Football Betting Site

26/01/08

HCMC cops bust illegal gambling den

Ho Chi Minh City police smashed an illegal gambling site with 21 people caught in the act in Phu Nhuan District on Sunday.

The house located on Thich Quang Duc Street was partitioned into sections reserved for gambling activities, de (an illegal form of lottery play), and football match betting.

The 54-year-old house owner, Tran Thi Ba, and her daughter, Huynh Thi Hong Van, had attracted numerous players to bet on lottery numbers since June 2004 and earned some VND20-30 million (US$1,200-1,800) daily from this venture.

Her son, Huynh Ngoc Trong, mean-while, ran the illicit football gambling operation since last year.

The police said that Trong's "customers" often dropped by the house between 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. each day to put money on football games.

Equipment used in the illegal telecom racket that was seized from one of the gang's several houses in HCMC

Trong admitted that he forwarded betting records to a "tycoon" to receive a commission of about VND30 million per day.

The police confiscated VND310 million ($19,400) and $40,800 along with hard evidence of kept records, mobile phones, and calculators in the bust.

In related news, Tan Binh District's police caught 12 people red-handed betting on football matches on Sunday in a surprise raid on Hong Ha coffee shop.

Gambling is illegal in Vietnam, except at several casinos where only foreigners are allowed to bet.

Reported by Dam Huy

Copyright (c) 2004 Privacy policy

05/01/08

Betnow Scores First Funding For Mobile Text Gambling

By Robert Andrews - Thu 03 Jan 2008 02:20 AM PST

From our sister site paidContent:UK: London-based mobile gambling service Betnow has scored a first round of funding from Balderton Capital and angel investors. The amount is under wraps for now but is known to be healthy for a first round. Founded by Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) mobile data app alums Robert Urwin and Mike McCartney plus former Home Office IT developer Malcolm Slater, Betnow allows users to place bets on football, golf, horse racing, dog racing and tennis matches by sending SMS text messages to 89808. Betting instructions can be written out using English language; payment is handled via the mobile contract or via a bank account; winnings can be collected from a customer's local Post Office branch.

The funds will be used to "launch the service in the UK and accelerate product development, with the goal of establishing betNOW as the UK's leading mobile betting service". Betnow is operated by the trio's Open Vantage holding company, which recently took Motricity's Hugh Fahy as COO and Sainsbury's Simon Gibson as finance director. Balderton's portfolio also includes the much larger Betfair, Bebo and private loans site Zopa.

Mobile gambling was forecast to be worth $1.3 billion in 2007 and $26 billion by 2012, according to a Juniper Research white paper released in October, with the UK outlook looking particularly good thanks to recently relaxed regulations on advertising.

18/12/07

Betting Site on Great Run with Free Horse Racing Tips

DORSET, UK -- Betting Directory the online gaming site provides free horse racing tips for the feature Saturday races in the UK. These Horse Racing tips are free for their readers and their great run started in October and over the last couple of months the accumulated odds for their four winners would have returned you 31,850 gbp to a 1 gbp Stake.

The excellent run of tipping kicked off with selecting the winner of the Cesarewitch on Saturday 20th October with the Tony Martin trained Leg Spinner who came in at 14/1. Next on the list was the November Handicap where the tip was Malt and Mash who won at 5/1.

Our editorial team looks at both Flat and the National Hunt Horse Racing and this great flat form continued into the start of the National Hunt season and in the first big race of the season the Paddy Power Gold Cup the tip was L'Antartique who won for trainer Ferdy Murphy at odds of 13/2. If that was not enough for a few months this was followed up quickly with the winner of the Hennessy Gold Cup by tipping up Denman at odds of 5/1.

So as you can see it would be wise to check out Betting Directory for their Horse Racing tips which are put up on a Thursday before the Saturday's big race.

Betting Directory offers the sports punter the very best Sport betting free bets from the leading UK bookmakers. There are also the very best Bookmakers money back offers put up on the site each day. There are also Football match previews with the best odds from all the major football games in the Premier and Champions Leagues. The Betting Directory Sport betting news articles is another great feature of the site that offers all the latest sports betting information on all the major sports betting events from all the major sports including, Horse Racing, Football, Golf, Cricket, Boxing, Snooker, Rugby and Darts.

10/12/07

Ladbrokes Falls as Canceled Races Hurt Betting Shops

(Update2)

By Louisa Nesbitt

(Bloomberg) -- Ladbrokes Plc, the world's largest oddsmaker, fell the most in more than six years in London trading after canceled horse races caused its British betting shops to miss managers' forecast in the four months through October.

Ladbrokes shares slid 9.4 percent as the Harrow, England- based company said gross winnings, or the amount lost by gamblers, dropped 5 percent for over-the-counter wagers placed at U.K. betting offices. Profitability deteriorated as more favorites won soccer matches, according to a statement today.

A total of 23 race meetings were canceled in July, the most ever for that month, because of flooding caused by the wettest U.K. summer on record, Ladbrokes said. Racecourse owner Arena Leisure Plc said in August five meetings scheduled to take place at its flood-damaged Worcester Racecourse in July had to be scrapped because they could not be transferred elsewhere.

"The underlying business was disappointing, with many racing cancellations this summer and football running to form,'' Nigel Parson, an analyst at Evolution Securities in London, said in a research note. Evolution has a "reduce'' rating on the stock.

Growth is slowing at the bookmaker's U.K. wagering shops, its main profit generator. Ladbrokes, which has about 2,600 of the outlets as well as a London casino and sports-betting, poker and casino Web sites, is adding online customers in response and looking to foreign markets such as Italy for expansion.

Stock Drops

Ladbrokes shares fell 35.5 pence to 344 pence. The percentage slide, which erased about 215 million pounds ($440 million) of market value, was the biggest since Sept. 11, 2001, when the company was still a unit of hotelier Hilton Group Plc.

The stock posted the seventh-biggest slide in the 687-member FTSE All-Share Index. Shares of principal competitor William Hill Plc dropped 34.5 pence, or 5.9 percent, to 548 pence.

"You just don't get race cancellations in July,'' Chris Bell, Ladbrokes' chief executive officer, said today in a telephone interview. "We had more than since records began.''

Overall U.K. betting-shop winnings rose 4 percent in the four-month period including electronic gaming machines. Profit from continuing operations rose 84 percent across the company before interest and tax after big-spending telephone gamblers lost money. Earnings fell 12 percent excluding the "high rollers'' and costs for televised advertisements.

Granting of permission to advertise on TV was among changes to U.K. gambling laws introduced in September. Bookmakers also can open their betting shops in evenings during winter.

Manchester United

Gamblers tend to back favorites, benefiting bookmakers when long shots win. English soccer club Manchester United, which won the domestic Premier League for the ninth time in May, ranked second in the 20-team standings at the end of October and also racked up victories that month against Roma and Dynamo Kiev in Europe's Champions League.

"There was a very unusual set of football results,'' Bell said. "All those household teams like Manchester United, Celtic and Chelsea have been winning. The customers had a fantastic run, but that's the betting business. You win some, you lose some.''

Net four-month revenue climbed 5 percent at Ladbrokes' Web unit, which the bookmaker had sought to bulk up by acquiring 888 Holdings Plc. The companies broke off talks in April after almost six months amid concern about legal risk after a U.S. crackdown last year on Internet gaming.

Ladbrokes took its current form when Hilton Group sold its hotels in February 2006 and changed its name. The bookmaker originated with a partnership formed in central England in 1886, and customers have included the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, who opened a "no limit'' account in 1963, its Web site shows.

04/11/07

All bets are off; police shut down Web site

'Tiny Tuna' betting probe nets 3 Jeff men

Friday, November 02, 2007

By Michelle Hunter

State Police troopers who worked eight months undercover investigating an Internet sports betting Web site called "The Tiny Tuna" reeled in their catch this week -- three Jefferson Parish men believed to be the masterminds behind the illegal online enterprise.

Frederick Walters, 46, and Shane Muscarello, 34, both of Metairie, and Randall Rose, 48, of Marrero were arrested Tuesday by the State Police Gaming Enforcement Division, said Lt. Lawrence McLeary, the department's spokesman.

Through their Web site, www.thetinytuna.com, the men and other accomplices took bets on various sporting events, a no-no in Louisiana and just about everywhere else, McLeary said.

"Betting on sports is illegal," he said. "Even office pools are illegal. The only place you can really bet on sports is in Vegas."

McLeary said gambling enforcement troopers, whose investigation was centered in St. Landry Parish, are continuing to investigate and that more arrests are imminent.

Neither Muscarello nor Rose could be reached for comment Thursday. A woman who answered the telephone at Walters' residence declined to comment.

The investigation was triggered by a tip-off about the Web site, which features a cartoonishly gruff-looking yellowfin tuna wearing a newsboy cap and smoking a cigar while holding a football and a sports flag. But the site wasn't accessible to all Internet surfers.

"You had to know someone," McLeary said. "You would have to place bets with someone, and after you'd gained their trust . . . you would get a password to (gain entrance into) the site."

During the investigation, State Police investigators located at the time in St. Landry Parish were able to place several bets on the Web site.

Investigators could not determine how much money the enterprise raked in for its creators. McLeary said they weren't able to track bets placed by other visitors to the Web site, and investigators learned of its existence only eight months ago.

They issued arrest warrants for Walters, Muscarello and Rose once they tracked down ownership of the site. Authorities executed search warrants at their homes Tuesday. They also searched A Regal Limousine Service, the Kenner limo company owned by Walters. McLeary declined to reveal why State Police targeted the business as well, but he indicated that it is connected to the investigation

Authorities who searched the limo company found six bags of marijuana, rolling papers and a device used to cut marijuana, according to an arrest report. They also found an unregistered video poker machine and several parlay cards used to make bets on football.

McLeary said Walters had not applied for a video poker license and his company did not fit the criteria for a business that would have been granted one. Even if Walters wasn't using the machine, it's still illegal to possess one without a license.

"You can't have it, even as a novelty in your house," McLeary said.

Muscarello and Walters face charges in St. Landry Parish, McLeary said. Walters was also booked in Jefferson Parish, as was Rose.

Walters, of 5816 Suzanne Drive, Metairie, was booked in both parishes with money laundering, criminal conspiracy and violating the Louisiana Racketeering Act, McLeary said. In Jefferson Parish, he was booked with possession with the intent to distribute marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, illegal possession of a slot machine, skimming video poker proceeds and illegal gambling, an arrest report said. He was being held Thursday at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna in lieu of a $6,000 bond. He was also being held without bond as a fugitive from St. Landry Parish.

Muscarello, of 1419 Lakeshore Drive, Metairie, was booked in St. Landry Parish with gambling by computer, money laundering, criminal conspiracy and violating the Louisiana Racketeering Act. His bond was set at $100,000.

Rose, of 40 Rosedown Court, Marrero, was booked in Jefferson Parish with gambling by computer, money laundering and criminal conspiracy. He was released from the Gretna jail on $6,000 bond.

. . . . . . .

Michelle Hunter can be reached at mhunter@timespicayune.com or (504) 883-7054.

29/10/07

Bets On Future Oil Prices Taken by Gambling Website

A long time ago, people would just get together and bet on football games with their friends, oh how times have changed, there is now a website that is taking bets on rising oil prices.

BetCris.com has announced that is now offering odds of 7-5 that crude oil will eclipse $95 a barrel by the end of the year. The odds are believed to be the first available for this type of wager.

Gambling has come a long way since the days of bookies being in the back of store fronts taking bets on football games and boxing matches.

Now, gamblers have the ability to find almost anything to bet on, most of this due to the increase in Internet betting sites. In addition to the usual sports bets, people can wager on things as far ranging as what coach will be the next to be fired, to which celebrity will be the next to enter into a rehab program.

As long as there is a market out there, sportsbooks will continue to provide as many options as possible, meaning people will have various ways to wager their money.

John Leasterly, a lifelong gambler had this to say about the oil odds, "I'm glad they put those odds up, anything is better than losing my money with a meaningless touchdown on Sunday afternoon, I might look that site up and roll the dice with oil prices."

October 19, 2007

Posted By Tom Jones

Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com

16/10/07

Breaking down The Obvious Game

Until Joey Harrington starts using his middle name like an assassin, no three words will frighten football gamblers more than "The Obvious Game." You never want to have money on the Obvious Game. It's like buying a WNBA franchise or investing money with Cecil Fielder.

What's the Obvious Game? It's a more nefarious version of a bandwagon pick, in which you unwittingly back a popular pick and realize it too late. This isn't like riding the wave of a hot stock; you're better off going the other way and betting that a disproportionately large number of gamblers could never be right about anything. Remember, when people gamble on sports, more often than not, they lose. That's why nobody has ever said the following: "I used to be a bookie, but too many of my customers were winning and I couldn't afford it anymore."

Savvier gamblers learn to sniff out Obvious Games based on experience, just like people learn to flick past any cable movie with Whoopi Goldberg based on experience. But it's easy to miss the signs. For instance, when I was making my picks for last week's column, here was my inner thought process as I debated the Bengals' giving 6½ in Cleveland:

I'm not crazy about that Bengals team, especially on the road with that defense ... but how could anyone back Derek Anderson and the Browns? They looked gawd-awful in Pittsburgh in Wee- ...

STOP! Right there!

That's the first way to sniff out the Obvious Game, when you can't make a valid case for picking the other team. The second method depends on your group of friends. We'll call this the LeRoy Factor. I have a friend who's notorious for altering the outcome of sporting events simply by wagering on them. He doesn't lose every time, but his track record is frightening enough that I've seen people beg him not to jump on their bets right before a game. (We're calling this friend LeRoy because I always wanted a friend named LeRoy.) Right before the 2007 baseball season, after LeRoy wagered five G's on the over for Dice-K wins (14 and a half), a mutual friend called to warn me, "I hope you're not too excited for the Dice-K era." Up until that point, I wasn't scared of Dice's adjustment to American life, or the jump from Japanese hitters to American hitters, or even that he might throw out his arm with that goofy 300-pitch warm-up routine. But LeRoy's backing him? That scared the crap out of me.

You know the rest: Dice raised his record to 13-8 on Aug. 4 before a tired arm sent him into a Goose-like tailspin; now he's stuck at 14 wins, and if he doesn't get the "W" in one of his last two starts, it could end up being LeRoy's most famous gambling jinx yet. But should we blame LeRoy or the "over" for having been too obvious in the first place? When something looks too good to be true in gambling, it usually is.

Which brings us back to Week 2, the week everyone and his degenerate brother loved the Bengals. On ESPN.com's valuable "Who Picked Whom" page, nearly 90 percent of the Pigskin Pick'Em participants went with Cincinnati. On Wagerline.com's equally valuable "Consensus Picks" page, over 83 percent of its clients were backing the Bengals. For Las Vegas' official line, an influx of Cincy money shifted the spread from 6 to 7. To make matters worse, the Bengals needed only to win outright to cover their end of a two-team tease, so they were drawing even more action from teaser lovers. By Saturday afternoon, I was already regretting the Cincy teases I would have made if gambling were legal.

We reached the tipping point on Sunday morning: In my picks pool that I run with my buddy Gus, everyone "doubles" on one game per week (a best bet that counts as two wins or losses). We have the pool split into two conferences; the guys from my conference (12 in all) e-mail their doubles to me. Any time four or more guys double on the same team, the LeRoy Alarm starts going off, and if my friend Nick doubles on the game, the LeRoy Alarm becomes louder than a fire engine siren. (If the Obvious Game was Pam Anderson, Nick would be Tommy Lee AND Kid Rock.) So once Nick weighed in with his obligatory Cincy double, I became convinced something fishy could happen and even warned three of my gambling buddies.

(Did I switch my pick in the pool or bang the Browns money line? Of course not. Remember, I'm an idiot. Don't ever forget this.)

Four hours later? Browns 51, Bengals 45.

Look, everyone lost last week -- the underdogs went 12-3-1. But there was something especially cruel about that Browns game, like the gambling gods were shoving it in our faces or something. Fifty-one points for a team that scored seven the previous week? Two long runs and 200-plus yards for the corpse formerly known as Jamal Lewis? Five TD passes for Derek Anderson, the fantasy hero who didn't start for a single roster across the country? What were the odds that Cincy would score 45 points and lose in Cleveland? 100,000-to-1? A million-to-1? It almost seemed like a vast karmic conspiracy.