Sportsbet Blog

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The Australian Government and lobbyists have been discussing banning free bet incentives in bookmaker advertising. The bans would likely cover all types of media including all print and TV.

When doing some study on the topic I came across an article from a leading newspaper. Its talks about banning free bet incentives from ads and includes comments from Centrebet’s Neil Evans saying “Its the right thing to do”. After reading the article I noticed on the right of the page was a completely contradicting advertisement from Centrebet which made me laugh out loud, check it out here! It features Neil Evans promoting a promo for a “free betting bank”. The banner goes on saying that a $100 free bet will be given!

The ad is randomly placed on different pages of the newspapers site and slaps all what the article has to say in the face.

I really can’t see the government stopping the adverts anyway. The current economic headaches and the downturn in advertising revenue to Australia’s major media outlets has seen bookmakers fill the gap and in some cases hold the industry up.

The issue of free bets in advertising originated from the recent relaxing of advertising laws for corporate bookmakers. Bookies can now advertise in Victoria and NSW to the disgust of TabCorp. The TAB have said that “A national ban on the advertising of free bets is needed”. This is obviously a money grab on their behalf with corporate bookies slowly but surly taking a large share of the TAB’s market.

Senator Nick Xenophon has also commented on the issue saying that he would introduce a private members bill in the next few months to stop the practice of free bet incentives altogether. Little does he know that there are 1000′s of bookmakers outside Australia that welcome Australian residents and offer free bets. As they operate outside Australia there is nothing the Government could do to regulate this. If the bill did make it to Government they would be crazy to allow it and watch the gambling dollars fly out of the country, tax free.

Personally I think free bet offers are good. I’ve had some nice wins from them and its a great way to sample the services of the bookmaker. The main reason that free bets were originally introduced is that the competition between bookmakers become very fierce as they all try to outdo each other for your business. I can only see this as a win for the consumer and can see the offers only getting better for punters in the future.

The Top 3 Biggest Offers are

1. IASbet: A $100,000 Betting Bank to play with on Sydney Cup Day and keep the profit of the day!
2. Canbet: $1000 Free Bet
3. Bet365 $500 Free Bet

Here’s your chance to be an online bookmaker! Australia’s IAS (International All Sports) is up for sale and the well know betting icon is yet to seal any hand over deals.

Mark Read’s IAS Board have looked at expressions of interest from rival companies including Sportsbet and Centrebet which has caused some big movements in the share price.

Early this year Centrebet made a hostile bid of near 22 Million dollars for a 90% part of IAS at 33 cents per share. At the time this seemed to me to be a generous offer considering that the shares were only worth 16 cents and increasing losses gave IAS a bleak outlook. The offer was officially rejected by IAS along with Centrebet’s other offer of 28 cents for a 50% slice of the company. The IAS directors stated that the offer significantly undervalues the shares of IAS but would continue to look at interests from other companies.

With this interest the Darwin based bookmaker saw the share price rise. Another rival company Sportsbet in late February and early March bought a little over 12.3% of IAS at this raised price of  an average of 35 cents per share. This lead to Centrebet announcing that they are out of the hunt and wouldn’t make any counter offers. Matthew Tripp owner of Sportsbet commented about the acquisition “The company had bought the stake to have an influence on IAS’s future”.

That’s exactly what happened, around the same time IAS announced its half year results which gave a much brighter picture and the shares topped a high of 42 cents. Currently IAS shares stand at 35 cents and are showing to be much more stable.

IAS now has around 40,000 customers on both it’s IASbet and Canbet sites and turned over $524 million last financial year. They continue to stay very competitive with other Australian bookmakers with aggressive incentives to new players. Currently IAS give new customers a $100 free bet just for making $50 worth of bets on their websites.

Check out both IAS’s sites below
IASbet.com.au
Canbet.com.au

More information on the IAS sale checkout their corporate section here

Canbet was established in 1995 and licensed both in the Northern Territory and the UK. They are listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and turn over around a massive 1.2 billion dollars a year.

In my opinion Canbet would be the best place to go for horse racing bets. They cover all race meets in Australia and around Asia including Singapore and Hong Kong.

They are known for their excellent racing promos.

1. They have 25% cash rebate on losses for each month. This is a first for any Australian bookmaker and a welcome one. For example if you lose $100 on race bets during a month you get a $25 return!
2. Canbet also encourage horse owners and trainers to bet on their own horses in return giving them an extra 10% on all winnings!
3. Another horse racing deal they have is call “protest payout”. What happeneds is if your horse wins the race and a protest is called and the horse is then relegated from first place the win still stands!Its deals like this that keep people going back to Canbet.

They have also made their mark in the bookie industry with a superior support team including a live chat facility, telephone support and super quick email responses.

Canbet cover all Australian and International sports events ranging from the not so known sports like Snooker and Yachting to the high profile sports like the AFL and English Premier League. You would be amazed how interesting Snooker can be to watch once you have some money on it!

Canbet’s sign up bonus is one to take advantage of.Use the promo code FREEBET when signing up and make a deposit of $50 or more and a $100 free bet will be awarded. I checked out the conditions on this offer and found that $50 worth of bets must be made before the free bet is given. Also the free bet winnings must be turned over twice before a withdrawal can be made. As I said in my Centrebet Review earlier, it means if you win $50 from the free bet you must make another $100 worth of bets before you can withdraw any money into your bank account. This is pretty usual for signup bonuses with all Australian online bookies. An easy way to get around both of these conditions is make the bets on markets with really short odds that are almost sure to win and then you will be able to withdraw at any time after that point.

With all the promos Canbet has on offer not only on sign up but throughout the year and the support that is a click away I recommend Canbet. I haven’t had any issues with their services and find their odds among the best.

I gave them a 5 out of 5

For more info on Canbet’s offers or to signup checkout the website here.

Sportsbetblog have received some betting vouchers and we have decided to give them to the people!

Comment And Win!

At the end of each month the Sportsbetblog team will choose a comment made on any of the blog entries on the Sportsbet Blog site and will award the winner with a $100 free bet. We are looking for the most interesting comments that will add to the blog topics.

To enter simply use the comment system on every blog and once your comment has been made you are automatically in the draw for the prize and the more you make the more chance you have of winning!

The winner will be notified by email and will be published on the site at the start of each month. So start commenting and good luck!

Australia’s largest online bookmaker Sportsbet has been around since the early nineties and is credited for being Australia’s first online sports bookmaker.

Sportsbet is known for the ease of use and a fantastic support team including a live chat feature where questions can be answered there and then with a real person. This is a first for online bookmakers in Australia and a very useful tool for newcomers.

Sportsbet put the fun back in betting with numerous features and promotions.
1.    Soccer Super Coach is where you take the role of a soccer Manager and choose the ultimate soccer team from Europe’s best players with a budget of $115 million! The top scorer get a nice $10,000

2.    2009 Million Dollar Tipping Competition where the winners of both AFL and NRL seasons get a cool $250,000. It’s free to enter and the top 500 place getters also receive cash prizes and there are plenty of weekly prizes to even keep the losing tippers interested. I entered this last year and didn’t come anywhere near winning but won $50 during the season for being around 80,000th place!

3.    The promotion weekends that Sportsbet run are usually on a monthly basis and called Super Saturday. They run deals on these days that include 10% refunds on losses, 20% extra on winnings and 100% extra on deposits made on that day.

4.    If you are really unlucky when picking winners at the horse races then Lucky Loser may be what you are looking for. Sportsbet has created an enormous amount of interest where punters can actually bet on horses that DONT finish in the top 3 places. It’s a laugh to actually be willing a horse to slow down as it comes down the straight!

5.    Sportsbet’s free Black Book feature allows you to follow your favourite horses and greyhounds and receive email or SMS notification when your selections are scheduled to race. This is very handy for the serious punter to never miss a race where a favourite horse in running.

With all these products it’s hard to pass up an account with Sportsbet and equally as hard to pick anything wrong with their service. The odds are among the best and they offer a huge range of Australian and international events. However I did find that their credit service a little too easy to apply for it only took a few clicks and $200 was granted instantly into my account, this could catch a few people out so care must be taken.

Like most bookies they have an initial signup bonus. Unlike others, Sportsbet offer a high 100% extra on your first deposit of up to $200. So if you deposit $200 you get a $200 free bet. The winnings of the free bet must be turned over once before a withdrawal can be made. For example if you win $150 from the free bet then $150 worth of bets must be placed before you can withdraw funds into a bank account.

I give Sportsbet 4.5/5

To signup with Sportbet or find out more info checkout the site

Centrebet has been around since 1992 and was Australia’s first online bookmaker. They are licenced and based in the Northern Territory like many other Australian bookmakers and are listed on the Australian Stock Exchange

Centrebet provides the most easy to use website out of all the online bookies. They have a colourful layout that is very inviting and simple to navigate.  Centrebet’s help section is clear and precise, answering all the simple and technical questions. Although they lack a live chat facility they make up for it with quick email support replies.

They have recently launched a new service called Centrebet Mobile. It’s a new and easy way to make bets on the go. All newer model mobile phones can install the Centrebet Mobile software. From there you can login to your account via 3G or Wi-Fi internet and make bets anywhere at any time. I’ve used this service a few times and found it very fast and well worth having for when you’re at the cricket or footy and want to get a quick bet on rather than using the TAB and getting much lower odds.

The main reason I use Centrebet is that they always have a full range of entertainment and quirky markets ranging from TV makerkets like American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance, to the quirky markets like the sex of a pregnant Celebrity baby! They also have very competitive odds on the main sports including AFL, NRL and horse racing markets.
Unlike other bookies Centrebet also cover a large range of football leagues from around the world for the football mad punter including Denmark’s SAS Ligaen league and Norway’s Tippeligaen league as well as the major leagues of the English Premier League and Germany’s Bundesliga.

The signup bonuses they offer are a great chance to get a kick start with Centrebet. Currently for signing up with them you can get a free bet bonus of double of whatever your first deposit is. For example if you deposit $50 you get a $100 free bet.

I checked out the term and conditions of the offer thinking that they would be very strict. I found that other than the free bet must be used within 45 days after being issued the only other condition worth mentioning is that the free bet must be turned over twice before you can withdraw. This means if you get a $100 free bet you must make another $200 worth of bets before you can withdraw any money back into your bank account. This is pretty usual for signup bonuses with all online bookies. An easy way to get around this is make the bets on markets with really short odds that are almost sure to win and then you will be able to withdraw at any time.

All in all I think Centrebet isn’t the most popular bookmaker in Australia but they do have the most to offer in a clean and well set out site. They are great for people who are just starting out as they explain things in a step by step process. If you have any stories or opinions about Centerbet please leave a comment, I would love to hear them!

I give them 4.5 out of 5

To signup or find out more about Centrebet check out their site.

If you are thinking about placing a few bets on the upcoming tour of Pakistan don’t include Andrew Symonds in the reasoning of your choice as there is doubt that he will be playing any Australian cricket again let alone wearing the baggy green.

There are limited reasons for Andrew Symonds to want to continue playing Australian cricket altogether. After the treatment the media, the Australian Cricket Board and the selectors have given him of late I don’t blame him for setting his sights to the Indian Premier League for his future career.

The way I see it the disregard of Australian cricket Symonds has shown since being snubbed by the ACB and selectors is a giveaway that he has already made up his mind and is set to play in the IPL. He will be earning a cool 1.5 Million over 6 weeks that will make up for the 1 Million dollar share market battering in finance company Storm he took last month.

Playing in the Indian league would see him unable to take part (even if he were selected) in the scheduled ODI series against Pakistan as it conflicts with the IPL games. If he was to play it would be a huge pay cut to play the series with minimal pay compared to the IPL.

He has been quoted in saying that he dislikes all the off-field commitments that international cricket brings and didn’t want to attend majority of them. The IPL off season will allow him the time off that he needs to get away from all the hype of the cricket world.

Some analysts estimate Symonds only has 18 months left in his international playing career. Taking this into account he would have to consider whether to play the 18 months with Australia, retire from cricket (..and go fishing) or extend his cricket career and preserve his knee injury playing in the IPL for years to come, like Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist and Glen McGrath are all doing.

The all rounder is a huge icon in India after the controversy of the Australia V India tests in 2008. He has plenty of support from millions of fans in India and sponsorship deals to last years. He is perfectly suited to the Twenty20 form of the game holding an excellent batting average of 56. Backed up with a strike rate of 23 with his medium paced deliveries and a super accurate throwing arm in the field.

The tender for the 2012 Victorian Government betting licence is heating up with confidential tenders submitted to the government.

The new outlines for Victorian betting licence have been released and will no doubt shake the gambling industry considerably with betting exchanges and massive tax cuts to entice hype and competition for the betting license.

Betting exchange will be allowed to operate in Victoria formerly only allowed in Tasmania and Betfair (the world’s biggest and leading betting exchange) has already announced that it has not submit a tender for the betting licence. But they say they are very keen to operate a betting exchange in Victoria for the new licence holder. Instead of the usual TAB style outlets Betfair may essentially have the ability to open betting exchange outlets around Victoria. This alone could change the face dramatically on how we currently place bets in Victoria.

There will also be tax cuts to betting of 60% which is a staggering 1 billion dollars over the 12 year life of the licence which will be held by the new company. This will most likely see much better odds to the end user and the ability to match or beat the corporate bookmakers at their own game.

There are a few companies that have announced that they are interested. Tatts who currently own Unitab are trying to continue their Tote dominance around Australia including the upcoming Tasmanian Tote licence. Intralot the new lotto licence holder have said that they have submitted a tender and Irish gaming giant Paddy Power have also announced that they too have lodged a bid. The TAB was reluctant to comment if they had made a bid to the Government but are very likely to want to continue what has been a very profitable business for them. With big international companies bidding it may make it difficult for Tatts and Tabcorp to compete with the amount of push these companies have and may see the tender go off shore.

Whoever wins the licence will be paying a fortune for the privilege and the winners out of all this will be the gambling public. This will give people many more options over the phone, internet and outlets with a much better return than the previous TAB system.
It will be an interesting time for the Victorian gaming industry and the rest of Australia will be taking notes and no doubt will follow the lead of Victoria in years to come as the competition increases between bookmakers and the Tote.
For more information on Betfair and how betting exchanges work check out the Betfair website.

St Kilda

The Saints are just about over the hill. They have been the “about there” club for the last few years and it’s time for them to do or die. Now that Robert Harvey has departed the Saints it may cause some insecurities to the midfield as his chip kicks into the forward 50 and quick movements have been the stability of St Kilda for many years. Brendon Godard is the key to the Saints side and should once again prove a headache for most forward area players.

If they can keep relatively injury free during the year they should do well as they know how to play good footy come the end of the year. They should win more games that losses but will struggle to keep up with the pace.

Prediction: 5th

Collingwood

The Pies seem to know how to keep to the top half of the ladder and have been the consistent team of the last few years and I don’t think this year will be an exception. They play a great brand of footy with loads of flair from players like Dale Thomas, Alan Didak and Leon Davis will give the Pies the edge over most teams this year.

Some of the senior players at Collingwood are in the twilight of their careers and we may see some retirements towards the end of the year. They have recruited well with players including Steele Sidebottom and Chris Dawes expected to step up and show the AFL world what they are made of.

Collingwood are a good bet as they usually win more games than lose, also a top 8 finish bet might be worth a look if the odds aren’t too short.

Prediction: 6th

Western Bulldogs

The Bulldogs are a small quick unit that makes it tough for any team to hold up but unfortunately I don’t think they can build on the great year they had in 2008. They may have a few injury worries this year in Jason Akermanis and Brad Johnson that could see them lose too much leadership and talent to replicate last year’s form.

The doggies have a quality list but I think they will show too many holes in their game plan this year. A player to look out for is Jarrod Harbrow, his explosive quickness and agility will keep the fans coming back.

Prediction 7th

Sydney

Sydney will again play their slow “soccer like” brand of footy. It has worked in the past so I can’t see them changing now. Although sometimes boring for the spectator the Swans will again have many close low scoring games that will take the full four quarters to decide a clear winner.

Barry Hall will show his brilliance again this year and during the off season I’d expect he has learned how to keep a level head during a game.

Irishman Tadhg Kennelly heading back home will hurt the Swans bringing the ball into the forward 50 which has been a strong point in the team’s game plan. What’s interesting about the Swans is that they are yet to bottom out, they have consistently finished up the ladder for consecutive years and may do so until their next real attack on the top four.

Prediction: 8th