Guineas Betting Preview

On 6th and 7th of November 2009, we will be treated to the Annual Breeders Cup in North America, and before even one gate has been opened, history has already been made in the fact that Santa Anita Park, host of the Breeders Cup 2008, has again been picked as the venue, the first time a track has hosted the cup twice in consecutive years. Choose a free bet for this race.

There are 14 races spread across the two day event, and with a $25.5 Million purse up for grabs, it is the Richest prize-money event in sport. The most important, and certainly prize-money richest race is The Breeders Cup Classic, with a $5 Million share to win, and it is the Classic that most betting men will be watching.

Bookmakers have ‘Rip Van Winkle’, trained by Aiden O’Brien, the favourite with SportingBet offering the best odds of 15/8. ‘Rip Van Winkle’, having won the Group 1 qualifying round seems also to be the customers favourite, but there are also some fantastic, if somewhat outside odds on other horses. ‘Zenyatta’ is the bookmakers next favourite for the Classic with odds of around 9/2, although BoyleSports is offering odds of 5/1, with an offer available on registration which means you get a free £20 bet once you deposit £20. Put that on ‘Zenyatta’ to finish each way, and you could make a nice profit.

Although a large difference in odds between ‘Rip Van Winkle’ and ‘Zenyatta’, the latter does have a good chance, with the horses ability being reflected by the fact that it is the bookmakers favourite for The Breeders Cup Ladies Classic. Again BoyleSports seems to have the best odds of 5/6, and if you want a sure thing, stick with ‘Zenyatta’ for the Ladies Classic, as the horses behind ‘Zenyatte’ such as ‘Careless Jewel’ and ‘Music Note’ have failed to deliver at points this year.

Breeders Cup Odds

Rip Van Winkle 15/8 Sporting Bet
Zenyatta 5/1 Betfred
Summer Bird 7/1 Bet 365
Quality Road 12/1 Bet 365
12/1 Bar

Breders Cup free bets

When it comes to free bets for the Bredders Cup there is a lot of choice. We would recommend the free bet offers at Bet 365 where customers get £100 in free bets, or Totesport, who also offer £100 in free bets for new customers. Grab yourself a Cheltenham free bet ahead of the 2013 Festival.

*Click here for all the latest odds on upcoming football matches

Grand National Tips

5/1 ROYAL – THIRD TIME LUCKY?

As for Clan Royal, it could be a case of third time lucky in the National for the eleven-year-old, but he now looks very short in the betting considering his tendency to pull hard in his races. Besides, it’s debatable whether he would have beaten impressive winner Hedgehunter last year if he hadn’t been carried out by a loose horse, so there has to be better value further down the bet365 betting list. For previews and free tips of other races, check out our horse racing betting section.

BOTTOM WEIGHTS ARE BEST

At this stage, with a maximum field of 40, there are still doubts over whether several fancied horses will get a run. Still, we can back our selections with confidence here at bet365, as we’re non-runner no bet on the big race – why go anywhere else for your National bets! Although the race is attracting more quality horses these days, the race traditionally favours horses carrying less than 11 stone (bet365 go 3/1 that the winner carries 11st or above), and the two that stand out near the bottom of the weights are Direct Access (25/1) and Ross Comm (20/1). The former was last seen when winning the Rehearsal Chase back in December (jumped well), but has a great record fresh and a Grand National winning jockey to boot in Tony Dobbin. He looks sure to run well, while the Sue Smith-trained Ross Comm must also come into the reckoning after bouncing back to form last time out over a barely adequate 2m 4f at Bangor. The gelding was also travelling sweetly when falling at the 16th in the Hennessey in November, and will have the services of the talented Dominic Elsworth in the saddle, who rode a winner for the in-form stable at Kelso on Monday. Grand National Picks: Garvivonnian @ 16/1 Ross Comm @ 20/1 Direct Access @ 25/1

GINGER 20/1 FOR NATIONAL GRAND FINALE

As well as offering outstanding each way terms on the big race (1/4 odds, 1.2.3.4.5, worth repeating!), bet365 have also wasted no time in pricing up a whole gamut of ‘Race Specials’. They were originally 3/1 that there would be a fifth Irish-trained winner of the race in eight years, but that’s been now been cut to 2/1 (still a decent shout when you consider what they’ve got running!), but you can still have 20/1 about the soon-to-be-retiring Aintree legend Ginger McCain training a fifth National winner. His best shot looks to be the recently acquired Inca Trail who could surprise a few people by running well at the current bet365 price of 50/1. In the same market, the seven-strong Paul Nicholls is a 4/1 shot to train the winner, while you can have 6/1 that all the runners negotiate the first fence. If you didn’t win on this year’s Grand National, why not console yourself with a Cheltenham free bet.

For independent reviews of all bookmakers featured on this site, and a complete list of free bets and other promotional offers, click here

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Ladbrokes Online Betting

Website: Ladbrokes
Free Bet:£10 free bet for all new customers
Promotions: weekly free bets
Customer Support: 24/7 by phone or email

Ladbrokes Review

Ladbrokes are the biggest name in online sports betting, with over 2000 betting shops in the UK, and over 500,000 registered customers for their internet betting site. Ladbrokes have achieved this by being the market leader, through a combination of excellent customer service, fast payouts of winnings, and standing large bets. Ladbrokes is owned by the Hilton hotel and leisure group, making it a credible online betting organisation. Ladbrokes offer betting in differnet currencies and languages, making Ladbrokes the worldwide leader in online betting.

Ladbrokes Design/ Navigation

The Ladbrokes online betting website is the most superior betting website, with fantastic navigation, attractive colour scheme and ease of use. Through the use of drop down menu’s and featured events, it only takes 3 clicks to place your bets with Ladbrokes, an enjoyable and hassle free experience. Ladbrokes also have a number of great website features, including webcasting of UK horseracing, racing and football form/stats.

Ladbrokes also have one of the best Smartphone betting apps on the market, allowing customers to quickly and easily place bets using their mobile phones. You can download the betting app for the best experience, or if you are in a hurry the site works just fine in a mobile phone browser.

Ladbrokes Betting Markets

Being the complete betting service, Ladbrokes offer odds on virtually every sport and event, and will quote prices on request for any peculiar events that other bookmakers have not priced up. Ladbrokes coverage of football and racing is particularly impressive. Ladbrokes also offer a full range of financial betting, as well as poker and casino.

Ladbrokes Free Bet

Ladbrokes offer regular free bet promotions to loyal customers, each week offering you a free bet on a selected market if you place a bet on that event. See website for more details. Ladbrokes accept deposits via Paypal with no charge to the customer. Any winnings can also be withdrawn back to your Paypal account, making Ladbrokes one of the best Paypal betting sites in the UK

Click here to open your Ladbrokes account and get a free £10 bet

*Click here for all the latest odds on upcoming football matches

England vs Trinidad World Cup Betting preview

England can qualify for the knockout stages of the World Cup by beating unfancied Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday. England are as short as best price 1/6 with VC Bet to beat Trinidad, who caused a major upset by drawing with Sweden in their opening World Cup group game. Trinidad are best odds 20/1 with Bet 365 to beat England , or 7/1 on Betfair to earn a draw.

With odds on England so short in the outright 90 minutes betting, many patriotic punters will be looking to the handicap markets to place bets on England . With Trinidad and Tobago receiving a 1 goal head start, England are available at best odds 1 /2 with Bet 365. With Trinidad receiving a 2 goal head start, England can be backed on best odds 11/10 with totesport.

In the first goal scorer markets, Bet 365 have the following odds available on an England player scoring the first goal:

Owen 7/2
Crouch 9/2
Rooney 9/2
Lampard 11/2
Gerrard 13/2
Joe Cole 13/2
Beckham 9/1

Bet 365 also have a couple of special bets on the England vs Trinidad match, with Michael Owen 1/3 to be subbed off, and Wayne Rooney available at Evens to play some part in the game.

Click here to view all free bets from online bookmakers

*Click here for all the latest odds on upcoming football matches

England vs Sweden Betting Preview

England can qualify for the 2nd round of the World Cup as group winners with a draw against Sweden on Tuesday. England haven’t beaten Sweden in over 30 years, which makes the draw a very tempting bet at best odds 17/10 with VC Bet. England can be backed at best odds 6/4 with Bet 365, whilst Sweden are best odds 5/2 with Blue Square and Sporting Odds.

It seems that England get drawn alongside Sweden is every major football tournament, and in 2012 it was the first time England managed to beat Sweden in a major tournament for over 30 years. On that occasion, it was enough for England to qualify ahead of Sweden.

In the first goal scorer markets, Bet 365 have the following odds available on an England player scoring the first goal:

Owen 6/1
Crouch 7/1
Rooney 6/1
Lampard 9/1
Gerrard 10/1
Joe Cole 10/1
Beckham 14/1

With Wayne Rooney likely to return for England, many punters will be tempted by Bet 365’s price of 11/2 about Rooney being awarded the man of the match award. For all the latest betting previews ahead of key matches, make sure you visit the football betting section of our site that covers analysis, tips and odds.

Click here to view the best free bets for the World Cup

*Click here for all the latest odds on upcoming football matches

England vs Paraguay Betting

England open their World Cup campaign against Paraguay, and are best odds 8/15 with Sporting Odds to start with a win. Bet 365 and Coral both offer 11/2 on a Paraguay win, whils the draw is available at best odds 13/5 with Sporting Odds.

In the first goalscorer market, Michael Owen is the strong favourite to open the scoring. The Newcastle striker is available at best odds 9/2 with Ladbrokes. Peter “Robot” Crouch is best odds 6/1 with VC Bet, whilst midfielders Frank Lamaprd and Steven Gerrard are both available at odds of around 7/1. For all your football betting requirements make sure you check out our football news section that covers betting tips, match previews and the lastest odds.

Bet 365 are running a man of the match betting market on the game. The odds are as follows:

Michael Owen 5/1
Peter Crouch 7/1
Steven Gerrard 7/1
Frank Lampard 7/1
David Beckham 8/1
Joe Cole 12/1
John Terry 20/1

England vs Paraguay special betting offers:

Have a bet on the First Goalscorer and if your player fails to score the first goal but scores at any other time in the match VCBet will give you a free bet to the same value on a match of your choice

Place a 1st Goalscorer Bet on any England match and if your player fails to score first but scores second, Sportingodds will refund your stake!

Paddy Power will refund all losing first/last goalscorer singles on England v Paraguay if Steven Gerrard scores the last goal of the game. For more promotional offers and free bets from bookmakers, check out the bookmaker index of our site.

*Click here for all the latest odds on upcoming football matches

World Cup winners are bookies

Leading online bookmaker William Hill say the World Cup has smashed all betting records, “The tournament has produced the biggest betting turnover for any sporting event ever staged, with £1 billion gambled on the outcome’ said Hill’s spokesman Graham Sharpe.’This is double the previous record, gambled on Euro 2004, and was helped by a worldwide interest thanks to the internet.”

The tournament was very profitable for the bookies, largely due to the fact that the two heavily backed favourites England and Brazil were knocked out at the Quarter Final stage.
‘The two best backed countries were England – a huge patriotic gamble took place – and the hot favourites, Brazil,and when Portugal knocked England out they saved bookies from their biggest ever football payout of over £30 million, while the French win over Brazil confirmed that bookies would be coming out on top’

Eventual winners Italy could have been backed at odds of around 10/1 at the start of the tournament, and were not fancied by many punters. The last serious gamble of the World Cup was on Italy to beat France to lift the trophy and William Hill cut their odds from 4/5 to 8/11 after a string of huge bets, including one of £111,000 from a London-based businessman. It wasn’t all winning results for the bookies, though, and Hills paid one client £800,000 after he staked an accumulative bet on teams winning their first round Groups.

Bookmaker Paddy Power paid back over €1 million to their customers in refunded bets. The Irish online bookmaker refunded bets on certain games if a nominated player scored the last goal.

Blue Square must be one online bookmaker thankful that England were defeated, as they were refunding all losing World Cup bets had England won the tournament.

*Click here for all the latest odds on upcoming football matches

African Cup of Nations betting preview

Outright tournament winner

The African Cup of Nations was first held in 1957. Since then it has always taken place between the 10th and 31st of January. In the first month of 2010 the 27th edition of the tournament will take place.  The qualification for this edition of the African Cup of Nations began in October 2007. Fifty three African National teams turned up, out of which only 16 nations have qualified to go to Angola, the country that will host the tournament.

The nation that has won the African Nation’s Cup the mostis Egypt, winning the tournament an overall of 6 times. Ghana and Cameroon have won the Cup four times each.  This year’s favourites are Ivory Cost at odds of 9/4 with Bet 365 – click here for £100 in free bets

In recent years the Ivory Cost team has gained quite the selection of players. Worldly renowned footballers from clubs like Barcelona, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City. However, the team has had only one win dating to 1992. Since 1965 the Ivory Cost has appeared in 17 editions of the African Cup of Nations.

Other teams to lookout for this year are ever strong Egypt, Cameroon and Nigeria. Whilst Ivory Coast are a very strong team, we feel they are too short to back outright, and there may be some vaule in taking a chance on Nigeria at 8/1 with Paddy Power. Nigeria boast a strong squad packed with recognised Premier League players such as Jon Obi Mikkel, Obafemi Martins, Yakubu, Kanu, and Joseph Yobo to name but a few.

Click here to view all free bets from online bookmakers

African Nations betting news

The African Cup of Nations has now reached the Quarter Final stage, and Cameroon have been installed as the tournament favourites. Totesport offer the longest odds on Cameroon at just 9/4. Hosts Egypt are 2nd favourites at best price 3/1 with Blue square and Bet 365. The full Quarter Final draw is:

Cameroon vs Ivory Coast
Egypt vs Congo
Guinea vs Senegal
Nigeria vs Tunisia

The full prices for the tournament are:

Cameroon 9/4 Totesport
Egypt 3/1 Blue Square
Nigeria 7/1 Betfred
Tunisia 7/1 Total Bet
Senegal 9/1 Stan James
Ivory Coast 9/1 Total Bet
Guinea 14/1 Stan James
Congo 40/1 Sporting Odds

Cameroon Striker Samuel Eto’o is strong favourite to land the tournament Golden Boot ward, having made an impressive start to the tournament. He is currently best price 8/11 with Betfred to claim this honor.

For independent reviews of all bookmakers featured on this site, and a complete list of free bets and other promotional offers, click here

*Click here for all the latest odds on upcoming football matches

Tote betting guide – how to place tote bets

Quite simply the tote is a pool of all the money bet from which winners are paid, similar to the way the National Lottery works. Totepool is a unique range of horseracing pool betting products offered by totesport online bookmakers. Whenever you visit any of the 59 racecourses in Britain you will see totepool betting windows. For many people on-course betting is their first introduction to betting and can add extra enjoyment to a great day at the races. You can get a free £10 bet when you place tote bets with Totesport.

There are many different totepool bets offering a range of fantastic betting opportunites. Below we explain how each tote pool bet works:

Tote Win:

totewin bet is the simplest off all tote pool bets. Simply pick the winning horse. This is very similar to a fixed odds bet, except tote win pays more than starting price odds 62% of the time, meaning it is usually more profitable to place a tote win bet than traditional “SP”.

Tote Place:

Pick a horse to be placed in the race. Minimum bet £2.Your selections needs to be placed as follows:
Up to 4 runners ? no place betting 5 ?7 runners ?1st & 2nd 8+ runners ? 1st, 2nd & 3rd
Handicap 16+ runners ? 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th

Tote Eachway: A very popular way of betting, this is simply a totewin bet and a toteplace bet on the same horse. Minimum total stake £4.

Tote Scoop 6:

Pick at least one horse in the six nominated televised races each Saturday. Get all six winners to scoop a potentially massive dividend AND qualify for a big money bonus. Even finding a placed horse in every race pays an average dividend of over £500 to a £1 stake. Use a totescoop6 play slip to place your bet. Minimum spend £2 per line.

Tote Placepot:

This is racing’s favourite bet ? and it couldn’t be simpler! Just pick a horse to be placed in each of the six toteplacepot races (normally the first six races on the card). You can choose more than one horse in any of the races to increase your chances of winning. Use a toteplacepot play slip to place your bet. Minimum total spend £2.

Tote Jackpot: Pick the winners of the six totejackpot races at the nominated totejackpot meeting each day. Not easy ? but the potential rewards are huge! You can choose more than one horse in any of the races to increase your chances of winning. Use a toteplacepot play slip to place your bet. Minimum total spend £2.

Tote Quadpot: Another popular bet ?especially if you’ve missed the start of the toteplacepot or it has fallen by the wayside before the 3rd race. As before, just pick a horse to be placed in each of the four totequadpot races which are normally races 3, 4, 5 and 6. Use a totequadpot play slip to place your bet. Minimum total spend £1.

tote Exacta: Pick the horses to finish 1st & 2nd in the correct order. Try a reverse toteexacta or a combination toteexacta to increase your chances. This is obviously more difficult than just picking the winner, but the rewards are potentially much greater! Minimum total spend £2.

Tote Trifecta: Pick the horses to finish 1st, 2nd & 3rd in the correct order in a totetrifecta race. Get this right and you could win big!  Minimum total spend £2.

Sign up to Totesport and get a free £10 bet.

*Click here for all the latest odds on upcoming football matches