da cassino online： Betting on football seems to be the new national sport, judging by TV adverts anyway. It is big business, around the world, though in some parts, for example the odd country or two in Asia, it is still illegal to bet. In Turkey I was only allowed to bet using the state bookmakers (though the owner of the local internet café knew a way round this). In this country we take betting on just about anything for granted.
da mrbet： Many footballers too love a bet, as we all know. Many a footballer has frittered away fortunes gambling, be it on football, horses, or in a casino. Under current regulations, a footballer can gamble on any competition which is team is not involved in, though the FA were apparently considering tightening these regulations a few months ago. There was a meeting planned, so it seems they’re pretty serious about it too.
The fact is that as much as I love football, and will watch just about anything (including an Albania v Wales U18 match once to annoy a housemate who wanted to watch Buffy), without a distinct preference for one team in a football match, it simply isn’t that interesting, and a bet is a good way to solve that.
I used to do the odd accumulator to make games you had no interest in more interesting. Naturally two hours later you’d be cursing how Celtic managed only a draw at home to Caledonian Thistle, or how Everton lost 2-0 at home to Wolves. But now there’s a new addiction, it costs me only a couple of pounds every Saturday, namely the “goals, goals, goals” coupon, whereby you pick as many games as you want, and both teams have to score in each game at any point for the bet to come in.
And the array of things you can bet on are astonishing. The first thing to happen in the match (a booking is no longer an option since Vinnie Jones retired), the number of corners, time of first goal, first goal scorer, last goal scorer, number of fouls, number of substitutions, the number of players wearing gloves, even the number of times Drogba falls to the ground (to the nearest 10). But boredom makes you bet on the most obscure of games, and the most obscure combinations like the ones listed for the England game below. Chesterfield to win both halves was a successful one for me. Less so was Doncaster to be drawing at half-time but winning at full-time. More than 8 corners in the first half of Crewe v Accrington was tempting, but I resisted. It’s not just football of course – William Hill offered 16/1 on Kenneth Clarke falling asleep during this week’s budget statement. They paid out too!
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On Saturday afternoon, Wales will take on England. Now you could just have a bet on the score. Perhaps a flutter on the first goal scorer. Or the two combined (the hard-to-win scorecast). But if you’re feeling a bit more adventurous, how about a bet on whether there will be a penalty, which half has the most goals, how many substitutions are made, or a bet on England to win from behind, or to win to nil or win one half only, or to win by over two goals or there to be under 2.5 goals in the match or…….
Every single action on the football pitch has been covered by bookmakers. And everything off it too. A popular bet has been the “next manager to be dismissed” market. There’s nothing quite like betting on someone else’s misery. Or maybe it’s just wishful thinking. Or more likely, you heard a rumour on twitter that William Hill had stopped taking bets on <insert name of under-pressure manager> to be the next Premiership manager to be dismissed. Or a mate knows someone who knows someone high up at Anfield who has heard that <insert name of out-of-work manager> will be appointed soon, they just need to iron out a few small details. It was such folly that made me bet £5 on Kenny Dalglish to replace Rafa Benitez, after someone on a football message board said he had heard from a “very reliable source” that he’d be appointed the next morning. Ah well, only 6 months out.
As a child I was allowed one bet a year – £2 was given to me to speculate on the Grand National, and I would spend days perusing the form, and the odds, before finally deciding on which losing horses to back. And when I reached my teens I would accompany my dad to the bookies, and all the other once-a-year gamblers were there cramming the place full, annoying the regular gamblers and sending them and their smoke out into the street. Nowadays bookies are much more sanitary places, but I have barely stepped foot in one in years. There’s no need when I can do it online, and even from my phone. There’s an app for that. It does take away one of life’s simple pleasures though – it’s hard to rip up a virtual betting slip.
There are swathes of offers from bookmakers as they compete for business, and they advertise heavily in newspapers, online and on TV. No live game is complete without Ray Winstone on your screen at half-time, doing his best “ooooh Betty” Frank Spencer impression as live odds appear over his left shoulder. Don’t talk to me about the lads’ Betfair couch though – I get the urge to commit violent acts just thinking about it.
But the internet has offered another option to the sporting gambler. Rather than betting on games, why not offer the bets instead? Yes, instead of backing a certain bet, you can lay it, meaning you are now the bookmaker. From experience this is a far more nerve-wracking option, as the stakes are higher, but if in your mind you see no way that Manchester United can lose to Bolton, then laying a Bolton victory becomes in your mind a license to print money. What could possibly go wrong?
Gambling should of course always be done for fun, with stakes that you can afford to lose, a principle that serves me well and avoids sleepless nights. But it’s not just about money – there’s a certain buzz to be had when a bet comes in, large or small. And smug satisfaction – you have taken money off a bookmaker, and it’ll be a good two days before they get it back again. Not smiling now are you Fred Done?
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