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Bettors have the opportunity to wager on one of the true boxing betting studs this weekend when undefeated WBO Light Heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (23-0) puts his title on the line against the relatively unknown Tom Karpency (21-2-1). The two will meet in the champion’s native Wales in front of what is sure to be a ridiculously pro-Cleverly crowd.

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Cleverly survived a bit of a scare against Tony Bellew last October, winning via split decision. He now looks to get back on track with an impressive win over Karpency and regain the aura of invincibility we’ve become accustomed to seeing on him. Cleverly will be bigger, stronger, and tougher than his opponent, and barring a lucky shot should have an easy day at the office Saturday night.

Karpency has not fought in over a year, and it’s unclear how he managed to earn the title shot at all. For that reason, and many others, he will be a huge underdog to walk away with the WBO Light Heavyweight strap this weekend. However, stranger things have happened in the ring, and the payout is sure to be a big one if he can somehow manage the upset.

This matchup will be heavily handicapped in Cleverly’s favor, but if you have the bankroll the British champion has been perfect thus far. This fight has tuneup written all over it, and that means a big price vs. a big payout.

Cleverly seems to be biding time until he gets a fight with the big names of the division, but as we’ve seen so many times in the past it’s an overlooked underdog that ends up pulling out a surprise performance and shocking an overconfident champion who is thinking about bigger fights.

The winner of the Daytona 500 hasn’t been the expected winner for more than a few years – will that change Sunday when the NASCAR season officially opens with its Super Bowl? Bet on the race at Bovada’s motorsports odds.

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A year ago, Trevor Bayne came from nowhere to win the Great American Race. In fact, he was just happy to be there, competing in his first Daytona 500 while on loan to the Woods Brothers racing team from Roush Fenway. Now he's looking to become the third driver to win this race in consecutive years and the first since Sterling Marlin in 1994 and '95.

On the pole is Carl Edwards, who was edged for the points title last year in the final race of the season at Miami by Tony Stewart. Many believe Edwards is the top driver in the series now, but being on the pole does not ensure success at the Daytona 500. In fact, no pole sitter has won since 2000 (Dale Jarrett). Since 2007, only one pole winner has even had a Top-10 finish. It was Edwards’ 12th career pole but first pole at a restrictor plate track. He was the runner-up to Bayne a year ago, his best finish at Daytona.

Much of the talk for this year’s 500 will be around Danica Patrick, who will be making her NASCAR Sprint Cup debut in the race. No driver has won a Sprint Cup race in his or her first start since 1963 when Johnny Rutherford took the checkered flag for the second Daytona 500 qualifier race. (Bayne's win last year came in his second Sprint Cup start.) Patrick is the third female to compete in the Daytona 500, joining Janet Guthrie and Shawna Robinson. Her chances of winning got longer in Thursday’s Gatorade Duels as the crashed and will now start at the back of the field. She was assured of a spot in the 500 only because of owner’s points – otherwise that crash would have cost her a spot.

Is this finally the year Kurt Busch breaks through? He has finished second three times in his 11 Daytona 500s, and in the top five six times, including fifth in 2011. Busch has the best average finish in the past 10 Daytona races (11.4).

Many favor Kevin Harvick on Sunday. He won this race in 2007 and has four other Top-10 finishes in this race, although he was 42nd a year ago. Defending points champion Stewart, who starts third on Sunday, is looking for his first win in NASCAR’s biggest race. His best finish was runner-up in 2004 and Stewart was 13th a year ago. Greg Biffle starts next to Edwards on the front row. His best result here was third in 2010.

The past 10 Daytona 500s were won by 10 different drivers, the longest streak of 500 winners without a repeat winner. Each of the past five Daytona 500 winners led less than eight laps in their victory.

Great post...

After a disappointing early exit last week from the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, Tiger Woods will try again to get his game back on track this week as he makes his first career appearance as a professional at The Honda Classic in PGA Tour golf betting action beginning Thursday on the PGA National’s Champion Course at Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

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Woods, who missed a short putt on the 18th hole to lose to Nick Watney last week at the Accenture, is listed at 10/1 odds to earn a victory this week on the challenging course that includes the notorious “Bear Trap”, a stretch of three holes (No. 15-17) that consistently ranks among the most difficult sequence on the PGA Tour.

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, who could vault into the No. 1 spot on the official world golf rankings with a win this week, is currently listed as the favorite at 15/2 odds, while Lee Westwood of England is ranked second at 9/1 odds. McIlroy finished as the runner-up last week at the Accenture, losing the final match to Hunter Mahan, while Westwood was beaten by McIlroy in the semi-final and also lost his third-place match to Mark Wilson.

Wilson, who won his first career PGA Tour title back in 2007 at The Honda Classic and also won the Humana Challenge in January, offers significant value at 40/1 odds to continue his recent stretch of strong play with a victory this week.

Major champions Charl Schwartzel of South Africa and Keegan Bradley of the United States are both listed at 25/1 odds to win The Honda Classic, while defending champion Rory Sabbatini of South Africa is well down the list at 66/1 odds.

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The odds on Las Vegas-style single-game sports betting are finally in Ontario’s favour.

Thanks to a private member’s bill by NDP MP Joe Comartin (Windsor—Tecumseh), the Criminal Code is being amended to allow such wagering on football, hockey, baseball, soccer, basketball and other sports.

Comartin’s bill, which ends the prohibition on betting on one game, passed the Commons on Friday and now heads to the Senate.

It will enable Ontario casinos to open “sports books” to attract people keen to bet on individual games instead of just the existing Pro-Line that requires gamblers to wager on a minimum of three games simultaneously.

“Although there are still important details to work out, this would represent good news particularly for our casinos along the border,” said Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation president and CEO Rod Phillips.

Indeed, Queen’s Park has long pleaded with Ottawa to make the legislative change to help gambling houses in both Niagara Falls and Windsor.

The OLG casinos have suffered due to the high Canadian dollar, U.S. border hassles, anti-smoking policies, and Ontario laws that prevent free drinks from being given to gamblers.

While sports books are not a panacea — and may take a toll on Pro-Line ticket sales — it’s the first positive news the province’s gambling industry has had in a long time.

It comes at a time when the cash-strapped provincial government is looking for ways to increase revenues to eliminate a $16 billion budget deficit.

“I have written to the federal government a number of times to push for changes to single-sport wagering in Ontario. Ontarians who like gaming like single-sport wagering,” said Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, Comartin’s provincial seat-mate in Windsor—Tecumseh.

“Today’s vote in Ottawa is a step toward modernizing gaming in Ontario and will help OLG’s casinos remain competitive,” said Duncan.

It’s been estimated that Windsor alone would generate $70 million in betting at a sports book with Comartin predicting his amendment could secure up to 250 casino jobs there.

Only a handful of boxers are dominant enough for bettors to consider consistently paying a hefty price on them. One of those boxers is Wladimir Klitschko, who will step into the ring this weekend to defend his WBA Super, WBO, IBF, IBO and Ring Heavyweight titles only weeks after his brother’s successful title defense against Dereck Chisora. The boxing betting lines heavily favor Klitschko in this bout.

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Klitschko is on a 14-fight win streak dating back to 2004. This time he will face French journeyman Jean-Marc Mormeck. There hasn’t been a contender that has given either Klitschko brother a legitimate challenge for nearly a decade, and it’s difficult to imagine that Mormeck is going to be the one that does.

Mormeck will have the same problem every one of Klitschko’s opponents had - the reach and power of the champion. If Mormeck was not able to handle the heat that David Haye brought, how he's going to deal with Klitschko’s skills remains to be seen.

At age 39 this shot will likely be Mormeck’s last chance at Heavyweight gold, and whether that’s enough to motivate him will be determined on Saturday night. He will have a puncher’s chance and will pay off in a big way if he can somehow find Klitschko’s chin.

It’s only a matter of time before one of the Klitschko brothers is upset in a title fight, as Father Time is creeping up on them. Will it be Mormeck who shocks the world and provides the huge payday, or will it just be another day at the office for Klitschko fighting an unworthy opponent to maintain his belts?

Find all of the big boxing odds for the month of March right now at Bovada.

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I am very happy to be here. This is a great community and I hope to learn a lot from you all.

Looking forward to getting to know each one of you better

Kyle Busch will be looking for another dominant Nationwide performance at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday afternoon as the circuit takes the track at the Bashas' Supermarkets 200. With 7/1 odds, he's among the top-three in NASCAR betting futures to win the event this weekend.

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Busch has won this event three times in the past four seasons, and in 2011 he started from the pole and led every lap en route to the checkered flag and first-place prize money.

Carl Edwards finished second to Busch at the Bashas' Supermarkets 200 last season, with Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman and Reed Sorenson rounding out the day's Top 5. Joey Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Justin Allgaier, Brian Scott and Kenny Wallace made up the rest of the Top 10 at last year's Nationwide event at Phoenix International Raceway.

Danica Patrick ended up in 17th place at the Bashas' Supermarkets 200 in 2011, and she'll be looking to make up for a disappointing result at last weekend's Drive4COPD 300 at Daytona when she takes the track on Saturday.

Patrick took the pole for last Saturday's Nationwide race at Daytona, but teammate Cole Whitt knocked her into the wall on Lap 49 and she was forced to exit the race. Patrick ended up in 38th place at that event.

And Patrick wasn't the only driver to run into some tough luck at the Drive4COPD 300, with a series of wrecks conspiring to give James Buescher his first-ever Nationwide victory.

Brad Keselowski took second place in the Drive4COPD 300 at Daytona last Saturday, and he was followed across the finish line by Elliott Sadler, and rookies Whitt and Austin Dillon. Tony Stewart was eighth, Kasey Kahne was ninth, Kurt Busch 10th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 15th and an accident pushed Busch back to 18th place.

After a crazy few days in Daytona, the NASCAR Sprint Cup series moves to Phoenix International Raceway for the first “real” race (i.e. non-restrictor plate) of the season: Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500. Bet on the event at Bovada’s motor sports odds.

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Probably no driver needs a good finish this week more than Jimmie Johnson. The No. 48 car crashed in the opening laps of Monday night's season-opening Daytona 500 and Johnson finished the event with only two points. In addition, NASCAR later announced that Johnson was fined 25 points for modifications to car body pieces that it deemed illegal in opening inspection for the 500, meaning Johnson goes to Phoenix with minus-23 points, 70 behind leader and Daytona winner Matt Kenseth. In addition, Johnson crew chief Chad Knaus and car chief Ron Malec were each suspended from the next six Sprint Cup events. Hendrick Motorsports is appealing the suspension, meaning Knaus and Malec will be able to work until the appeal is heard.

Johnson opened as one of the favorites for Sunday at 9/1. Phoenix is one of Johnson’s best tracks – with a career average finish of 5.4 in 17 starts, he is only better at Fontana. Johnson has four wins here (last in 2009) and has never finished outside the Top 15 in 17 starts. Until last year, he had finished on the lead lap in every Sprint Cup race on Phoenix's 1-mile oval.

Tony Stewart opened as the 13/2 favorite. “Smoke” has raced at the track 20 times and one win (way back in 1999) and 11 Top-10 finishes overall. His average finish is 11.3 – Stewart was seventh in this race a year ago.

Reigning points champion Carl Edwards (15/2) enters Phoenix eighth in the point standings, trailing Kenseth by 11 points after his eighth-place finish in the Daytona 500. In 15 starts at Phoenix, Edwards has one win, six Top-5 and 10 Top-10 finishes. His average finish is 12.3 and his driver rating is 101.3 (second best).

Jeff Gordon (10/1) thrives on short flat tracks like Phoenix. He won this race a year ago and almost did in 2010 as well, finishing runner-up to Ryan Newman. Gordon also won at Phoenix in 2007 and has 18 Top-10 finishes in 26 starts overall. His average finish is 10.9. Kyle Busch also is 10/1. In 14 Sprint Cup starts at the “Diamond in the Desert,” Busch has one win and eight Top-10 finishes.

Could Kenseth (15/1) win in back-to-back weeks? The Daytona champ rarely wins the next week. Kenseth did win at Phoenix in 2002 but hasn’t had a Top-5 finish since the 2007 fall race.

Legalizing yet another form of gambling, single-event sports betting in this case, is like an addict searching for a new vein says a renowned gambling researcher.
Robert Williams, research co-ordinator for the Alberta Gambling Research Institute and a health sciences professor at the University of Lethbridge, said the idea may be a boon for professional sports bettors but not for Canadians.
"The addict analogy I think is particularly apt here because gambling revenues have stabilized and/or gone down in a lot of jurisdictions and that's why they're seeking any other avenues for trying to raise money," Williams said.
Private member's Bill C-290 to amend the Criminal Code to allow single-event sports betting recently passed third reading in the House of Commons and has been sent to the Senate.
Bill Rutsey, CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, said only a small portion, $450 million, of the estimated $10 billion spent on single-event sports wagering in Canada is spent on provincial sports lottery products. Most goes to offshore sportsbooks or illegal bookmakers. A sportsbook or bookmaker is a place where a gambler can go to place bets on various sport competitions. Hundreds of sportsbooks are available and they all offer odds on any individual sporting event 24 hours a day. The association says restrictions on single-event sports wagering haven't kept up with the sports industry, technology or the appetite of sports bettors.
Studies have shown that roughly between seven and eight per cent of Albertans bet on sports in a given year, Williams said. That compares with 60 per cent who buy a lottery ticket, 33 per cent who buy an instant-win ticket and 20 per cent who bet socially such as on a darts, golf or poker game.
"In the grand scheme of things it's not that popular compared to several other forms but it's more popular than bingo, horse racing and Internet gambling," he said.
Sports bettors in Canada can't bet on a single game. Legally available Sports Select products have bettors predict two or more games.
"The other consideration here is that most professional sports bettors don't play Sports Select or the variants of that that are offered in each province. What they do is they simply go online and go to one of the offshore sportsbooks," Williams said. "So the savvy sports bettor has been gambling online for many years and part of what this new legislation is intended to do is to maybe bring some of that action back to Canada."
At the bottom of the proposed legislation is the hunt for more money, regardless of the harms that may occur. If passed, the legislation would allow casinos in various provinces to set up sportsbooks as is done in Las Vegas. Legalizing single-event sports betting will likely cause it to increase but it's unknown how much of the revenue being lost to offshore sportsbooks will come home.
"Some will be doing it with the provincial sportsbook but my guess is they won't offer the best odds and so you'll tend to go to the offshore sites that offer the better odds. So there may be a net economic loss in addition to the increased rates of addiction that occur," Williams said.
The benefits of legalized gambling can come back to residents in the form of social services, health care, education and infrastructure, Williams said. Charitable groups also benefit from gambling revenues.

This weekend former WBO Featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez will be out to prove that his eighth-round TKO loss to Orlando Salido last April was just a fluke. The two will get it on again in Puerto Rico, but this time Salido will not be a huge WBO betting underdog like was in their first fight.

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Since taking the belt from Lopez the new champ has defended his title once, TKOing Kenichi Yamaguchi and then delivered the same results in a Super Featherweight fight against Weng Haya. However, he still has to prove that he can beat Lopez again to get any credibility as the Featherweight champ.

Since losing his WBO world title belt, Lopez has only fought once, knocking out Mike Oliver in the second round. He’s still in disbelief that he lost his title to Salido and has been waiting for the day that he could get a chance to avenge his one professional defeat. If he didn’t take Salido seriously the first time, you can bet that he will be better prepared this time around.

The big question in the rematch is whether Lopez can handle the power of Salido. He was unable to take it in the first fight and had difficulty figuring out Salido’s style before he was knocked out.

Does he have a game plan that can combat the power of Salido’s hands? If he doesn’t, this fight could be over in the early rounds. If he does, his skills should be enough to come out on top against a fighter that will predominately be head-hunting him for 12 rounds.

Spain has been looking at regulating online gambling with a cautious view as legal wrangling regarding the turf has escalated to beyond the reasonable.
Codere the Spanish multinational company which is focused on the private gaming sector has once again started the legal wheels turning that may lead to even more lawyers making their fortunes. Codere which has a significant presence in eight countries around Europe and the Americas has been putting up legal battles ever since the Spanish government decided to regulates and license the online gambling industry in their country.

Codere has been saying the international online gambling operators have been negatively impacting the firm’s land based operations by offering services to Spanish gamblers without state authorization. A Madrid court recently ruled that shutting down Sportingbet’s Spanish-facing sites would be legally correct. Codere has won another victory that will set precedent in the murky legal world of online gambling within the European Union.
Codere’s legal team won the original compliant that removed Sportingbet’s miapuesta-com and miapuesta.es sites from the internet. Sportingbet appealed, posting a €2m bond while the court deliberated the validity of the appeal request. Madrid’s Mercantile Court No. 10 recently issued a ruling that “any offering of gaming or betting activity that has not been granted a prior administrative authorization is, indisputably, prohibited.”

Sportingbet is not the only onine gambling services provider that has come under the Codere legal attack. PokerStars has managed to stand off the complaints lodged by Codere in a Barcelona court. The court determined that PokerStars should not be held liable for not applying for licenses that did not exist at the time.
Codere is using the Madrid court’s “indisputably prohibited” wording as gospel claiming it leaves no doubt as to how the rest of its cases will be determined. Codere maintains that the total sum the offshore online companies collectively owe the state coffers is “hundreds of millions of Euros.”

source: Spain's Codere Wins Appeal Against Online Gambling Firm Sportingbet

No driver likely knows Las Vegas Motor Speedway better than Vegas native Kyle Busch, and thus he has opened as the 5/1 favorite on Bovada’s NASCAR odds to win the third race of the Sprint Cup season, Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400 at LVMS.

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Busch opened the season with an unofficial win in the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona but wasn’t much of a factor in the Daytona 500, never leading a lap. Busch was in contention last week at Phoenix, starting 12th but leading 52 laps on the way to a sixth-place finish. Sunday’s race will be Busch’s ninth start at Vegas. He has one win – in 2009, three top-five finishes and four top-10s, and he’s led a total of 113 laps in his eight career Sprint Cup starts there. His average Las Vegas finish is 15.0 at the 1.5-mile oval.

Busch’s teammate, Denny Hamlin, held off Kevin Harvick in the closing laps last week at Phoenix and pulled away when Harvick ran out of fuel on the final lap. Hamlin, who is 12/1 to win this week, now leads the points standings thanks also to a fourth-place finish at the Daytona 500. However, Hamlin has never won in six races at Vegas, with four top-10 finishes and an average finish of 11.7.

The best average finish among active drivers is Jimmie Johnson at 10.6. Johnson (11/2 to win) followed a hugely disappointing Daytona with a fourth-place run last week at Phoenix, leading 55 laps. Johnson has four wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, including three consecutive wins (2005-2007), in 10 starts. His most recent win came in 2010. He has earned four top-five and five top-10 finishes. He has finished every race in which he has competed at the LVMS.

Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart both opened at 8/1 to win. Edwards is the defending champion here and is dominant on the 1.5-mile tracks that dominate the NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series. In seven starts at Vegas, Edwards has two wins, two top-five and three top-10 finishes. His average start is 12.4.

Stewart also thrives on these “cookie-cutter tracks.” Stewart has an average finish of 13.8 at Vegas but has yet to win in 13 tries. He did finish runner-up a year ago, one of five top-fives in his career at LVMS. The reigning Sprint Cup champion has started slow this year, finishing 16th at the Daytona 500 and 22nd last week at Phoenix. He's 23rd in the points standings.

Source: Kyle Busch One to Beat at NASCAR Kobalt Tools 400 | Gambling Beat News

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- College sports have faced no shortage lately of high-profile investigations and penalties. Very few of those cases, though, threaten the integrity of the games the way point shaving does.

The vulnerability of college athletes to gambling influences resurfaced last week when Yahoo! Sports reported the FBI is investigating suspended Auburn basketball Varez Ward's possible involvement in an alleged point-shaving scheme. The story also raises the difficult question of how often college games are manipulated in relation to point spreads.

"It's very difficult to say how common it is because you don't know how many people are doing it and not getting caught," said David Schwartz, director of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas Center for Gaming Research.

"It's almost a perfect storm for criminal conspiracy when you've got young athletes with uncertain futures who may be financially vulnerable and, the rationale would be, they're not going to be really hurting anybody if they shave a few points or lose by a few more. There's a lot of potential for illegal bookies or even legal sports books to make a lot of money from this."

Justin Wolfers, an associate professor of business and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, studied 44,120 NCAA Division I men's basketball games and point spreads from 1989 to 2005. He concluded in a 2006 research paper that 1 percent, or nearly 500 games, involved "gambling-related corruption" and suggested about 6 percent of strongly-favored teams had players willing to manipulate their performance.

Wolfers based his conclusions in part from statistical analysis showing that teams favored by 12 points had too many 10- and 11-point wins and too few 13- and 14-point wins. He cautioned his study is not actual evidence of point shaving.

"There's no proof in such forensic statistics, merely suggestive patterns," Wolfers said by e-mail. "But they were very suggestive."

A less common form of point shaving occurs when players on underdog teams are paid to deliberately lose by more than the point spread. That appears to be the nature of the FBI investigation into Ward, who has privately denied wrongdoing, a source familiar with his version of the events told The Birmingham News.

A 2008 NCAA survey of more than 19,000 athletes found that nearly 30 percent of all male athletes admitted betting at least once in a year's time on college or pro sports, a violation of NCAA rules.

Less than 1 percent of the surveyed Division I football players (0.9 percent) and men's basketball players (0.6 percent) said they accepted money or another reward for playing poorly in games. Between 1 percent and 2 percent of those players acknowledged that they knew teammates who accepted such bribes.

That's just players who admitted to wrongdoing. Despite guaranteeing anonymity, the NCAA cautioned athletes may lie about activities that are illegal or could jeopardize their college eligibility.

More than one in five Division I men's golfers wagered at least once a month on sports, the most of any college sport. The ratio for men's basketball was about one in 20.

Slightly more than 6 percent of male athletes classified by the NCAA as frequent bettors -- betting at least once a month -- said they got their gambling money from unspecified illegal activities. That underscores how point shaving often surfaces: spin-offs from investigations of other criminal behavior.

Last year's point-shaving scandal at the University of San Diego emerged only because of a drug investigation. According to SI.com, authorities stopped a small-time bookie at a checkpoint and found $104,900 in the car that police believed the man planned to use to buy and sell marijuana.

The FBI kept the man on its radar and later learned he bet on sports and placed illegal wagers for friends and clients through an offshore Internet service. That turned into a four-month investigation called Operation Hookshot, in which the FBI used information from an informant facing 10 to 20 years in prison for an unrelated cocaine conviction, SI.com reported. Two former San Diego players and a former assistant coach were among 10 defendants charged with conspiracy to commit sports bribery, conduct an illegal gambling business and distribute marijuana.

Involving point guards

Most point-shaving scandals in college basketball have involved a point guard, the position Ward plays at Auburn. No one touches the ball more frequently than a point guard. Over the years, point guards were implicated in scandals at San Diego, Arizona State, Boston College and Arizona State.

Yahoo! Sports reported the FBI has looked at Auburn's losses on Jan. 25 to Arkansas and Feb. 7 to Alabama and whether Ward attempted to enlist other Auburn players in a possible scheme.

In the Arkansas game, Ward checked into the game early and immediately turned the ball over in the backcourt, falling to the floor as Arkansas turned the turnover into a layup. Ward stayed on the floor for more than a minute and left the game for good while limping. Coach Tony Barbee later said Ward had a quadriceps injury.

Against Alabama, Ward shot 1 for 5 from the field and 1 of 2 from the line and had six turnovers and two assists in 17 minutes. He had two turnovers in 21 seconds as Alabama, a five-point favorite, led by 10 with 15:25 left in the game and was subbed out. Ward returned with 11:30 remaining and committed two more turnovers in a two-minute span, extending Alabama's lead from 15 to 20 points.

"Point shaving can occur with very subtle swings," Schwartz said. "If you miss a fair number of shots, you turn the ball over and everybody is trying as hard as they can, there's not really an appearance something is wrong."

The NCAA has invested heavily into making athletes aware of the risks of gambling. FBI-assisted speakers talk to every team that reaches the Sweet 16 of the men's and women's basketbal

A newspaper over the weekend has claimed that tax hikes for online bookmakers to the same levels as their land based rivals is imminent. The Sunday Independent newspaper reported that sources have revealed that online bookmakers operating in Ireland will have to pay the same tax to ensure that the horse racing industry to pay for itself.

Currently taxpayers in Ireland subsidise the horseracing industry to the tune of Euro 56 million a year.

"Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney is to bring forward legislation to subject all bookmakers taking bets from Irish punters to a one% tax on all of their transactions, to reduce the burden on the taxpayer," the newspaper claimed.

The Minister has reportedly commissioned a major enquiry into the horse-racing industry by consultancy firm Indecon. While online betting operators are not currently liable for taxes the land-based shops pay 1% on all bets. The new legislation is likely to be the first step in taxing online beting operators.

One of the biggest debates relating to the discusions of taxing online gambling operators is how this would be enforced.

Land based sites have argued that due to the large decline in business a turnover tax is not a viable solution.

The latest figures show that from a high of Euro 3.66 billion in 2008, turnover in shops fell to about Euro 2.7 billion last year. In the same period, online and telephone betting revenue rose from Euro 700 million to Euro 900 million.

Revenues from betting duty has declined significantly. The state made Euro 70 million in 2001 but this has since dropped to less than Euro 30 million.

Paddy Power saw nearly 80% of its profits from online operations in 2011. The gaming giant told the paper that any new tax system would only be successful if enforced properly.

"It is essential that it is a level playing field. It will need to be robustly policed to ensure everyone pays the same. We have no problem paying tax on our online earnings, we realise the situation the country finds itself in," a spokesman said.


Source: www-bingosupermarket-com/bingo-news-articles/2107-online-bookmakers-face-gambling-tax-html

Former world No. 1 Luke Donald and fellow Englishman Justin Rose headline the list of contenders to win this week’s golf betting action on the PGA Tour as the Transitions Championship begins Thursday at the Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club in Palm Harbor, Florida.

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Donald, who was displaced by Rory McIlroy atop the official world golf rankings just two weeks ago, is listed as the 10/1 favorite on the golf odds to win the Transitions Championship on the par-71, 7,340-yard Copperhead Course at Innisbrook.

Donald has made one previous appearance at this tournament back in 2010 when he finished in sixth place behind winner Jim Furyk, who is also in the field this week at longshot 50/1 odds. He also finished in sixth place last week at the WGC-Cadillac Championships on the TPC Blue Monster at Doral, which was won by Rose.


Read More: Golf Odds: Strong Field at Transitions Championship | Gambling Beat News

The Ring Magazine Middleweight title will be on the line this Saturday night as Matthew Macklin (28-3) tries to take it away from Sergio Martinez (48-2-2). Get your boxing odds for the bout from Bovada.

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Martinez will be a favorite to retain his title for the fourth time in a row. All his title defenses thus far have come via TKO. He has big power, and the southpaw stance should give Macklin lots of trouble. With a big payday fight against Julio Cesar Chavez on the horizon, Martinez could be looking ahead and taking this bout lightly.

The underdog Macklin should be the WBA champion following his robbery decision-loss against Felix Strum. It was his first professional loss and could cause him to come into this fight with a chip on his shoulder. He showed he can handle a fast pace in the Strum fight and will need to bring that on Saturday night to beat Martinez.

Martinez will have the edge in foot speed and hand speed, but he will need to keep the proper distance for that to be effective. As long as he doesn’t make a big mistake his skill should carry him to victory. If he does make a mistake, or is unable to handle the fast pace that Macklin is sure to bring, the upset line has a real chance of paying off.

For your prop action, Martinez would be the fighter more likely to win via stoppage while Macklin has the better chance for a decision win. The one sure thing in this fight is that it promises to be one of the best battles of the year.

The Aussie tradition of taking a punt is reaching new heights with online gambling leading to an explosion in sports betting.

Although still dwarfed by other forms of gambling, sports betting is gaining popularity, according to industry research group IBISWorld.

Sports betting was the fastest growing market segment, with annual growth of 14.7 per cent for the last five years.

IBISWorld Australian general manager Karen Dobie said sports betters were mostly young, single professionals with disposable income. They did not view it as a serious form of gambling.

Read More: Sky News: Sports betting growing gambling

Although still dwarfed by the pokies, sports betting has become increasingly popular and is the fastest growing segment of the nation's gambling industry, business analysts IBISWorld say.

Sports betting has recorded annual growth of 14.7 per cent over the past five years, while most other forms of gambling are stagnant or in decline, IBISWorld said.

A major driver of that growth was increased spending on marketing, particularly during the footy season, which raised awareness of how and where to place a bet.

Read more: Sports betting races ahead | News-com.au