chose not to. Recently, many legislators in the state have had regrets about that decision and thus have petitioned to have PASPA amended or overturned. The motion was started by Senator Ray Lesniak in conjunction with iMEGA. They proclaim that PASPA violates numerous sections of the constitution but in particular the sections relating to states rights and the commerce clause. In better words they believe that offering something to 4 states at the exclusion of the other 46 is unconstitutional and PASPA should never have been allowed into law in the first place. Ironically, the DoJ in 1992 expressed a similar concern.
On November 8th the state will put the sports betting question to a referendum. The online gambling question won’t be a part of the referendum but there is belief that if the state votes “Yes” to legalize sports betting then an online gambling referendum would follow soon after.
To the surprise of many, Governor Christie recently announced that he will be voting “Yes” on the referendum to allow sports betting in New Jersey.
“For those concerned what I’m going to do, I’m voting yes,” Christie said. “I think it’s important for New Jersey to have this option. I don’t think it’s fair that it’s restricted to just a few states. Gaming is surrounding us everywhere.”
This may appear to be a change in his previous stance on gambling but others don’t see it that way. They simply believe that Christie always wanted gambling expansion for the state but wanted the people to decide since it would give him greater fodder to get the law amended in Congress if he can prove it’s the people’s choice.
Bill Pascrell III, a lobbyist for the Princeton Public Affairs Group (PPAG) is one of those people and is very confident that sports betting will be affirmed in the November 8th vote.
“As the Campaign Director and spokesperson for Vote Yes on Sports initiative I am very proud of our work. We have been working very hard on this issue for the past 9 months since the Governor vetoed the original online bill that was on his desk. The Governor's decision to support our sports betting referendum and a new law for on line gaming is after long deliberation, lots of consideration and careful thought. We have done an excellent job of working these issues very hard. The Governor's decision had nothing to do with his Presidential considerations. He realizes the significant benefits and opportunities for the state of New Jersey. He is a leader and he wants to lead on this issue and make New Jersey the 1st in the nation (to legalize online betting). Senator Lesniak and I have continued to work hard on this issue everyday. We are hopeful that the fruits of our labor will result in victory next Tuesday November 8th on Election Day. If successful, (and I believe we will be successful) we will continue to put the structure in place to make New Jersey the first to allow on line gaming.”
While a “yes” vote will indeed set the wheels in motion, it won’t automatically lead to legalized sports betting. PASPA is still a federal law and can only be repealed by a 2/3 vote in Congress or by a decision in the U.S. Supreme Court ruling the law unconstitutional. Both right now seem unlikely although the federal government and courts seem to be warming up to gambling expansion as a revenue generator. In fact even the sports leagues, which have been the strongest opponents, seem more willing to consider the idea. And if the decision is indeed left up to the Supreme Court to decide it’s hard to see them agreeing that the exclusionary law is constitutional. “You had your chance but blew it” may be a valid argumen
Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson are the co-favorites at 7/1 on the NASCAR betting odds to win the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon (3:00 pm Eastern, ESPN), but it’s Edwards who has a huge lead on the five-time defending champion in the driver standings as the Chase for the Sprint Cup inches ever closer to a conclusion.
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With only three races remaining before the Sprint Cup is awarded to this season’s champion driver, Edwards holds a 43-point lead on sixth-place Johnson, who is running out of track in his bid to win a remarkable sixth consecutive title. Edwards also has three career Cup victories under his belt at Texas Motor Speedway, while Johnson has one.
Tony Stewart, who edged out Johnson to take the checkered flag last week at the Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway, has surged into second place behind Edwards and sits just eight points out of the lead heading into the AAA Texas 500. Stewart is listed at 8/1 odds to register his second straight win on Sunday, and also has one previous win on the track at Texas.
Kevin Harvick sits third in the current driver standings, 21 points behind Edwards, and is listed behind six other drivers at 11/1 to win the AAA Texas 500. Matt Kenseth (15/1), Jeff Gordon (9/1), and Kyle Busch (also 9/1) are the other top contenders listed ahead of Harvick, with Denny Hamlin just behind those seven drivers at 12/1 odds. Hamlin won both Sprint Cup races held earlier this season at Texas Motor Speedway.
Edwards remains the 10/11 betting favorite on the NASCAR futures board to win the Sprint Cup, with Stewart close behind at 6/5 odds to close the gap and win the title over the season's final three races.
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Boxing betting fans looking for action on the undefeated IBF Super Middleweight champion Lucian Bute (29-0) this weekend can find it at the Bodog Sportsbook. Bute will be defending his title for the ninth time, and on Saturday night it will be against the 42-year-old former IBF Light Heavyweight champ Glen Johnson.
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Oddsmakers at the Bodog Sportsbook have handicapped the champion as a heavy -1000 favorite to retain his title. Bute has run through most of the top contenders in the division and has beaten far better fighters than Johnson. He should be able to earn an easy paycheck on Saturday night. His last six fights were all won by TKO or KO and the 31-year-old Romanian/Canadian immigrant seems to get better every time we see him.
The one thing that Glen Johnson will have going for him in this fight is size. A former Light Heavyweight, the Jamaican challenger will likely outweigh Bute by as much as 20 lbs by the time the two fighters step into the ring. As a +600 underdog it might be worth the risk to take the chance on Johnson landing a big right hand at some point in the fight and shocking everyone with an upset victory.
The Bodog Sportsbook is also offering prop action on the fight. Bettors can wager on the Over/Under rounds, which is set at 11.5. Both fighters have high KO percentages throughout their careers so the Under moneyline is currently set at -325, while the successful Over bet will pay +250. It’s been seven fights and three years since Bute has gone the distance in any of his fights, while Johnson has had five decisions in his last eight times out.
New Jersey in the USA is the home of America’s other casino destination Atlantic City which has been experiencing significant losses as the US economy moves slowly. Almost a year ago the New Jersey Senate approved a bill and essentially legalized online gambling in the State with the hope of tax revenues and a better economical outlook. The only thing standing in the way of New Jersey being the first to get the ball rolling in the USA and build a new internet gambling industry was the governor’s veto vote.
Christie said in the veto message, “If the Legislature believes that expanding gambling outside of Atlantic City is in the best interests of the State of New Jersey, it should place the question on the ballot for the voters to decide,” The politics of the decision were especially complicated, and an individual New Jersey legislator stated, “I trust that governor Christie is only concerned for the best interest of citizens of this great state. We’ll just have to work hard to convince New Jersey that online gambling is in their best interest and convince them to vote in favour of expanded gambling when it’s put up in a referendum.”
Another question came up for the governor regarding gambling on sports. November 8th the state will put the sports betting question to a referendum. The numbers aren’t in on how much money could be generated in New Jersey with legalized sports betting but a Pennsylvania University study suggests that up to $10 billion could be bet in the state on sports wagering in the first year which in turn would bring in about $800 million in gross tax revenue. New Jersey needs the boost and hopefully the governor won’t be a stumbling block to making that happen.
ATLANTIC CITY — Imagine spending Super Bowl weekend down the shore in a packed casino with the chance to actually legally bet on your favorite team. For Atlantic City casinos, battered by an economic downturn and increased competition, any chance to get a piece of a $380 billion industry is worth the gamble. And that’s exactly what this week’s nonbinding referendum might be.
On Tuesday, voters will be asked whether the state should legalize sports betting, a referendum that has the full support of Gov. Chris Christie and several state legislators.
“I’m voting yes,” Christie said last week. “I think it’s important for New Jersey to have this option. I don’t think it’s fair that it’s restricted to just a few states.”
And state Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak, D-Union, who has sued unsuccessfully to overturn the existing ban, said recently, “By next season we’ll be (legally) betting on the Giants versus the Eagles.”
However, according to a Las Vegas gaming analyst, while the referendum might pass, it will all have been a waste of time because the federal law that bans sports betting in New Jersey and 45 other states would still need to be repealed or overturned.
“There’s no chance (the ban) will be overturned,” said Roger Gros, publisher of Global Gaming, a monthly trade magazine.
“It would be nice for Atlantic City and New Jersey,” Gros said last week from Las Vegas, “but the odds of the ban being repealed are infinitesimal.”
Lesniak disagrees, and said he’s certain the law will be written off the books.
“Overturning a federal law is never easy, but I’m confident on this one,” Lesniak said. “We’re looking forward to the referendum passing, and as soon as we get that done, we’ll move almost instantaneously on a bill for the governor to sign.
“We’re looking to have the ban declared unconstitutional, and some very good legal authorities we’ve spoken to agree with that. It’s one state against another,” said Lesniak, referring to four other states — Delaware, Nevada, Montana and Oregon — that permit sports betting in various forms. State lawmakers would have to work between Nov. 9 and the end of the legislative session on Jan. 9, 2012 to pass any legislation.
Lesniak said any legilsation would include protection against cheating and underage gambling. Betting on sports events involving New Jersey colleges would also be outlawed.
Should the referendum pass and the ban be overturned, sports betting would be allowed in the casinos of Atlantic City, the state’s four racetracks, as well as on sites of former racetracks, including Garden State Park in Cherry Hill.
Assemblyman John Burzichelli, who was involved with shaping the legislation for the referendum, said sports betting is everywhere — it just makes sense to legalize it.
“This is about getting a level playing field for our casinos and racetracks. It will give our racetracks something different to offer and it will contribute to the state’s tax base.”
Local gamblers and nongamblers have mixed feelings about the possibility of legalized betting. While some see benefits like revenue for the state and an increase in jobs, others feel it won’t do much to deter illegal gambling.
“I know it’s a lucrative business, and it will bring in money,” said Collingswood restaurateur Angelo Lutz, who was convicted of gambling and extortion in 2001.
“Atlantic City is hurting right now. It needs to follow the lead of Nevada,” said Lutz, who served nearly nine years in prison.
In 2010, more than $2.7 billion was legally wagered on sporting events in Nevada.
“The office pools for the Super Bowl and March Madness won’t go away, but the sports books at the casinos could offer something more lucrative.”
Lutz also believes legalizing sports betting would eliminate a lot of the problems that are associated with his former business.
“When I was running the illegal bookie operation, a guy could call me up and bet money he didn’t have. Whereas if it’s legal, a bettor is only going to put down what he has in his pocket. That will take away the problems like loansharking and other things,” Lutz said. Charlie “Chopper” W of Cherry Hill said illegal bookies in New Jersey probably won’t lose much business if betting becomes legal.
“I don’t think people will bother to drive to Atlantic City or go to one of the racetracks,” said “Chopper,” who used to bet heavily on football games, but now sticks to the lottery.
“Guys who bet have parties at their home and call their bookies. Why go to a casino where you’ll pay $8 for a beer? No, I’m gonna pick up a case and watch the games at home. I say 80 percent of bettors will still use a bookie.”
Sen. Lesniak said legalized betting would be a “win-win-win for the state of New Jersey.
“Now we’re losing out on hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and thousands of jobs that would be created from the tourism to the casinos and racetracks.
“Our casinos would be packed during the Super Bowl and the (NCAA basketball) Final Four. Now you can’t get a room in Las Vegas (during those events) and it’s a ghost town in Atlantic City.”
Gros, an Atlantic City native, said the residuals of allowing sports betting — people renting hotel rooms, buying food and drinks — are the real moneymakers for the casinos and the state.
“More than $2 billion were spent in Nevada last year on sports betting,” Gros said. “But the profits from that were only about $130 million. The money to be made comes from the people coming into town to place their bets.
“The atmosphere on any given Sunday during the NFL is electric,” Gros said of Las Vegas casinos. “The sportsbook rooms seat about 1,000 people and there are huge televisions all over the walls. Then there are the big boards that list the odds of all the games going on. It’s amazing.”
New Jersey was given a chance in 1991 to be one of the few states with sports betting but failed to act. Then-Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., a former pro basket
Boxing odds on WBO Welterweight champ Manny Pacquiao (53-3-2) usually come at a hefty price. Bargains on the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world may be a thing of the past, but that doesn’t mean you can't find some value in the lines on one of his fights.
This Saturday night Pacquiao will step into the ring for the third time against the one fighter that has given him the most difficulty in recent years, Juan Manuel Marquez; the lines at the Bodog Sportsbook have Pacquiao handicapped as a heavy favorite to retain his WBO title.
Bet on the Pacquiao/Marquez fight with Bodog.
In his first two fights against Marquez (53-5-1) Pacquiao has only managed a draw and a split-decision victory, a split decision that many think should have gone to Marquez. But despite Marquez’s success action on Pacquiao to win currently costs -1100. It’s been three years since Pacquiao’s split-decision victory and it seems that oddsmakers believe he has evolved more than the ageing Marquez.
The only blemishes Marquez has suffered on his record in the last five years were decision losses to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao. The Bodog Sportsbook is offering a generous upset line of +650 on Marquez on Saturday night, which might be worth the risk considering the two fighters' history together.
Their history in the ring together shows boxing fans that their two fights went the distance. The Bodog Sportsbook is offering action on the fight going Over/Under 10.5 rounds. Pacquiao was able to drop Marquez numerous times in their first two fights but couldn’t close the deal. If he can finish the job before the halfway point of the 10th round that bet will pay -150. If you think this fight will go deeper the way their first two fights did the Over bet will pay +110.
Efforts to expand gambling to shore up strapped municipal finances and help job creation headed for defeat in Maine voting on Tuesday while New Jersey voters cast their support for sports betting.
With 73 percent of the votes counted, Maine voters rejected two ballot questions that would have expanded the number of licensed gambling halls in the state to five from two.
One question asked Maine voters to approve creation of two "racinos," or harness racing tracks with slot machines located about 250 miles apart in coastal Maine.
It was rejected by 56 percent of the votes counted, according to unofficial results compiled by the Bangor Daily News.
Nearly 64 percent of Maine voters rejected a second question on allowing a casino with slot machines and table games such as craps and roulette in Lewiston, a former center of the textile industry and the state's second-largest city.
New Jersey voters, meanwhile, were asked if they wanted to seek to overturn a federal law prohibiting sports betting.
With votes in five of the state's 21 counties tallied, some 90,000 voters approved the measure with about 55,000 opposed.
By late evening votes had been tallied so far in Cape May, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Salem and Union counties.
If the referendum passes as expected, it is a step toward making it legal to gamble on professional, college or amateur sporting events by placing bets at casinos and racetracks.
Such betting is outlawed by federal law except in Nevada and Delaware. Approval would set the stage for New Jersey to file a lawsuit to overturn the federal ban within its borders as well.
Sports gaming generated $151 million in gross gaming revenue for Nevada in 2010, according to the American Gaming Association.
Also in Maine, voters in Penobscot County, home to the state's only licensed slot machine parlor, appeared set to approve a question that would allow the Bangor facility to expand to include table games like blackjack.
A second gambling parlor with table games was narrowly approved last year and is due to open this spring in the western town of Oxford.
Owners of both the Bangor and Oxford establishments helped finance opposition to the proposed gambling halls on this year's ballot.
Boxing is a classic sport and many still see the matches as an opportunity to place a bet and watch for the outcome. There is excitement in the air as two very different contenders face off this November 12, 2011 with the Pacquiao v Marquez fight ready to roll. These two fighters are ready once again to put the gloves on as they have on numerous occasions since 2004.
Marquez managed to hit the canvas three times in the first round back in 2004 and still at up and score enough points to call a draw. Proof that when the going gets tough the tough get going. In the 2008 bout Marquez slammed the floor this time in the third round but fought back for twenty four rounds. Welterweight champ Manny Pacquiao odds are overwhelmingly in the champs favour as the contender who has shown a remarkable ability to come back after severe punishment much to the consternation of Pacquiao.
In play wagering is making the punting much more lively as the older at 38 years but possibly wiser Marquez may be at the end of a stunning career that has had some controversial judges decisions. Speculation has it that Pacquiao may have evolved since fighting his opponent last and will take control of the match from the outset.
Online gambling operators are offering generous odds based on the performance from the two fighters and odds of course on a possible upset for the champ. Pacquiao will be fighting hard to set the scene for a super battle with Mayweather sometime next year.
Making a decision based on the facts is what gambling is all about but there are times when the gut instinct can make better bets than logic. It should be a good battle to watch and play on as it progresses.
As many of us watch and root for our favorite teams, could we soon be rooting to win more than just bragging rights?
In New Jersey, voters like Jorel McOttry gave their approval on Election Day to allow sports betting.
"You want your team to do good," said McOttry. "Why not make money off of them doing good, making a victory?"
N.J. Gov. Chris Christie is expected to support new legislation to make sports betting legal in the Garden State.
Sports betting will undoubtedly bring more money to Atlantic City, and it could not come sooner.
A recent report suggested more gamblers are choosing to spend their money at casinos in Pennsylvania, including the Sands Bethlehem and Mount Airy, over those in Atlantic City.
Before casinos and racetracks in New Jersey can start accepting bets, federal lawmakers still have to overturn the current ban, enacted since 1992.
Right now, betting on sports is illegal in all but four states, Delaware, Montana, Oregon and Nevada.
An NFL spokesperson said the league opposes gambling on football and will continue to support the sports betting ban.
Gambling enthusiasts like Mike Stallings, of Phillipsburg, have a different opinion.
"People who want to do it should be able to do it. People who don't, don't do it," said Stallings.
Opponents said sports betting leads to many personal issues like debt, stealing, and relationship problems.
Carl Edwards will have to hold off the hard-charging Tony Stewart one final time if he hopes to win his first Sprint Cup championship in NASCAR betting action this Sunday afternoon (3:00 pm Eastern, ESPN) in the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Get all your NASCAR odds at Bodog.
With only one race remaining in the 2011 season, Edwards holds a slender three-point lead on Stewart in the driver standings and simply needs to cross the finish line ahead of Stewart on Sunday in order to win the Sprint Cup crown. Edwards did exactly that last year at the Ford 400, winning at the Homestead-Miami track while Stewart was well behind in eighth place.
Stewart is the hottest driver when it comes to more recent form however, as he’s won four of the nice races staged so far in the Chase for the Sprint Cup including back-to-back victories at Martinsville and Texas on October 30 and November 6 respectively. Last week at the Kobalt Tools 500 in Phoenix won by Kasey Kahne, Stewart finished a strong third with Edwards crossing the line ahead of him in second place.
Stewart is favored to win the race this Sunday at 5/1 odds, just ahead of Edwards at 11/2. Both drivers have two previous victories on the Homestead-Miami track, with Edwards winning the Ford 400 in 2008 as well as last year and Stewart winning the first two races held in Cup competition on this track back in 1999 and 2000.
Edwards is listed as the -125 favorite to finish ahead of Stewart on Sunday and lift the Sprint Cup championship trophy, while Stewart is at +105 to come from behind and claim the title.
Earnhardt, who is listed at 9/1 odds to win the Good Sam Club 500, is in ninth place and a distant 60 points behind current leader Carl Edwards in the driver standings with only five races remaining in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. But with five career Sprint Cup victories already under his belt at Talladega, Earnhardt is sure to be a factor on raceday this weekend.
Harvick, who is just a notch behind Earnhardt at 10/1 odds, is in a much better position to translate good results at Talladega into a meaningful impact on the Sprint Cup driver standings as he currently sits in second place – just five points behind Edwards.
Jimmie Johnson, who won the Hollywood Casino 400 just two weeks ago at Kansas Speedway, is 35 points off the lead in eighth place as he seeks to win his sixth consecutive Sprint Cup title. Johnson won the Aaron’s 499 held in April at Talladega and is listed at 11/1 odds to visit Victory Lane again on Sunday.
A quartet of strong, experienced drivers is listed at 12/1 odds with Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch each looking to surge up the standings with a win at Talladega. Kyle Busch is in fourth place (18 points behind Edwards), Stewart is fifth (24 points behind), Kurt Busch is seventh (27 points behind), and Gordon is well back in 11th place (66 points behind).
Get all your NASCAR odds at Bodog.