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Sportsbook Wiki is a portal designed to give accurate, relevant and - most importantly - independent information about online sportsbooks to aid the choices of the everyday sports bettor. People who would like to gamble but who are daunted by the concept of sending money online to companies in places such as Antigua, Costa Rica and Malta which are often privately owned and with very little available information about them.
Even though the concept of sending money via the internet to a sportsbook is a minefield, the ability to obtain unbiased information about them is equally as hazardous. The less reputable sportsbooks can earn big money from not only taking people’s bets, but also by not paying their winnings and the lucrative nature of this is that a lot of “review” websites are paid kickbacks to promote these kind of operations who concentrate only on what advertising or commission money they can generate rather than concentrate on the well being of their players.
Sportsbook Wiki has no advertisers and will not push you in the direction of any sportsbook that has a history of profiting from the theft of their customers. If a sportsbook has a history of not paying it’s players, we will tell you - a healthy and honest industry is in the interests of everybody which includes the sportsbooks themselves, their players and the people who promote them.
Totesport: Man Hits £1.5 Million Tote Jackpot From £2 Stake March 8, 2011
On the day that the Tote jackpot passed the £2 million mark to become the third highest rollover in history Steve Whiteley, a heating engineer from Devon, claimed the prize yesterday at a small racing meet in Exeter. Mr. Whiteley, 61, filled out a perm form along with thousands of other people which required him to pick the winner of six races to have a chance at the jackpot. The size of the rollover had attracted many hardened gamblers spending hours constructing multiple perms that combined dozens of horses at a cost estimated in some cases to be in the thousands
But, by the end of the day, Mr Whiteley was the only winner of the jackpot, which had not paid out since 27 February, and had snowballed to £2,035,538. After the first race, won by the favorite Semi Colon, there were over 360,000 perm bets still alive but a first place at 12-1 followed by a pair of 16-1 winners left only seven bets remaining after race four. After the odds on favorite lost in the fifth race Mr. Whiteley held the last remaining ticket which was on Lupita, a 12-1 long shot who had not won a race in 28 previous starts over hurdles and being ridden by a jockey with only one career win.
Lupita was languishing in fourth place for most of the race before a spurt at the end, finally taking the lead in the final furlong and winning the race by ¾ of a length and giving Mr. Whiteley the jackpot of £1,445,671.
How The Bet Was Won
Race 1: Semi Colon (2-1) 363,285 perm bets survive
Race 2: Black Phantom (12-1) 9,076 perm bets survive
Race 3: Ammunition (16-1) 571 perm bets survive
Race 4: Mr. Bennett (16-1) 7 perm bets survive
Race 5: Lundy Sky (12-1) 1 perm bet survives
Pace 6: Lupita (12-1)
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Paddy Power: Paddy Power Profits Up 56% March 7, 2011
In the year to December 31 2010, Paddy Power reported profits of €103.8 million ($145.2 million) which were record results for the Irish bookmaker who showed increased profits in all divisions. The accounts are the first to be released which include a full year worth of contributions from its acquisition of the Australian sportsbooks Sportsbet and IAS in which Paddy Power purchased a 51% share in 2009 after which they took full control in December 2010.
Similar to rivals such as Ladbrokes and William Hill, Paddy Power benefited by an increased level of bets during the 2010 World Cup and the company is expecting to see less aggressive growth in 2010 although turnover for the first two months of 2011 is reported as being 16% higher compared to a year ago. For the first time, over two thirds of the profit came from outside the Republic Of Ireland where the company is the largest bookmaker. Although the country has been in the grip of a major downturn, the group reported profit levels up by 8% last year and they were actually opening additional retail locations when many competitors were closing betting shops.
Paddy Power also noted that 2011 had started well, with turnover in the first two months up 16% on the same period last year and the share price was up 1.3% on the results although it closed slightly up but very close to the opening number. view
Totesport: Tote Sale Will Not Affect Profits Split March 1, 2011
Tote, the UK government controlled bookmaker originally set up by former Prime Minister Winston Churchill, is set to continue splitting its profits equally after its sale. When it was created in 1928, it was a means to allow people to place bets at racecourses as an alternative to using illegal off track bookmakers but also as a way to fund the sport of horse racing itself. Currently half of the profits from the Tote are allocated to the government with the other half being to the distributed to the horse racing industry.
With the UK government experiencing a large budget deficit and with a need to increase revenues, there were calls for the more of this allocation, which amounted to £19 million ($30.7 million) in 2010, to be rerouted from away from horse racing. The move confirmed today is an added blow to the UK government, who are expected to sell the Tote in 2011, since a higher proportion of profits distributed to the racing industry reduces the valuation of the company.
Currently there are five bidders for the company, which is expected to be narrowed down to two in the coming weeks, that made it through the first round in the race to buy the Tote and would give the eventual winner the license to run the Tote for seven years. The company, which operates under the Totesport brand, is a valuable asset and has a total of 517 retail betting outlets in the UK as well as the monopoly to operate pool betting at 60 racecourses in the UK as well as online. view
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