UK

Bookmakers have placed Russia’s Sergey Lazarev as early favourite to win Eurovision 2016 (Stockholm Globe Arena 14 May). Desperate for victory at the 61st edition of the Pan-European song contest, Russia announced Lazarev as its official Eurovision contestant last December. Since the announcement, the 32-year-old Muscovite has been touring Russia performing Eurovision entry ‘You Are the Only One’. The extensive …

Leading European betting player portal bettingexpert.com has analysed the four days of Cheltenham Festival 2016 wagering, in what has been dubbed ‘the worst ever Cheltenham’ by UK bookmakers. Publishing detailed analysis of betting trends at Cheltenham 2016, bettingexpert has estimated that bookmakers were approximately down £3.21 per punter. With tens of millions of wagers taken over the course of the …

Ladbrokes has unveiled legendary champion jockey and TV personality Frankie Dettori as its new brand ambassador. Popular sporting figure Dettori will become the face of Ladbrokes new marketing and brand initiatives. Ladbrokes marketing stated that it wanted to fully integrate Dettori’s unique character and personality within its brand. The operator is aiming to create a distinct ambassador partnership with higher …

Microsoft’s Turn 10 Studios, the brains behind Forza Motorsport 6, has teamed up with Formula E and ESL to launch a global first esports motorsport championship. The Race Off Pro Series will take part in parallel to four races in this current Formula E season. Those in London, Berlin, Paris and Long Beach will also feature online rounds with the esports …

This year’s Betting on Football Conference, being held on 21st April, has relocated to Stamford Bridge, the home of Premier League Champions Chelsea FC. Two years after #bofcon was launched at Stamford Bridge, the dedicated betting conference will now return to the football ground, setting up home in the Harris, Drake and Vialli suites. The one day conference was originally planned …

As Cheltenham Festival organisers clean the stands and pull-down the hospitality tents, UK and Irish bookmakers have left this year’s racing spectacle bruised and battered. Returning to their offices, bookmakers will have to fork out an expensive festival tab of + £60 million as punters cashed in on multiple favourites. Suffering a severe post-festival come-down, nearly all bookmaker PR teams have …

Online poker room PKR has confirmed its successful migration onto the Microgaming powered MPN poker network. The migration which was first announced in February of this year, sees PKR integrate its 3D poker software with MPN network services. PKR players will gain a boost in poker room liquidity by joining the larger poker network. Utilising Microgaming’s MPN Babelfish technology which …

Home-field Advantage: Swansea City v Aston Villa KubanaBob is an experienced Premiere League tipster, having been featured here on SBC three times. This time he’s pitching Swansea to win at 67/100 (1.67) odds with Bet365. He’s very confident with this one, pointing back to Swansea’s persistent performance against Bournemouth. They lost that match, but were consistently fighting to get back …

Nicholas Wright is the Co-Founder at Dribble, a recently launched daily fantasy football app on iOS. With stats powered by Opta, and a smooth operating system which focuses on contests between friends, it’s looking to carve out a chunk of the burgeoning European fantasy market for itself. The legality of real money fantasy contests is a hot topic in courthouses …

During the Budget Speech yesterday the Chancellor George Osborne announced that UK licensed operators will soon have to pay a new tax on ‘free bet’ offers on online casino and bingo games. This is subject to the motion being approved, and should it be it will come into effect on August 1st 2017. This will mean that operators must pay …