Archive for the ‘Other’ Category

2009 Epsom Oaks Preview

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Time: Friday June 5th, 14:00 GMT
Venue: Epsom Downs Racecourse
Weather: Cold with showers
Ground: Good-Fast

Epsom Oaks Odds Comparison

The biggest English fillies’ race of the season will be run on Friday the 5th of June, as some of the UK and Ireland’s most talented 3 year old fillies get the first leg of the Derby Festival underway in the 2009 Epsom Oaks.

Sariska

Michael Bell’s Sariska tops a competitive Epsom Oaks field, with her status as market favourite founded on an impressive win in one of the key Oaks trials – the Musidora Stakes. The filly is somewhat short of race experience, and will be racing in only her fourth event on Friday, suggesting there’s plenty of room for the other fillies in the field.

Room for a Rainbow View

Rainbow View ran a very disappointing race at the 1,000 Guineas after starting the race as favourite. There is, however, no denying the class of the 2008 2-Year-Old Champion Filly, and the step up in trip at Epsom combined with faster ground may give her the chance to show what she is really capable of.

Oaks Trial Stakes winner Midday has also edged herself to the top of the betting markets in recent weeks. The Henry Cecil trained filly has a lot of racing experience, and hasn’t finished outside the top two this season. However, one expects that a big race from her would most likely result in a place rather than a win.

2009 Epsom Oaks Betting

There’s nothing particularly compelling about the favourites for the Epsom Oaks, which suggests there’s great value to be had in the market and it would not come as a surprise if the 2009 Epsom Oaks winner emerged from lower down the antepost pecking order.

Antepost punts on the entries priced over 10/1 in the Epsom Oaks betting markets have the potential to pay off handsomely, even on each way bets. Those keen on backing outright winners from amongst the less fancied entries can get good value, and Aidan O’Brien’s Perfect Truth looks the best of these based on recent form and a price of 8/1.

Epsom Oaks Odds Comparison

Off-the-wall Oscar Ceremony Specials

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Excitement is mounting to a fever pitch in Los Angeles as the final preparations are put in place for the 2009 Oscars.

The red carpet brigade is expected to be out en force to support the nominees and eventual winners of the grandest of award ceremonies in Tinseltown, scheduled for Sunday evening.

Bookmakers, the world over, are offering a sumptious array of betting options on all categories of the Academy Awards but it is the Irish bookmaker, Paddy Power, who is offering some of the more off-the-wall ceremony specials.

Bizarre incidental betting odds include:

Best Male Actor to cry during his acceptance speech – 9-4. Mickey Rourke, nominated for his role in The Wrestler, may well shed a tear but it’s more than likely the death of his 17-year-old Chihuahua, Loki, that will stimulate the waterworks!

Any winner to trip and fall off the stage – 10-1.

Any actress to walk on stage with her dress tucked into her knickers – 200-1. Angelina Jolie is a hot pick for this one…last seen at a premier event she was wearing her gown back-to-front!

World Cup Betting Guide

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Just a short note to let you know that our new World Cup Betting channel is live.

We currently cover the IRB Rugby World Cup, FIFA 2010 Football World Cup, Cricket World Cup and the Twenty20 World Cup events in detail.

If you have any questions about these events or have any comments – we would love to hear them.

Gambling Guru

Revoutionary Road and The Reader hot picks for the Golden Globe Awards

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The first of the annual awards recognising brilliance in the motion film and TV industry, the Golden Globes, kicks off on Sunday evening and there are plenty of heavyweights gunning for the honours.

A handful of movies have captured the attention of pundits who firmly believe these dramatic depictions of love and struggle could possibly end up with the highest honour in Hollywood, the celebrated Oscars, which take place next month.

Revolutionary Road is a timely reminder of the devastation of an international economic meltdown and tells the story of a struggling family in the Great Depression. Both leading lights, Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslett, have also been tipped as possible contenders for the Golden Globe best dramatic actor and actress awards and will surely be in the running for an Oscar!

The Reader is based on the best-selling novel by Bernard Schlink and is directed by Stephen Daldry. It is a moving story of the relationship between a young boy and a woman accused of war crimes during the second world war. The glorious Kate Winslett partners the finesse and style of Ralph Fiennes and is a ‘must-see’ movie.

Australia is a 20th Century Fox production and is a love story set in the Australian Outback. Directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring the indefatigable Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, this epic could scoop up the awards at both the Golden Globes and the Oscars

Bookmaker, Paddy Power, has a number of betting options on the 2009 Golden Globe awards and will shortly be posting odds on the outcome of the Oscars to be held on February 22. Current odds on the Best Dramatic Film are Slumdog Millionaire 4-7, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 3-1, Revolutionary Road 5-1 and The Reader 20-1.

Betting Tips & Picks

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We would like to draw your attention to a solid betting blog we stumbled across recently.

Betting Tips & Picks offers exactly that and specializes in offering tips and picks for soccer, basketball and rugby.

At this stage you could be saying to yourself that plenty of blogs offer the same deal and ask just what makes this one stand out from the rest?

Well, a couple of things actually:

For one the blogs author Aiven actually bets on these picks himself, it’s not like he’s just offering advice without taking risks himself.

The next big difference is that Aiven doesn’t merely offer a bunch of picks and tips as numbers and without any reasoning behind his choices as so many other blogs do. You will find that each of his posts includes a paragraph called ‘verdict’.

In this paragraph he considers factors which will have an impact on the game in question such as whether any of a team’s top players are out of action.

Or he might discuss the team’s performance in previous games in order to use that as a basis to measure how they will perform in the next one.

Seeing this kind of detail and thought process makes for a refreshing change and definitely makes this blog a worthy read for any betting enthusiast.

But…don’t take our word for it, check it out yourself!

UK Betting Guide (Blog) Carnival #1

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This is the first in a series of blog carnivals – hosted by UK Betting Guide (Blog) Carnival.

This month we take a look at the turmoil within the global economy – known by the news media and populations around the world as ‘The Credit Crunch’.

Credit Crunch – Betting Industry Affected?

Sam over at OLGB writes about how the Irish Bookmaker, Paddy Power, is cashing in on the woes of budget-and-nationalised airlines by providing odds on who will fold next. (A bit sad really considering that some of these airlines, such as Alitalia have been going for ages.) – FlyGlobespan Hot Favourite To Follow Alitalia Down The Tube Due To Credit Crunch

Jeremy Hopkins (777 News) interviews Peter Petrie from Totesport about his views on the subject and claims that – “Betting firms have not seen a downturn in turnover due to the global credit crunch”.

‘Fella’ asked an interesting question at MoneySavingExpert.com – “what, if any, effect will the credit crunch have on the Companies we deal with?” – He offers some insightful tips for matching betting in the credit crunch.

Finally, Karen contributes to the debate by by suggesting that the Credit Crunch is an Economic Blues a Bonanza for Online Casinos.

“Mums the word” – John McCain and Barack Obama silent on ‘gambling’

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Google has recently launched a new labs project named “In Quotes“.

In Quotes allows you to compare quotes between the two 2008 US Presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama.

Nothing to earth shattering, except when you try and explore their positions on online gambling, betting, sports betting online and related online gambling industry issues.

So, the two US Election candidates literally have nothing to say, according to Google “In Quotes”, or ‘Mums the Word’ (Meaning: Keep quiet – say nothing)

The only person willing to stick their proverbial neck out seems to be, Sarah Palin (‘The Bulldog Wearing Lipstick’) – Vice Presidential Candidate on the McCain ticket.

“gambling has shown ill effects on families and as Governor I would not propose expansion legislation,” Mrs. Palin stated emphatically.

What a shame…and here we were thinking that the poker loving Obama would go ‘all-in’!

UK Betting Guide (Blog) Carnival

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In the true spirit of the “web”, writers who blog about betting/gambling trends, issues and subjects are joining to launch a blog carnival to share information and resources related to UK Betting Online.

The brainchild of Bryan Kelly, who blogs at UK Betting Guide, “UK Betting Guide Carnival” will feature submissions around rotating themes related to, well, betting.

The carnival will cover a broad range of topics, including sports betting, UK casinos, poker betting, playing Bingo, betting tips and strategies, and hopefully a whole bunch more. Blog posts will appear the first Monday of each month – so remember to get your submissions sent over 1 week prior to the deadline.

Drop by www.gambling-guru.com for the first UK Betting Guide Carnival post Monday, October 6. We’ll be talking about ‘How the Global Credit Crunch is Affecting the Betting Industry’.

How to Submit to UK Betting Guide Carnival

Joining the community of contributors is a great way to get more readers to your blog. It’s easy!

• Choose a blog article to share, and note its Permalink URL
• Send us an email (info [at] gambling-guru [dot] com) with the following details:
• Article Title
• Article URL
• Your Name
• Your Email Address

What Not To Blog: Avoid blogging submissions that appear to be primarily “self-promotional” in nature. The carnival is meant to be an information resource not a free advertisement avenue. If a carnival submission is a sales pitch for a product or fee-based service, forget it.

If you are interested in hosting an edition of UK Betting Guide Carnival on your blog please email us and let us know.

Miss World Betting Popularity around the World

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I get by with a little help from my friends over at Google Insights to try and answer the question:

Miss World Popularity Around the World – who is the favorite Miss World to win the “Bikini Festival of the World”?

The 2008 Miss World contestants included in this survey were:

• Miss America: Kirsten Haglund
• Miss England: Laura Coleman
• Miss Germany: Kim-Valerie Voigt
• Miss Italy: Claudia Russo
• Miss India: Parvathy Omanakuttan

Popularity by Country

Google Insights for Search makes retrieving this data really easy. We looked a the ‘regional interest’ for each contestant and have included the neat heatmaps generated to visualize this information.

Miss America – Kirsten Haglund

Countries with the highest interest in Miss America

1. United States
2. Canada
3. South Africa
4. Venezuela
5. Thailand

Miss England – Laura Coleman

Countries with the highest interest in Miss England

1. United Kingdom
2. United States
3. Turkey
4. Russian Federation
5. Norway

Miss Germany – Kim-Valerie Voigt

Countries with the highest interest in Miss Germany

1. Germany
2. United States
3. Netherlands
4. Mexico
5. India

Miss Italy – Claudia Russo

Countries with the highest interest in Miss Italy

1. Italy
2. United Kingdom
3. Australia
4. United States
5. Canada

Miss India – Parvathy Omanakuttan

Countries with the highest interest in Miss India

1. India
2. Pakistan
3. Bangladesh
4. Sri Lanka
5. UAE

Conclusions

It’s pretty obvious from the survey that regional Miss World contestants enjoy support regionally. The biggest concentration of support coming from their own respective countries.

But …

When you take a look at Miss Italy’s search profile it is clear Claudia Russo enjoys significant support from around the world – and well, that’s the point really. It’s a Miss World Competition. Unfortunately telephone voting has yet to reach the Miss World Pagent – if it did – would your money be on Miss Italy?

Let us know who you think will win Miss World in October.

Can Natalie du Toit break the 56 Year drought?

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The Olympic Games in Beijing started today, promising sixteen days of world class track and field action.

South African swimmer Natalie du Toit, whose left leg was amputated below the knee in 2001, carried the South African flag at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games today.

Wow! What an achievement! Natalie is only the 2nd athlete in history with a disability to compete in the Olympic Games. The last amputee to win an Olympic medal was Hungarian pistol shooter Karoly Takacs, who won gold at the 1948 and 1952 Games.

The last time an amputee won a medal at the Olympic Games was 56 years ago.

Natalie will compete in the 10km Marathon swimming event and UK bookmakers Bet365 have her at 14/1 to win the event.

We are right behind you Natalie – Go For Gold in Beijing!