SportsInsights Signs CaribSports
Just in time for the March Madness betting frenzy , SportsInsights and CaribSports have inked a deal through which CaribSports will provide real-time wagering statistics to the SportsInsights portal, which takes information from operators and converts it into free charts. Betting statistics used include number of bets, percentage of money and percentage of bets placed on a sporting event.
Contender a Hit with Online Bettors
Sylvester Stalone's new reality TV show might be a bust in the ratings war, but the Monday debut of "The Contender" drew a flurry of betting action at online sports books. BetUS.com spokesman Mike Foreman said the betting action was heavy from the moment lines went up on the first bout featuring Alfonso Gomez and Peter Manfredo Jr. "Within 15 minutes, our site logged over 100 bets," he said.
Betting on Motor Sports Gaining Speed in Vegas
Betting action on auto races is getting popular in Las Vegas. Sports books have rolled out an extensive menu of wagering options--including head-to-head match-ups, various over/under bets and a selection of propositions worthy of a major event on the sports calendar--for Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Micah Roberts, the sports book director at Palace Station, said proposition betting on the race easily exceeds the amount of handle generated on who will win. The Nevada State Gaming Control Board doesn't compile official figures for wagering on auto racing in Nevada; it is instead lumped into the "other" category with golf, tennis and other minor sports. The first NASCAR race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway took place seven years ago.
Betting Public Favors 'Boys' on American Idol
Intertops.com reported last week that as the new season of "American Idol" gets closer to narrowing the field down to the final winner, betting action remains heavy on the boys from the show. Anwar, a teacher who would love to "spread a positive message" to the world through his songs, is the favorite on the site to become America's new Idol.
Sportsbook.com Halts Wagering on The Amazing Race
Irregular betting patterns have prompted SportsBook.com to suspend betting on the reality TV show "The Amazing Race." The company reports that a significant increase in betting on contestants Uchenna and Joyce was received over a 12-hour period from March 3 through the morning of March 4. Their odds makers have been alerted of a possible leak into the show's outcome. All the bets under suspicion were placed from accounts in California and Massachusetts and were for the maximum allowable wagers. Sportsbook.com continues to offer odds on other reality TV shows.
AFL Teams Looking to Operate Online Betting Sites
A slew of Aussie Football League teams are considering the possibility of running their own sports betting sites in hopes of generating millions of extra dollars in revenue. The idea is based on the lucrative English Premier League soccer system, which enables supporters to bet through club Web sites. Clubs use bookmakers to run their sports books, with an estimated 30 percent of revenue going to the club. Tattersall's, which runs TipStar, has an exclusive AFL license that would prevent any official wagering arrangements by clubs or the league until 2007. Australia's biggest online bookmaker, International All Sports, said it had approached Victorian AFL clubs about creating direct betting links from their Web sites.
Second German Football Referee Arrested in Betting Scandal
German referee Dominik Marks was arrested at his apartment in Berlin on suspicion of fraud for fixing three soccer matches in late 2004, prosecutors said on Thursday. A spokesman for the Berlin state prosecutors office said the arrest warrant for Marks, 29, was based on "credible information provided by Robert Hoyzer that was supported by other objective evidence." Hoyzer, 25, is at the center of the worst match-fixing scandal to hit German soccer in more than 30 years. He has admitted fixing matches for money from a gambling gang and is cooperating with prosecutors. Hoyzer and Marks worked in the German second and third divisions.
Betfair Gets Top Honor
Betfair, the world's leading online betting exchange, was named "Best Place to work in IT" in the entertainment and leisure category by Computer Weekly.