Trouble Down Under for Sportingbet
Leading offshore bookmaker Sportingbet may have to forfeit £1.3 million in revenue to an Australian transport business as a result of unscrupulous betting activity.
The company, K&S, was allegedly defrauded out of £7.5 million by a former employee. A portion of that, £1.3 million, is believed to have been poured into wagers made through Sportingbet.
The rest of the money is thought to have funded an extravagant lifestyle that included the purchase of a private yacht moored in Sydney Harbor.
K&S is demanding the money back and is battling it out with Sportingbet in the Australian courts.
Officials with Sportingbet were not immediately available for further comment on the situation.
Death Watch
Less than a month after BetWWTS.com set the odds on who would be the first character to get knocked off on the popular HBO series The Sopranos, Ralph Cifaretto unluckily was the first to go, and the Antigua-based sports book has already installed new lines on who will be next.
Silvio and Janice are the next favorites to be killed off during this season, both at 8 to 1 odds. Following them is Christopher at 10 to 1 odds, Adrianna at 13 to 2 and Tony Soprano himself at 25 to 1.
Buck Churchill, chief bet manager of BetWWTS.com, said volume for the first round of action on The Sopranos was comparable to that of halftime bets on popular NFL games. Most of the action, he said, comes in small wagers. He also pointed out that demand for new lines was high immediately after Ralphey went down.
Surprisingly, Churchill said, many bettors didn't take Ralphey because they were looking for higher payouts.
All Bachelor Bets Are Off
The Soprano betting craze naturally leads one to ask the obvious question: Did actors, writers, producers, stagehands and everyone else with inside information on the show clean up on Ralphey bets? It appears BetWWTS didn't get burned this time around, but they weren't so lucky with ABC's The Bachelor, a reality show in which a bachelor selects one "winner" from a group of competing bachelorettes.
The sports book suspended betting on which girl will win when it noticed an unusually high amount of bets were coming from Srpingfield, Mo, Aaron Buerge's (the bachelor) home town.
The show started the season with Beurge courting 25 bachelorettes and pairing them down week by week. The season finale, a showdown between the final two women, airs this week.
BetWWTS received up to nine new account applications per minute originating from the Springfield, Mo. on October 31. All the bets were on the same woman: Helen.
Over 60 percent of the money placed on The Bachelor originated from Springfield, all of which was placed on Helen.
bet365 takes major step in sponsorship
U.K.-licensed bookmaker bet365.com is the new official sports book sponsor of the nationally syndicated World Soccer Weekly radio program produced in the United States
World Soccer Weekly is a two-hour radio show, syndicated via Sports Byline USA, that brings the world's most popular sport to radios and computers throughout the United States.
The show, hosted by Chelsea fan Steven Cohen and Liverpool fan Nick Geber, highlights the great leagues throughout the world, from the English Premiership to Spain's la Liga, from Serie A in Italy to Major League Soccer in the United States. It also covers all the major international competitions, such as the Confederations Cup in 2003 and Euro 2004 and the World Cup in Germany in 2006.
The program airs on 75 stations in 68 U.S. markets as well as channel 123 on Sirius Satellite Radio and the American Forces Radio network live every Sunday 10 a.m. EST.
bet365, the exclusive Internet and telephone-betting partner for 85 percent of the professional soccer clubs in England, boasts over 30,000 different soccer wagers every weekend. Over 30 leagues from around the world are priced up alongside a huge array of match betting, including Asian handicap and "under/over" goal betting. The group was among the first to offer in-game soccer betting, with markets such as "result," "next goal," "next card," "total corners" and "total bookings" being traded during the first 80 minutes of numerous major games every week.