A Blog about Betting Sports. Betting Sports of all kinds. Betting Sports including Betting NBA, Betting NFL and Betting Baseball.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Mobile telephone deal will bring more Sports Betting games to thousands of players

Mobile telephone deal will bring more Sports Betting games to thousands of players
By Richard Wray
A deal struck between two technology companies could see hundreds of thousands of mobile games made available to punters as the gambling market continues to boom.
UK-based mobile betting technology firm Mfuse, which is backed by Sportingbet founder Mark Blandford, has struck a deal with Aim-listed Probability that will see games developed by the company made available to hundreds of thousands of gamblers.
Probability, which has developed more than 30 mobile games, is the first company to make use of Mfuse's mobile gambling platform, which links directly to betting firms including Betsson, Bet365, Gala Coral Group, Ladbrokes, Sky Bet, Sporting Index, Sportingbet, Paddy Power and William Hill.
In the past, mobile game developers had to spend months designing games and tailoring them to work with the billing and online systems of individual betting companies. But the Mfuse platform makes it much easier and faster to get to market once a developer has had its game accepted by a betting firm.
Mobile gambling is booming despite the recession and legal issues with the technology in some markets such as the U.S. Independent experts Juniper Research estimate that the global mobile gambling industry will be taking $16.6bn (£11.3bn) worth of bets – ranging from casino betting and lotteries to sports betting – by 2011, up from $1.35bn in 2006.
London-based Mfuse, founded in 2002, has spent years building its system, called NOVO Open API, and it is now open to any game developer who wants to pitch games to the company's partners.
"The sports betting market is growing very rapidly and shows no signs of stopping," said Marcus Wareham, chief executive of MfusSe. "As a result, we know the appetite is there for mobile gaming products. Opening up our platform allows us to rapidly deploy already successful mobile content to a huge client base.
"The partnership with Probability provides us with a strong base from which to start due to their large portfolio of original and branded content."

Mobile telephone deal will bring more Sports Betting games to thousands of players


Betting Sports Forum: Gaming Analyst Says Online Casinos Will Have to Wait on Congress

Betting Sports Forum: Gaming Analyst Says Online Casinos Will Have to Wait on Congress

The buzz has been building among Internet gambling operators that the problematic ban of online casinos by the U.S. will end soon. But a gaming industry analyst for a major investment firm says any changes in online gambling laws will not be reviewed by Congress until more pressing issues are addressed and resolved.

Joel Simkins of Macquarie Securities wrote in a client note that he did not consider Internet gambling to be an area of short-term promise for potential investors. Simkins thinks the economy and other issues that affect a far larger number of people than online gaming will receive preferential treatment.

"Given the more pressing economic concerns of industries that currently employ considerably more potential voters than online gaming ever will, we think the odds are very slim that online gaming will be supported on Capitol Hill," Simkins said.

However, Simkins revealed a flaw in his reasoning when he said the will to overturn the Federal Wire Act does not exist in the legislature. The Wire Act has,in fact, been interpreted by the courts to only apply to sports gambling, not casino games.

The law which most impedes Internet casinos is the UIGEA, which attempts to prevent payment to online gaming operators. This law is currently under siege in court, and will soon face the challenge of a new bill from Barney Frank.

The U.S. Department of Justice does act as if the Wire Act restricts all online gambling, but casinos would be happy to attack that view in court, especially with the precedents set limiting the bill to sports betting.

Simkins does think intrastate online gambling may expand in the absence of federally regulated and licensed Internet casinos. He also notes the shifting political position of the American Gaming Association, which had lobbied ferociously against regulating online casinos, but now takes a neutral viewpoint as more land-based operations consider adding an Internet arm.




Betting Sports Forum: Gaming Analyst Says Online Casinos Will Have to Wait on Congress

Sports Betting Forum: Unity is Best Lesson for Online Gambling in Texas Gaming Debate

Sports Betting Forum: Unity is Best Lesson for Online Gambling in Texas Gaming Debate

By Carter Randel
Legal US Online Casino News


The evolving gaming laws across the U.S. have led to disputes as to what gambling will be permitted, what regulations will be imposed, and what shall remain illegal. As online casino gambling prepares to undergo examination by the U.S. Congress in coming months, the proponents of gambling in all forms could learn a lesson from the spreading chaos in Texas.

Despite the odds of Texas allowing any legal gambling having been astronomical mere months ago, the supporters of various gaming institutions are letting greed turn them against each other, drastically reducing the chance of any gambling law change in the state. An article in the American-Statesman describes slot advocates and casino supporters screaming at each other and calling each other names.

Over 250 lobbyists have registered to weigh in on the Texas legislation. Representatives of tribal interests, horse tracks, casino developers, dog tracks, and local interests looking for funding are each looking for their own bill, leaving the others in the cold while their clients enjoy the riches a gaming monopoly bestows. Each is as keen to crush the others' hopes as to push through the benefits for those they represent.

"Sometimes the lobbyists get in the way of progress," said Mike Lavigne, a spokesman for horse and dog track owners, in the understatement of the year.

Jose Menendez, a state Representative from San Antonio who was one of the first to broach the possibility of legalized Texas gaming, said, "We're not going to have anything if we keep fighting."

While it remains to be seen what the result of the Texas scrum will be, online casino and Internet gambling interests should learn a key lesson from the Lone Star State. Gaming advocates cannot let self-interest divide them from bringing the freedom of choice to US citizens.

Civil libertarian Paul Hopper said, "Poker interest must support casino operators, and online sports books need to ally with Internet bingo companies. If each tries to shut out the other, the disorganized majority will be defeated by the disciplined, single-minded minority, the radical religious groups that oppose all gambling.

"While every operator wishes to earn a profit, ultimately it must be the free marketplace and the choice of individuals that decide which gaming companies do best. To seek the law to block gambling competition invites the same legal quandry in which the US currently finds itself."

Hopper's statement rings true, especially in view of consistent moves by the Poker Players Alliance to distance itself, and its game, from casino gambling. The only true freedom, Hopper reminds us, is absolute freedom; everything else is just a bigger cage.

Sports Betting Forum: Unity is Best Lesson for Online Gambling in Texas Gaming Debate



Sports Betting Tips: Here’s Your Guide To Online Success

Sports Betting Tips: Here’s Your Guide To Online Success

While many of the gambling facts you may have picked up in Las Vegas can be useful in online gambling, it’s important that you realize there are some critical differences. With a knowledge of the facts surrounding your chosen game, and armed with some gambling tips from experienced online players, you will find online gambling not only a fascinating and exciting adventure, but also an opportunity to turn your gambling hobby into a profitable venture.

Critical Rules for Every Game

1. Never chase after your losses. Don’t increase your bets because you’re losing and want to get even; only increase your bets as part of a pre-determined strategy.
2. Don’t gamble at any game that you don’t understand. Learn it first.

3. Don’t gamble and drink at the same. It’s hard enough to win at gambling even without dulled senses.

Money Management – General Guidelines

4. You will lose more often than you win and the longer you play the more likely that fact is. And it’s true whether you’re talking about hands of blackjack, rolls of the roulette wheel or throws of the dice

5. The key to winning is to maximize your wins and to minimize you losses.

6. Learn and memorize the odds at the particular game you have chosen to play as well as the best strategies to use in an effort to maximize your winnings at that particular game.

7. Never gamble with “dear” money; only gamble with “excess” money. In other words, never gamble with money that you will need, or may need, to pay your everyday living expenses.

8. If you’re playing against other players online this is doubly important. The minute you start gambling with “dear” money the other player will sense your heightened stress and play accordingly – often bullying you out of a bet because they know you are more tentative with your “dear” money.

9. Set a stop loss amount and stick to it. Divide your total gambling bankroll into four separate amounts. Divide each of those amounts into four smaller amounts. If you lose one of the smaller amounts, change tables or games or just take a break. If you lose your entire first allotment, stop gambling for the day.

10. Be disciplined and avoid the gambler’s demise of going into your next allotment because you feel like your luck “just has to turn around.”

11. Plan ahead. When you start a gambling session determine the amount that you want to win (be realistic) and when you reach that point put the money away and walk.

12. When you are winning, draw some money occasionally from your gambling bankroll and put it into a “do not touch” bankroll to protect that portion from further risk.

13. No money management system will ever overcome the house advantage over the long term. You will always lose more often than you win. The key is that you must win more big bets and lose more small bets.

Money Management – Positive Progression Systems

14. A Positive Progression System is one in which you increase the amount of your bets when you win and decrease the amounts of your bets when you lose. To use this system properly you must establish a “standard” betting unit.

15. Your “standard” betting unit should be a comfortable percentage of the gambling bankroll that you will be working with for a particular gambling session. For example, if your session’s bankroll is $100, you might make your “standard” betting unit $10.00. This way you would be able to play at least 10 betting events before running out of funds even if you lost all 10 events in a row.

16. These systems allow you to win relatively large amounts during a hot streak while helping to minimize your losses during cold streaks.

17. A common example of this strategy is to add one-half of the amounts you win to your next bet. For example, at blackjack if you win a hand with your “standard” betting unit of $10.00 you would add $5.00 to the bet on the next hand for a total bet of $15.00. If you win that hand you would add $7.50 to the $15.00 for a bet of $22.50 on the next hand. When you eventually lose a hand, return to your “standard” betting unit of $10.00 on the next hand and start the system all over. Of course in practice these increases of 50% will be approximate.

18. Another more complicated system is to always keep your bankroll divided into a certain number of units and then bet one unit on each event. As you win, your total bankroll becomes bigger so each unit will grow and you’ll be betting larger amounts. As you lose, your units, and bets, become smaller.

19. Establish a system for drawing some of the winnings from your gambling bankroll occasionally to put it into your “do not touch” bankroll. For example, when you double your bankroll you might take one-half of the winnings to put into the “do not touch” bankroll. If you experience a long winning streak Using a Positive Progression System the winnings can grow dramatically.

Money Management – Negative Progression Systems

20. A Negative Progression System is one in which you increase the amount of your bets when you lose and decrease the amounts of your bets when you win. Again, to use this system properly you must establish your “standard” betting unit.

21. The most common negative progression system is the Martingale System. Here you double the amount of your bet if you lose and return to your “standard” betting unit when you win. For example, at blackjack if you bet $10.00 and lose you would bet $20.00 on the next hand. If you win that hand you would then reduce your bet to the “standard” $10.00 bet for the following hand. In all gambling, the Martingale system will always fail in the long run.

22. This system can be very frustrating because during a hot streak you are winning only your “standard” betting unit. And during cold streaks you are continually losing bigger and bigger amounts.

23. Remember, draw some money occasionally from your gambling bankroll winnings and put it into a “do not touch” bankroll.

Playing Roulette

24. American roulette is one of the worst casino games that you can play because the house advantage under standard rules is 5.26% or higher.

25. European roulette offers a lower house advantage under standard rules of 2.7% because there are fewer slots with only one “0” as opposed to the “0” and “00” in American roulette.

26. All bets on in American roulette give the house an advantage of 5.26% with one exception: the “0”, “00”, 1, 2, 3 combination bet gives the house a much larger 7.89% advantage.

27. All roulette betting systems rely on the inaccurate assumption that the result of previoUS spins can predict future results. Unless the system is defective or fixed, each spin carries the same odds as every other spin.

28. The most popular betting system at roulette is the negative progression system known as Martingale (see #17). As in all other games, the Martingale used in roulette will always fail in the long run.

29. Because of the heavy house advantage if you are playing not just for amusement but to win money you might as well take a shot at the higher payoff bets and hope that you get lucky.

30. Try a modified positive progression system at roulette. Divide the amount you are willing to lose at one roulette session into 35 “standard” betting units. Pick one number and bet one unit on that number (must be at least equal to the table minimum bet). Continue playing one unit on that same number until you either win or run out of your 35 unit bankroll. If you win, bet two units on the same number and continue betting two units on that number until you either win or lose your bankroll. If you win again, walk away!

31. Roulette is a relatively slow moving game compared to other online games, so it should take you a longer time to lose your bankroll.

32. Do not play roulette as a way to win money; the odds are too heavy in favor of the house. Play roulette only as a way to have fun and pass the time without losing a lot of money quickly.

Playing Baccarat

33. Baccarat is one of the easiest casino games to play and offers a relatively low advantage to the house of just 1.06%.

34. There may be as many as 12 to 14 players at a table, with the role as dealer passed around the table much as the dice are passed around a craps table.

35. All players may bet on each hand and the bets are either on the “player”, on the “dealer” or on a tie. With the exception of the tie bet, baccarat is much like betting heads or tails on the flip of a coin.

36. Neither banker nor player can make any decisions regarding play; the rules of the game stipulate what must be done with every hand and a house “dealer” supervising the game will direct the play accordingly.

37. Winning bets on the player or the dealer both pay even money, minus a 5% commission paid either at the time of the bet or when the player leaves the table.

38. Winning bets on a tie usually pay 8 to 1, again minus a 5% commission.

39. In an 8-deck game, the house advantage is slightly less for a “banker bet” and dramatically higher for a “tie bet”, so it seems most logical to bet only on the banker.

40. As in all online gambling, card counting is meaningless because the deck(s) is usually shuffled after each hand in baccarat.

Playing Blackjack

41. Blackjack offers one of the lowest house advantages at around .60%, but expert players can actually create situations where the player has an advantage.

42. For the serious player there are many complex strategies that require time and dedication to master.

43. Never just sit down cold at a table. Blackjack tends to be a game of streaks, so watch a table for a few hands to determine if it is a hot or cold table for the players.

44. A “soft” hand is a hand with an Ace that can be counted as either a 1 or an 11 in value and still keep the hand’s total at 21 or less.

45. A “hard” hand is a hand with an Ace that must be counted as 1 in value in order to keep the hand’s total at 21 or less.

46. A beginning or social player should stick to the generally accepted rules of the basic blackjack strategy.

47. Never be afraid to take a card that might bust you. Always play the odds; don’t let the fear of a bust stop you from taking a card when you know it’s the option with the highest probability of success no matter how small that probability may be.

48. Read one of the many excellent books on counting cards if you are serious about blackjack and willing to spend a lot of time practicing and perfecting your play. As in all online gambling, card counting is of little value because the deck(s) is usually shuffled after each hand. In blackjack, however, with many players at a table it may be beneficial for that one hand.

Playing Blackjack to Win – The Best Moves

49. Always split Aces and 8s as the odds are good that the two new hands will be dramatically better than either the soft 12 or hard 16.

50. Stand with a hard 12 or higher when the dealer is showing a 4, 5 or 6. The odds are good that the dealer may bust on the next card or that you will bust if you take another card.

51. Take a hit on anything below a hard 17 when the dealer is showing a 7 thru an Ace. Don’t be afraid to bust!

52. Always double your bet when you’re dealt an 11.

Sports Betting Tips: Here’s Your Guide To Online Success

Overseas Betting Sports Receives Professional Advice from Regulators

Overseas Betting Sports Receives Professional Advice from Regulators

Online sports wagering websites are governed by three organizations. These are the OSGA (the Offshore Gaming Association), IGC (Interactive Gaming Council) and finally the Fidelity Trust Gaming Association FTGA.
The Offshore Gaming Association is a nonpartisan watchdog institute that currently oversees the offshore sports gambling business. They undertake to also supply gamers the ability to determine trustworthy websites to play betting games with. It attempts to assure the legal rights of gamblers, they don’t demand any enrollment expenses. The association is a highly well-qualified and impartial third party association who give impartial points of view, suggested by your responses, objective examination, chats, insider prompts also supplies inside gossip.
The Interactive Gaming Council is a not-for-profit organization. The agency was established to furnish an arena for concerned individuals to discuss issues and in addition to progress communal matters in the international interactive gambling profession, to ensure equitable not to mention effective business standards and procedures that aim to improve client confidence in online betting merchandise and functions, and also to aid as the gambling industry’s generic policy counselor and it also offers an info base.
The IGC has established a regard for stimulating safety, candor and in addition sincerity via its lofty ethical code, also its allure to commercial enterprises of ethical practice. The Interactive Gaming Council monitors offshore sports gaming by advocating a characteristic ten-point series of standards and in addition bills gambling business enterprises license fees for displaying the council’s logo. Frustrated customers may moreover disclose any of their arguments to the Interactive Gaming Council.
The Fidelity Trust Gaming Association was founded in order to generate a standard to raise the procedures of live gambling trading operations. The IGC suggest that by doing trade with businesses of honorable reputation, they are able to fashion a federation of the most fair and professional offshore gambling operations worldwide. In short, these are establishments which govern the conduct of online gambling and which should work to alleviate most if not all of the fears felt by detractors.
Machine-accessible betting websites are consistently safe, in as much as individual data aren’t a necessity and the rewards and the odds should be equivalent to an orthodox Vegas-type Vegas type stake. They get rid of traveling time, but still keep the basic character, only now you may gamble in the comfort of your own trusted surroundings.



Overseas Betting Sports Receives Professional Advice from Regulators

NFL Continues to Lobby Against Internet Gambling Not Involving Sports Betting

NFL Continues to Lobby Against Internet Gambling Not Involving Sports Betting

By Marcus Camby
Legal US Online Casino News

As foes and friends of the UIGEA ban against Internet gambling line up for legislative and judicial battles over the law this spring, the National Football League remains among the most adamant opponents to striking the problematic law. Despite sports gambling via the Internet being barred by the 1961 Wire Act, the NFL somehow finds reason to believe regulating other forms of online gambling would damage the integrity of pro football games.

While repealing the UIGEA would free Congress to regulate online casinos, sports betting online would still be forbidden by the Wire Act, according to the ruling of the US Fifth District Court. But NFL officials are convinced that sports wagering would increase if the UIGEA were struck.

"We are opposed to more gambling on our games which is what would occur if the 2006 law was overturned," league spokesman Brian McCarthy told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

"We understand that illegal gambling currently occurs but there is little we can do about that, he said. However, we can exercise our right to oppose Internet betting on our games. ... Gambling on our games online or offline threatens the integrity of our games and all the values they represent."

McCarthy did not explain how banning Internet casino gaming and online poker transactions protects NFL game integrity. Nor did he offer an opinion on how tossing away the UIGEA would alter the Wire Act or make sports wagering legal. Legal experts have said betting on NFL games would not change statUS if the UIGEA is removed.

The NFL has exercised its massive wealth and political power to combat gambling laws that seem to only peripherally affect the league, although this may be the beginning of NFL interference in gaming that has no sports correlation.

The league used influence to force Oregon to withdraw a state sports lottery plan, and has sent delegates to Delaware to advise Governor Markell of its disapproval of his sports gambling plan. The league did not seem to be restrained by the fact it holds no games in either state, thereby contributing nothing to the states' economies, or suffering a threat in any way increased from presently legal Las Vegas sports booking.


NFL Continues to Lobby Against Internet Gambling Not Involving Sports Betting

Betting Sports: Ways to Wager

Betting Sports: Ways to Wager
By Noah Mann

The most popular of sports to place bets on are NFL and college football games, along with NBA and NCAA basketball games. Within these sports, there are multiple betting opportunities that begin with the basic wager on a games outcome (also terming betting the side). Point spreads are used in both football and basketball to even the attractiveness of each team in a match up.

Alternatively, you can simply bet on the money line or straight-up winner of the game. Oddmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on that of the underdog to balance the action on both sides. Money line gambling can be an attractive option for basketball and football bettors who only care about picking a winner. It is the main option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball or sports like boxing, NASCAR and tennis.

Points (or Runs) Scored:
An Over/Under total is another bet across all major team sports such as basketball, baseball and football which involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game.
Example: If the Over/Under total on a Game was 48 - this means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined during that game. If the final score of the game was 24-21, the scoring of both teams add up to 45 which means the game went Under. So the bettors who bet “under” won, and the bettors who bet “over” lost the bet.

Future Bets:
Sports’ gambling doesn’t just start and end here. Betting sides and totals are the most common of wagers but many sportsbooks offer future bets on big upcoming games like who will win the Super Bowl the next year and who will win a Grammy this year.

The main advantage of future betting is you can get better odds by betting in advance. Example: with NFL futures you can often get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even begins. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl might be 20/1 preseason but by midseason their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be championship contenders.

Proposition Betts (or Prop Bets):
Proposition bets, focus on the more exotic aspects of a game that are widely televised. Proposition bets are popular when it comes to wagering on the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. For example: which team will win the coin toss or what player will score the first touchdown of the game.


Betting Sports: Ways to Wager

The Myth of Illegal Online Sports Betting

The Myth of Illegal Online Sports Betting

By Marcus Camby
Legal US Online Casino News


Even Lawyers are confused by United States Gaming Rules. There is no federal law against online gambling in the U.S. But the misuse of the powers of the Department of Justice has combined with a word-of-mouth campaign to give many U.S. residents and even several authorities the mistaken impression that statutes forbid playing at online casinos.

Legal scholar Peter Andino points out that the principal pieces of federal legislation dealing with gambling are the Wire Act of 1961, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, and the infamous UIGEA, passed in 2006. According to Andino, the Sports Protection Act deals solely with sports gambling, as its name suggests.

"The Wire Act has also been interpreted by U.S. Courts, specifically the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, to apply only to sports betting. The Department of Justice would like to take a broader interpretation and say that all online gambling is forbidden by the act, but its job is merely to enforce the statute; ultimately, it is the job of the courts to rule on interpretation, and they have done so."

Andino also says the UIGEA does not make Internet gambling illegal, but simply makes processing payments involving illegal online gambling forbidden.

"However, the law does not say what constitutes illegal online gambling, and the other acts only outlaw sports wagering," stated Andino. "Thus, the strict effect of the UIGEA is to block payments involving online sports betting; all other forms of gambling are not banned by statute, and therefore are legal and should be able to process payments."

Andino believe that gaming opponents have acted and spoke repeatedly as if online gambling had been declared against the law in the hope that "if you say something often enough, it becomes accepted as truth."

The Congressional observer says the situation has become so muddled due to political trickery and misstatements; it will take a measure such as Barney Frank's proposal to regulate online casinos to clarify the situation. He noted that, while anything not expressly illegal in the U.S. is legal, this might be the rare case that requires a law declaring the legality of a subject to resolve the debate.



The Myth of Illegal Online Sports Betting