World Cup Betting Guide
May 14, 2010
The Fifa World Cup comes around once every four years and is the most watched sporting event on earth. A total of 32 international teams from around the World will descend on South Africa for the 2010 World Cup which kicks off on 11th June. There will be a total of 64 matches played over the course of four weeks with the tournament culminating in the final which takes place in Johannesburg on Sunday 11th July.
Only an elite group of seven countries can boast winning one of the 18 World Cups that have taken place since the tournament started in 1930. These winning World Cup teams are Brazil (five times), Italy (four times), Germany (three times), Argentina (twice), Uruguay (twice) and England and France have each won it once. Many teams will be be bidding to join that list in 2010 but only Spain are judged to have a realistic chances, being tournament favourite in the World Cup odds, along with Holland and Portugal who are considered to hold an outside chance. However, the winner according to the bookmakers is most likely to come from one of the heavyweights that have won a World Cup previously, namely, Brazil, England, Italy or Germany.
The tournament starts at the Group stages where the 32 teams have been divided up into eight groupd of four. Each team will play three games in the group stage, against each of the three group opponents. The top two teams in each Group progress through to the last 16 knock out stages of the tournament and the other 16 head home. Of those teams in the last 16, the winner of each of the eight matches progresses to the Quarter Finals before the winner of which will play in the Semi Final and ultimately the final.
Betting on the World Cup has been big business for the last few tournaments but the 2010 World Cup is expected to be the biggest betting event of all time with an estimated £1 billion set to be wagered in the build up and during the tournament. The most popular betting opportunities at the World Cup include, outright winners, Golden Boot, world Cup Group Betting and match by match betting, inparticular the England matches with UK bookmakers and England v USA betting for the opening game of Group C on Saturday 12th June is anticipated to be the most popular match for football betting this year.
Betting Directory have put together an excellent World Cup Betting Guide for this year’s tournament and covers just about every angle imaginable for punters look to enjoy a flutter on the matches and tournament in South Africa from odds to fixtures to Group standings and a visit is highly recommended!
US Open Golf Betting
June 24, 2009
The US Open is the second of the four Golf Majors played each year and falls in June. The tournament is scheduled so that the final days play falls on the third Sunday of the month and each year. The tournament is held in the United States and alternates between different venues across the country from year to year. With the courses selected aimed at being difficult for the players with an emphasis on long and accurate driving.
Since 1985, the US Open has grown in stature and during that time it has provided the stage for some of Golf’s most famous names to stake their claims in the sport’s Hall of Fame. These include the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Lee Trevino and Ben Hogan.
Largely thanks to its global coverage and the advent of online betting, US Open Golf betting continues to grow in popularity year on year, with people backing their favoured golfers to win the torunament for an additional interest over the course of the four days play. Other bets that are popular include US Open Odds on which players will win the three ball and two ball events on the individual days, who will be the top players from the various continents such as Europe, America and Australia in the final leaderboard as well as match bets that the bookmakers put together for the performances for various pairings. The opportunities really are endless and becuase the US Open is such a competitive event the odds offered are usually quite attractive to punters as too are the US Open Free Bets and special offers that bookies offer as they compete for your custom.
The 2010 US Open will be held at Pebble Beach Golf Course, California between 17th and 20th June
Wimbledon Tennis Betting Guide
June 24, 2009
Wimbledon is the most famous tennis tournament in the World. It is one of the four Grand Slams of the tennis season along with the US Open, French Open and Australian Open, however, as the oldest and the only one still played on grass it is the most prestigious of the four and always attracts the attention of the World’s sporting press when it takes place during the last week of June and first week of July each year.
Down the years, the biggest names to have ever played tennis have graced the famous Wimbledon Courts at the All England Lawn Tennis Club most of whom have won the Championship on mutlitple occasions. The roll of famous Wimbledon mens winners include five times winners Bjorn Borg and Roger Federer, three times winners Boris Becker and John McEnroe and record Gentlemans singles title holder, Pete Sampras with seven championships to his name.
Famous winners of the Wimbledon Ladies championship include record holder for most wins, Martin Navratilova with nine titles, Steffi Graf who won six titles during the 80s and 90s and in recent years the Williams sisters have domianted with seven titles from the past nine years, with Venus securing five of those.
The popularity of Wimbledon continues to grow year on year with TV audiences, attendances at the All England Tennis Club and Wimbledon betting getting increasing annually. Tennis is a sport with global appeal and whislt it remains as such the Championships at Wimbledon will not only remain a national institution amongst Britons, but will also be one of the World’s best know sportign events.
Bookmaker of the Month: Paddy Power
