Chelsea, Arsenal and United all dropped points this weekend and that leaves a real dogfight at the top of the table.

A quick reminder – here are the odds as supplied by Ladbrokes to win the Premiership:

• Manchester City – 17/10
• Manchester United – 5/2
• Tottenham Hotspurs – 15/1
• Arsenal – 34/1
• Chelsea – 44/1
• Liverpool – 126/1

The table looks like this: City and United are tied at the top on 45 points each. Spurs have a game in hand and are on 39 points while Chelsea have played 1 extra and are on 37.

While assumption is the mother of all evil (Especially with these bizarre results of the last week) let’s for a moment assume that Spurs get max points against WBA tomorrow. Then they are in with a serious shout especially if United get tied up in European competition.

15/1 looks generous… I also think that 44/1 is worth an outside punt on Chelsea – espcially if they spend a few bucks in the transfer window…

My picks for this weekend:

• The Patriots to beat The Bills
• The Saints to beat The Panthers
• The Packers to beat the Lions but…. remember the pack are probably going to rest some big name stars so tread carefully here as the Lions have it all to play for
• Miami Dolphins to put one over the Jets… I really think that the Giants knocked the stuffing out of the Jets when they squared up while Miami have been playing with a bit of freedom in the last few weeks
• The 49érs to beat the St Louis Rams
• The Falcons to easily go passed the Buccaneers
• The Raiders to beat the Chargers (but this is probably going to be one of the toughest games this weekend so buyer beware)
• The value play is the Giants to finally kill off the Cowboys

The team from Voltbet are making some great prices here so go and check them out.

Then it is that time in the year when you start looking at the Super Bowl. Ladbrokes have prices up at the moment and they look like this:

• Packers – 5/2
• Patriots – 5/1
• Saints – 6/1
• Ravens – 9/1
• Steelers – 13/1
• 49ers – 13/1
• Giants and Lions – 34/1

The Packers have been awesome all season and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them go all the way but if you are looking for value plays then the Patriots and the Saints are hard to ignore.

The concept is pretty simple – make a prediction around a sports result that they are making a market in, tweet about it using the hashtag #holidaybonus and cc @voltbet in the tweet.

If the prediction comes in right then you automatically win R500 which goes straight into your account.

It is a hard time of the year to be doing a social media competition as many people have wound down for the holidays but if you go and check out #holidaybonus you will see that the competition has attracted quite a lot of interest and people are talking about it, bantering and constantly making predictions.

Great work!

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“Sports betting is relatively new to the South African market and although it is a highly regulated industry, an industry association will establish collaboration between licensed operators, regulators and our customers,” says Anli Kotze, marketing manager for Ladbrokes.co.za.

Kotze believes an industry association will also provide licensed operators with a single voice on regulatory and industry issues. “South Africa’s online sports betting market is currently worth about R660-million and is expected to grow to about R800-million over the next two years. Unlicensed online sites operating illegally within South Africa are currently costing the government millions in lost tax revenue and are affecting the potential growth of legal online operators,” says Kotze.

Global betting and gaming giant, Ladbrokes, entered the South African market in August 2011 by establishing www.ladbrokes.co.za as a leading online sports betting portal. It is committed to growing the online sports betting market primarily around sports such as horse-racing, rugby, cricket, football, golf and tennis. Licensed by the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board (WCGRB), it is committed to honest and fair business practices.
“Despite the national and provincial gambling boards and local operators making efforts to educate the market, there is still great uncertainty amongst members of the public about the difference between online betting and interactive gaming in the local market, and which sites can be used legally,” says gaming lawyer, Garron Whitesman of Whitesmans Attorneys in Cape Town.

The recent Piggs Peak decision in the Supreme Court of Appeal has put an end to the debate on interactive gambling, which includes traditional casino type games and poker being offered online. “According to the highest court in our country, these services may not be offered legally online to South African residents. Parliament is currently debating the creation of a licensing regime for these types of products and we are hopeful that this will come to fruition sooner rather than later. For now, however, the only traditional forms of gaming that may legally be offered online are sports betting with a locally licensed bookmaker or totalisator,” says Whitesman.

According to Kotze, Ladbrokes.co.za aims to educate customers on what to look for when they want to place bets on sporting events online. “Customers must verify that they are using a licensed operator. All legal operators should indicate that they are licensed on their website’s homepage. Punters can also seek verification forms from the respective gambling boards around South Africa,” says Kotze.

However in the last month or so I’ve really gotten into the NFL season and it has fast become the highlight of my punting activities on a Sunday evening. Basically I have tried my hand at basketball and baseball but I’ve quickly concluded they are stupid sports – baseball in particular.

The NFL though I can understand.

I can go through a local platform like Voltbet.com, load up my bets on a Sunday morning after tracking the NFL.com site and then have plenty of fun tracking my teams over the evening. Initially I thought that the results seemed to be very random but as you get to know the teams you start to be able to make more informed calls on them.

I have also checked on Twitter and there seems to be a nice contingent of South African punters that follow the NFL so there is also a bit of a community feel to it. Great fun – try it out!

Anli Kotzé, marketing manager of Ladbrokes says online sport betting is new to South Africa but the uptake has been really good and higher than expected. This, she ascribes to Ladbrokes ‘exceptional reputation as a licensed and regulated operator.

 “We see South Africa as a great opportunity for Ladbrokes to increase its footprint in a fast developing market. We’ve also adapted our payment model to cater for the needs of the local market where debit and credit cards – which are traditionally needed to make purchases in the online environment – could be lacking.
Customers have been quick to take up Ladbrokes’ different payment options. With the eGaming experience Ladbrokes has, betting on Ladbrokes.co.za is extremely safe and secure. Payment methods include: bank transfers, credit cards, Ukash vouchers (which can be purchased from Shoprite, Checkers, Pick n Pay and other outlets), and via money bookers (e-wallet solution).” 

Kotzé says the company is very positive about the local market’s potential. “South Africa’s online sports betting market is worth about R660-million and is expected to grow to about R800-million over the next two years, especially in the top local sports such as horse racing, rugby, football, cricket, golf and tennis. For this year’s Rugby World Cup alone, more than 3000 bets have been placed on the tournament so far. We anticipate similar interest in numbers for the upcoming cricket season. “

The London-listed company which operates 24 different language sites and supports 17 currencies obtained its SA gambling licence in September 2010, which allows it to target online consumers on a national level.

You wouldn’t drive across the USA without a road map. With the cost of gas today, I’ll bet that you would want to be sure of where you were headed, why you were headed there and how you were going to get there before you turned on the motor. Sports betting isn’t any different. The idea of driving is to get where you are going in the most advantageous manner with as few mishaps as possible. The idea of sports betting is to win more wagers than you lose. Both require a plan, in advance.

A road map is an indispensable tool for motor trips. In sports betting, the two most indispensable tools are an in-depth knowledge of the sport on which you are betting and an up-to-the-minute understanding of news that could influence outcomes. In fact, you ought to be using all possible knowledge and tools available to you, including the work of the top handicappers. Sports betting systems can be one of these tools but there is no guarantee of success if you are relying on them alone. Keeping all this in mind, here are some beneficial things you should know about on your road to sports betting achievement:

1. Don’t put money on a wide range of sports: Stick to the sport or sports you know best because your know-how and knowledge will assist you in laying down the most lucrative bets.

2. Be practiced in your gambling. Keep your attention keen to stop you from making bets that you haven’t thought through all the way. Alternatively, look at each bet deliberately and consistently lay down well-thought-out bets throughout the season. It is not really possible to win every bet but the idea of this plan is to win more bets than you lose, over the course of a season.

3. Be aware of where you have come from and where you are headed: Keep precise spreadsheets of all your bets, accounting for all your wins and all your losses. This will keep you in reality and prevent you from thinking that you are winning more than you clearly are. If you see that you are not profiting as much as you planned, there is still time to make course corrections.

4. Watch out for sales people who are misleading you by claiming that they win all or most of their bets. No one is able to do that and you should realize that truth and see the scam clearly.

5. Just because you are a big fan of a particular team is wonderful and barrels of fun but it is no reason to gamble on that team. In spite of what you think of them, that team is going to win or lose whether or not you are a fan. Rely only on the hard facts, never emotions or prejudices. Always take a realistic, scientific approach when you bet.

6. Keep in mind that while a straight bet will not make you as much profit if you win, it is far more likely to pay off than exotic bets like parlays, futures and over/unders. To win those kinds of bets, you need to hit it right on the money out of a wide range of possibilities. The reason exotic bets pay out more is that they are harder to win.

7. Be realistic. On average, sports betting pros will win less than 6 bets out of every 10. That’s OK, though. They will earn money over a season because they are winning more bets than they are losing. Once in a long time, someone will win 10 bets out of a possible 10 and everyone hears about that. Don’t imagine for an instant that that oddity changes the long-term odds for you.

8. For a picks service to be reliable, they must be betting precisely as they are picking. Look at their track record before you rely on what they are telling you.

9. Stop betting if you experience yourself panicking at the end of a string of losses. One, gigantic, final panic wager is probably not going to save your hide. And, while we are on the subject of emotional betting, do not place bets when you have been drinking or if you are troubled for any reason. If you are allowing your emotions call the shots, you might as well toss your money in the dump.

10. Finally, manage your assets carefully. Know what you have and what you can afford to lose at every moment. Keep your bets conservative and consistent. Even though you may come out ahead less on a tiny bet, you will never have to agonize over the disaster of a significant loss.

Think about what has been said here. It was learned at the school of hard knocks. Only a practiced strategy will allow you to win more bets than you lose. Plan ahead, beware of the curves and pitfalls, keep your eyes open and your mind in control and you will arrive safely at the end of your journey down the road to betting success.

About the Author:

Article Directory :

Bob Gillespie writes on many subjects including sports betting. He is a full-time Internet marketer and author who lives on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

Learn more about sports betting at Bob’s blog at:

http://betting-on-sports.inetwyoming.com

On three occassions over the weekend I had trebles where the fourth leg missed out and in many cases the leg which blew out was the supposed “banker” in the lot.

However last nights game between Leyton Orient and Arsenal took the cake. The other two fixtures on the day had gone my way and with 80 minutes to go Arsenal were up 1-0. My mate had just SMS’d me to say that the last time Leyton Orient had scored against Arsenal in an FA Cup game was in 1911 (!!!) so it seemed like a pretty comfortable win was on the cards.

I was following the match commentary on the Arsenal.com site and the commentator had just announced that Arsenal had completed a phenomenal 468 passes in the match and then out of nowhere Leyton Orient blast a goal. I mean come on! 100 years and suddenly BHAM! out of nowhere I am blown out of the water.

You have to laugh because otherwise you’d go steadily insane….