Sportsbet Blog

The worlds most grueling bicycle race the  Tour De France is under way for the 96th time with Cadel Evans looking to improve on his second place finishes in 2007 and 2008 to become the first Australian to win the coveted title. Evans led for much of the 3,500km last year and to fall back in the last few stages. It was a great disappointment for the man who had started the race as favourite but many people are predicting that Cadel at 32 years old is at the peak of physical fitness and endurance and could just win at his fifth attempt.

Of course Evans has a lot of other competition to consider. Last years winner Carlos Sastre is bound to be up at the front, but there is also the Lance Armstrong factor to be aware of.

There will be something of a circus surrounding the seven times winner that will knock a lot of riders concentration. You would have to think that Armstrong who has been out of the sport for sometime and who has spent much of his comeback recovering from a broken collar bone will have little chance of just rocking up and winning this one. In fact Armstrong himself doesn’t expect to challenge and is just hoping to do a respectable job and bring some good publicity to his Livestrong cancer campaign. Despite this Sportsbet are paying out $5.50 and Lance Armstrong is second favourite to win his eighth Tour De France. Put you money elsewhere in my opinion.

The one thing that Armstrong will be able to do is guide team mate, 26 year old Spaniard and hot $2.00 favourite, Alberto Contador through every stage, giving him advice that only a seven time winner could give.

Contador is considered the best rider of his generation, he already has the Spanish time trial championships title under his belt and with Lance Armstrong as the Contador right hand man you can see why he is the favourite. Maybe I am being a little bias, but I think that Cadel Evans has the skill, the drive and the heart to take this one. Go to Sportsbet now and sign up to recieve a $50 free bet on Evans making history, at $7.00 it could be a nice little earner.

Betfair is the brain child of Andrew Black and Edward Wray. Together the two helped develop unique betting technology and in August 1999 Betfair was born. Since then the company has expanded from the UK and now has liscences in Malta, Italy, Austria, Germany and now here in Australia.

Betfair have built themselves up to be one of the market leaders in internet betting due innovations that simply can’t be found on any other site.

Back or Lay

The “back” or “lay” system allows you to bet on two outcomes winning or losing. When you “back” a selection (be it an individual, a team, horse or dog) you are betting that it will win. This is called traditional betting.

When you ”lay” a selection you are betting against it winning. For example, if you’re betting on which team is going to win the Premiership and you ”lay” Man Utd, if they end up winning the league you pay out. This is something that is usually only done between bookmakers, but Betfair gives you the opportunity to do it with other punters.

Choose you own odds

One of the great things about the “back” or “lay” system is that it allows you to choose your own odds. If a horse you fancy is showing odds of $3.00, you can put an order in for $4.00, and if someone is willing to “lay” off against that bet then those are the odds you get. The thing with this is to not be greedy. Choose realistic odds or you are likely to miss out all together.

In play betting

Another of Betfair’s great initiatives is its in play betting service. This allows you to bet on a number of out things within most sports as they are taking place. This includes sports like baseball, darts (yes you can even bet on the fat guys chucking things at a small circle while drinking their weight in beer) and cycling. Lance Armstrong is at $8.00 to win his eighth Tour De France by the way.

The Betfair website also offers a comprehensive guide and results system. Showing stats on trainers, jockeys and horses as well as the Betfair TV guide so that you will never miss your favourite sporting event ever again. They have even introduced a hotline. So if there is no way of making it to the internet you can give them a call and still get your bet in.

Betfair is easily one of the best betting websites around as it offers unrivaled features, and if you sign you up right now you are entitled to a free $50 bet. Just go to the site to claim it, but make sure you stick it all on the Aussies winning the Twenty20 World Cup, at $4.50 you can’t go wrong.