And for me that means another excuse for a gimmicky punt!  I haven’t decided who my favourite is yet, maybe Luke…?  At the moment he is the 5-1 third favourite at Paddy Power, may put some money on that before he DOESN’T get evicted – when his odds will slim up a little.

Apart from that, I love some of Paddy Power’s specials on the show:

• Big Brother to organise a foreign exchange programme (with another reality TV show): 3 - 1
• Jade Goody to enter the house at any time:        10 - 1
• All of the housemates to be evacuated from the house due to a bombscare:      18 - 1
• Big Brother to be scrapped after this year:           4 - 1
• Big Brother to run a weekly anger management class in the house:          12 - 1
• A ‘Fathers4Justice’ representative to climb on top of the Big Brother roof:            20 - 1
• A pair of identical twins to enter the house as contestants:          8 - 1
• A fire to start inside the Big Brother House (Not related to cooking!):      14 - 1
• Big Brother to give the housemates a Parrot:      20 - 1
• Exactly four housemates to be evicted in one night (not including the last eviction):         8 – 1

I think there’s a couple of good bets there!

Having now played at Game Village I can well and truely say I’ve been sucked in!  After reading this Game Village review and finding out that I could claim £20 free without having to deposit I had to try it out!  This promotion applies to all new members, and after you’ve played with the free cash, you can (if you need to!) top up your account with the 200% cash match bonus! 

Game Village is different to most online bingo and gaming sites in that it is very much a social network, or social gaming network as they call it.  You really do feel part of the community, and I made a few good friends after just a couple of days playing there!  I guess it really helps that the large number and wide variety of games are so much fun, I just found it hard to leave.

There are far too many games, promotions and prizes etc that there is no point me even starting to go into them!  I recommend you read this Game Village, take the £20 free and try it for yourself! 

There really is nothing to lose!

A very high percentage of people that participate in the Flora London Marathon do not plan to win it! Of the 30,000 people running, jogging or walking, only a few athletes can win. Here’s a quick run-through of the top participants and their best odds:

• M. Lel - 3/1 Sportingbet
• S. Wanjiru - 4/1 Coral
• F. Limo - 13/2 Skybet
• A Goumri - 9/1 Sportingbet
• E. Mutai - 10/1 Ladbrokes
• R. Hall - 14/1 Skybet
• D. Merga - 16/1 Skybet
• P. Tergat - 16/1 Bet365
• H. Ramaala - 16/1 Boylesports
• J. Gharib - 20/1 Bet365

 The favourite, Martin Lel is chasing his third London Marathon win in only 4 years. He made history last year, becoming the first person to win both the London and New York marathons in the same year.

There are five Kenyans in the field and four of them hold the fastest personal bests. Will they win again? If you’re going to sit at home on Sunday and watch the hours tick by watching the marathon why not put some cash on one of the top runners and make it more exciting!

Following Arsenal’s recent loss of form, losing out in the Premiership and watching their title chances lessen, along with their exit from the Champions League following a 4-2 loss to Liverpool, punters have been given some great new opportunities. 

Where a little while ago Arsenal were in top form, leading the Premiership by a fair margin with games in hand, the odds would have provided you with a very minimal profit if they went on to win the title. Now, due to their recent drop in form, the odds have drifted. Boylesports are now offering 25/1 on Arsenal to take the title. 

The odds alone make this a tempting bet but when you consider the facts, it’s clear that Arsenal’s chances of winning the title are all but gone: They have won the last six games that followed their elimination from the Champions League. Their next opposition, league-leaders Man Utd, have gone three games in a row without beating Arsenal, and have only beaten them once in their last six meetings. They have won their last 7 Premier League matches and their top scorer, Adebayor, has led Arsenal to victory in all three games he has started against United.   Right now, if you play at Boylesports, you can receive £200 of free bets! 

Before their forthcoming tie with Arsenal, Man Utd are at 1/3 to take the Premiership title with Paddy Power and, since beating Arsenal, Chelsea have a great chance with odds of 9/4 with Skybet.

Online football betting has become increasingly popular in recent years, becoming punters` third favourite gambling medium after the traditional favourites, horse and greyhound racing. Football offers a plethora of online betting opportunities, including the Premiership, all divisions of the English and Scottish leagues, FA Cup and Champions League along with European leagues and internationals.

Online Fixed Odds Betting

For league and cup games in England, Scotland and various European countries, fixed odds football coupons are offered by all online bookmakers. These coupons offer prices for the home win, away win and draw in each match.
 

BETTING SYSTEMS

The current “fashion” in fixed odds football betting online is to use some form of betting system or strategy. Many systems and strategies have been devised in an attempt to beat the bookmakers.
 

Rating Systems

Rating systems are a method of assigning numerical values to the probabilities of the 3 possible outcomes in a football match. There are many rating systems available, particularly online. Almost all systems rely on some sort of points scheme, whereby a team is awarded points depending upon factors including home advantage, league position and recent form. Rating systems range from very simple to extremely complex, depending on which factors are taken into consideration in determining the ratings. Listing all the available systems would be impossible and probably fruitless, as the performance of different rating systems varies from season to season. Rating system software (some free) is available online, which can take the drudgery out of the “number-crunching” aspects of rating systems.
 

PROBABILITY & VALUE BETS

The key to successful football betting is the correct determination of the probabilities of the possible outcomes of a match. Obviously, a match result depends on a great number of different factors, and it would be unreasonable to suggest that any system could consider them all. However, there are several fundamental factors (which may appear obvious, but are often overlooked), which should be taken into consideration when assessing a match, including:
 

1. League position

A team`s league position is a general reflection of its overall ability.
 

2. Recent form

Winning has a positive psychological effect on players. A team in the middle of a “hot streak” is likely to perform better than one on a long losing run.
 

3. Injuries

Injuries to key players will affect a team`s performance.
 

4. Consistency

For a variety of reasons (bigger squads etc.) top teams can be expected to perform at about the same level, week in, week out. Some lesser teams can prove to be inconsistent, following an excellent performance with a dismal one. Furthermore, some teams are excellent at home, but very poor away.
Based on any information considered relevant, the idea is to calculate your own probabilities and hence prices on a given match. If an online bookmaker`s price is higher than your calculation, this represents a value bet. There are several other points that may aid successful online football betting:

1. Use the same stake for each bet.

2. Bet on single matches. Successful accumulators can provide a high return for a small outlay, but are rarely successful. In terms of long-term profit, they are a recipe for disaster.

3. Keep a record of your bets. This will enable you to keep track of the success level of your betting over a period.

4. For most online football punters, it makes sense to concentrate on teams for which information is freely available. However, some punters become experts in lower level football, e.g. non-league games, for which prices are now freely available. This may give an advantage over the bookmaker, whose odds compilers tend to concentrate on higher-level games, which are a more popular betting medium.

FREE TIPS

Many online sites offer free tips on football, including Premiership, FA Cup and international matches, including Euro 2008 online betting. Such sites claim various levels of long-term profit. For punters with limited time, these online sites may prove a valuable resource, as they do much of the mundane, time-consuming research. It is recommended that punters wishing to use such sites try out several, keeping stakes to a minimum, until the most reliable tipping site is determined.

I know England didn’t even make it into the group stages but that doesn’t mean you can’t bet on Euro 2008. In actual fact this way you can’t feel guilty about betting against England and it opens up a whole world of betting possibilities!

The tournament is only a few months away. It’s going to be hostes by Austrai and Switzerland and starts on 7th June. The final is set to be played on the 29th.

These are the groups and the initial odds to win:

Group A

Switzerland - 20/1 (Boylesports)
Czech Republic - 16/1 (Sky Bet)
Portugal - 8/1 (Blue Square)
Turkey - 40/1 (Boylesports)

Group B

Austria - 40/1 (Boylesports)
Croatia - 12/1 (Boylesports)
Germany - 4/1 (Boylesports)
Poland - 40/1 (Boylesports)

Group C

Holland - 14/1 (Boylesports)
Italy - 7/1 (Blue Square)
Romania - 40/1 (Boylesports)
France - 9/1 (VC Bet) 

Group D

Greece - 25/1 (Boylesports)
Sweden - 33/1 (Boylesports)
Spain - 7/1 (Ladbrokes)
Russia - 33/1 (Bet 365)

Bingo Chapter 1 – ‘Be gentle, this is my first time’…

As a 24 year old male, Bingo is an activity that I must confess has always been slightly strange and mysterious to me.

Images of old grannies with Blue Rinse hair, A fag hanging out of their mouth, and a little shopping trolley being pulled behind them is generally the first thing I think of when someone mentions the word Bingo to me.

Well, at least it was until I discovered that you didn’t just have to visit your local old person’s home to join in on the fun… As it turns out, you don’t even have to leave your desk (Or your home - I’m sure you wouldn’t dream of playing games during working hours)…

Anyway, after this realisation hit me, I decided to take a closer look at how bingo works, where you can play it, and what kind of people play it - all in the hope of finding out whether or not it’s actually any fun to play or not.

Having no idea how to even play the game, I confess to being a little anxious starting off here - There seems to be so much choice in terms of where you can play and even what *kind* of bingo to play - I really don’t even know where to start.

There’s plenty of alternatives to choose from, but why should you choose one place over any other? What differentiates the competition?

It all seems to come down to the bonus you get when you sign up. Talk of 10% cashback on deposits, £10 free gaming, no deposit required and competition entries all sound great, but really, what most interests me is making a quick bit of cash without much outlay.

I decided I’d give Gala Bingo a try… I was pretty sure I’d heard of them before, they offer £10 free when you deposit £10 and the advertising carries a photo of Sharon Osbourne along with it - who could possibly resist an offer like that.

I click on one of the adverts, only to be suddenly transported across the grand expanse of fiber optics that is the internet, to arrive on a page telling me more about my free £10 offer, and an even larger picture of the aforementioned X-Factor judge. Things are looking good so far.

I click on the Join now button and fill out the form - it all seems pretty straight forward so far - you choose a username, password, give them your email address and fill out the credit card information… It’s a fairly simple process and takes about 2 minutes.

Anyway, I finish the form, and I’m then redirected to the home page of the site with a great big red button presented to me announcing that you can ‘Play Bingo Now!’ - I’m feeling pretty excited at this point… I hope the effort is worth it.

I think I’ll come back here another time to play Deal or No Deal. I’m not proud to admit I enjoy the show, but there you go, it’s out there now and I can’t take it back… To be honest it’s just nice to see Noel back on Telly, especially now he isn’t joined by his custard coloured moron of a friend - Mr Blobby.

Anyway, enough about Noel, we’re here to play bingo…

The game is 90 Ball bingo, and the stakes are… Well… Surprisingly low actually…

It costs 5p a ticket, and I could potentially win around £30 - sounds ok to me… I’ve got £20 in my account and I plan to spend it all…

Aside from the bingo itself, I must confess to loving the chat room… It’s nice to know there are other humans joining in on all this exciting bingo activity.

There’s plenty of chatter going on, and surprisingly, everyone’s wishing everyone else good luck… I’ve got to say, this does seem strange, because in the end, if someone’s luck is better than yours, you’re going home empty handed…

I decide not to wish everyone luck, but instead wish them plenty of enjoyment [while I win the prize].

The basics of Bingo seem simple - it’s a bit like the lottery really.

Each ticket you buy is an entry. There are 6 tickets to a sheet, and you can buy a maximum of 5 sheets. So I have 30 chances to win every time. I like the sound of those odds.

On each ticket there are 3 rows, on each row there are 5 numbers. In order to win a prize, you need to fill in all five numbers on a row before anyone else manages to get there first. There are 3 rounds. One for the person who gets the first complete row, one for the person who gets 2 complete rows, and a final round for the person who gets all 3 rows filled out. If you win the last round, you can get the £30, if you win either of the first two you win £15.

You fill out the numbers on your sheets when they’re ‘called out’ on the screen. It’s exactly the same as the lottery really - there are 90 numbers, and they’re chosen completely at random.

I imagine a room of old men with their Bingo cages spinning around, pulling the numbers out then feverishly typing them into a computer in front of them - although I’m sure in reality it doesn’t really work like this.

Ok it sounds complicated, but really it’s not.

So I’ve bought my tickets, I’m ready to play, and I’m chatting with all the regulars in the chat room - I feel like a pro.

So, the seconds are counting down on the clock, I’ve got 30 seconds to wait until I can play… I can feel the anticipation creeping already.

Anyway, I’ll leave it there, otherwise I won’t have anything to write about next time.

Check back here in the next few days to see my next post… I’ll be filling you in with some of the nuances of the game, and you’ll be able to find out if I actually won, and if I did, how much I got.

See you then…

Relegation betting is here.

Not only can you bet on the top clubs likely to win the Premiership race this season but you can place bets on those who aren’t doing so well.

In recent seasons the battle at the bottom end of the table has often proved tougher and more exciting than the battle for the win with teams just avoiding relegation and others just not avoiding it.

There are two ways to bet on relegation. You can go for the obvious, pick a loser, or some bookies are offering relegation index betting where you gain points for staying up and your points decrease the lower in the relegation zone you are, obviously you get none if you’re in the bottom three.

Now, its become fairly obvious that Derby are going down, will only 9 points in 27 games, but who will join them?? Fulham are fairly likely to be down there but, as this is so obvious, its not worth betting on. From the betting tips I’ve seen, a well-placed bet would be on Bolton to be relegated, currently only 3 points clear of the relegation zone and with the UEFA Cup as a distraction their dismall Premiership form isn’t likely to improve. For other contenders for relegation and a good bet, here’s the best odds for relegation as of 26/02:

Derby - 1/1000 Paddy Power
Fulham - 4/11 Boylesports
Birmingham City - 2/1 Blue Square 
Reading - 9/4 Skybet
Bolton - 7/2 Boylesports
Wigan - 7/2 Boylesports
Sunderland - 9/2 Bet365
Newcastle Utd - 7/1 Coral
Middlesborough - 20/1 Ladbrokes

Heather Mills and Sir Paul McCartney have been in all the papers recently arguing over the divorce settlement. Another opportunity for a bet there!

Sir Paul, who has spent millions of pounds assembling the finest law team money can buy is campaigning to ensure his former wife Heather Mills gets no more than she is entitled to. Heather Mills, representing herself in court, is endeavouring for much more than Sir Paul thinks she is entitled to.

McCartney made an offer of £10million in settlement but the case is ongoing and due to divorce law Heather Mills stands to walk away with much more of McCartney’s estimated fortune of over £800million.

In 2005 the average divorce settlement awarded to stay at home wives was 53%, an amount that wuold leave Heather Mills upwards of £400 million. Other fairly recent celebrity divorce settlements saw Colin Montgomery and Chris Tarrant both lose 50% of their wealth.

Odds on pay-off amount from Paul McCartney to Heather Mills, as of Mon 25th Feb 08:

Nothing - 500/1
£10-£20 million - 20/1
£20-£50 million - 1/3
£50-£100 million - 1/1
£100-£350 million - 10/1
£250-500 million - 50/1

Yet another series of a program most people watch to laugh at the people that can’t sing. But, once again, the program can be given that little edge to make it worth watching by putting some money on one of the contestants.

Almost every time Simon Cowell opens his mouth he tells a contestant that they can’t sing. That, instead of just being annoying, becomes quite comical when you’ve got money on another contestant!

Now, the best odds as of February 25th:

David Archuleta 3/1 (Bet365)
Michael Johns 3/1 (Bet365)
Ramiele Malubay 7/1 (Bet365)
Jason Castro 8/1 (Paddy Power)
Carly Smithson 9/1 (Skybet)
Syesha Mercado 9/1 (Skybet)
Asia’h Epperson 12/1 (Skybet)
Kady Malloy 20/1 (Bet365)
Alaina Whitaker 25/1 (Bet365)
Robbie Carrico 25/1 (Paddy Power)
Brooke White 28/1 (Skybet)
Alexandrea Lushington 33/1 (Skybet)

So why not spend some of that well-earned money on a bet so that when you ladyfriend makes you watch American Idol it will be more bearable (if your chosen contestant is any good that is!)