I’m not a gambling man. Except for the golf, obviously. But we went along to the horseracing yesterday, and you can’t do that without a bit of betting.
I didn’t win on many races, but when I did win, I won (relatively) big.
So, after a great afternoon with a lot of laughs and fun, I still came home with more money than I set out with.
And a smile on my face as Sheffield Wednesday got relegated.
It was a good day.
Yes, it is.
I don’t know a lot about rugby (see yesterday’s post), and it seems that I don’t know a lot about betting on rugby either.
Earlier in the week, in an effort to learn more about rugby, I have a look at what the bookies thought might happen in the RWC quarter finals. The bookies are nearly always right in these matters, and that’s why they are still all in business. I popped a 4-way accumulator on the four matches (which I won, but not much) and then I looked at the SA v Japan fixture. I felt that this one was going to be close. SA underperform fairly regularly at RWC tournaments (often due to the ref – and I checked that there was going to be a ref in this match), and Japan have been the surprise package of the World Cup so far. I was therefore amazed to see that I could get ridiculous odds for the points difference being 0-27. Fourteen to one. Fourteen!
“I’m having some of that,” I thought, as I had some of that.
It was only later in the week that I finally understood what I had actually bet on. Not the points difference between the teams (i.e. the winning margin), but the total number of points scored in the match.
Oops.
“Never mind, can’t do much about it now,” I thought, neither minding nor doing anything about it now.
It’s not like you can change your mind on these things (well, you can, but you don’t get your money back). I considered it a sign and tried to forget about it. Until, that is, that I wandered in from the garden at half time today and noted that the score was only 5-3.
Sadly, Japan capitulated a little in the second half, and it seems that my bet went out of the window with about 10 minutes to go.
The final score was 26-3, meaning that I lost my bet (and an awful lot of winnings) by just 2 points. Injurious, sure.
However, insult was very much added to that injury when I realised that my initial prediction (that the points margin would be less than 27) proved to have absolutely correct and also absolutely without value, since I hadn’t actually placed a bet on that happening any more. I’d placed the bet on something that didn’t happen instead.
I think I’ll stick to football in future. Already, I have decided that both the winning margin and the total number of goals in today’s ManU v Liverpool game will be less than 27.
Safety first.
It was one of those stellar games of football in which everyone in our team just clicked. Like a sweetly purring machine. Like a well-lubricated steam engine. Like a carefully made jigsaw puzzle. Like a… [that’s enough dreadful analogies now – Ed.] Anyway, we made our opposition look a lot worse than they were as we put them to the sword 9-2: I even got a goal!
Home then for a shower and some of the incredible Spurs 2-7 Bayern game (not quite a 9-2, but never mind), while following four others which I’d chucked a cheeky twenty bucks on, and which all eventually came through.
Yes. Even Kaizer Chiefs. Incroyables et Merveilleuses.
I don’t dabble too much into the betting arena, but when I do, it’s with care and forethought, and I’m actually often rather successful.
It’s almost making me as much beer money as publishing posts telling people to try it.
The gambling industry has grown in leaps and bound over the years, and this growth is even more prevalent with the rise of smartphones and tablets, making it really seamless for people to be a part of the betting community, free of the conventional hassles.
As a consequence of this latest upward trend, we will try to provide readers with the latest betting trends, apps and sites for the year 2019. This post will serve as a go-to-guide for those looking to get into the betting industry in whatever capacity.
Role of Betting Apps
Advantages of Mobile Betting Sites And Apps
There are numerous upsides that accrue from utilising betting sites and apps so much that there would be no need overstating them. But for the most part, one agreeable benefit of mobile apps and sites over previous systems are their ease of access and flexibility. Other benefits might include:
What To Watch Out For In A Betting App
There are a lot of mobile betting apps online today that it can become hard telling a good one apart. However there are key features to always watch out for when trying to pick a great mobile app. Outlined below are a few of such features:
Best Mobile Betting Apps And Websites
Bet365 Mobile App
Bet365 is a British gambling and betting service. Its mobile app service features:
A simple but very user-friendly architecture.
Great menu system offering a ton of services.
A good management team
One of the best in the industry
Offers live betting
This service is available for both Android and iOS.
Betway Mobile App
Betway mobile betting app is a subsidiary under the Betway group that is home to several known such as Betway Vegas, Betway Casino, Betway poker etc.
William Hill Mobile App
William Hill plc is a betting service sited in Wood Green, London. Founded in 1934, and has an unbroken track record.
Key features of its app are:
Betfair Mobile App
Known for having the largest online betting exchange in the world. Betfair mobile features:
Humans are a strange species. For one, we are the only mammals in the world drinking the milk of another species – and not only other mammals but plants, too (forgive the pun).
The best thing about being the weirdest species on this planet, though, is that we have no other similar species to compare ourselves to – all others are below our level of intelligence and civilization (or at least that’s what we think).
And, at least as far as we know, we are the only species that gambles – risking something we already have for an often slim chance of having more. Betting on different things is normal today, especially in the age of online bets and smartphones – but people usually limit their wagers to the outcome of sporting events, especially those that are on the top of the popularity list – football, rugby, cricket, and various contact sports.
Except when they don’t.
Sometimes, people bet on things that makes fellow humans raise at least one eyebrow (maybe even both).
Believing that their kids are special is normal for every parent out there – but actually placing bets (with money, at bookmakers) on the same is a tad unusual. Yet it’s not unheard of – the specialty press speaks of several football players, for example, with families so confident that they actually bet on their success. Leeds United’s midfielder Lewis Cook, for example, made his granddad a rich(er) man (by GBP 17,000 or over R300,000, to be exact) by playing his first international match before he turned 21 – old man Cook placed his bet in 2014 at odds of 33 to 1.
Welsh footballer Harry Wilson made an even bigger dream come true: his grandfather placed a bet on his football success back when he was just 18 months old. 50 quid with odds of 2500 to one have turned into GBP 125,000 (or almost R2.5 million) before he turned 17.
But the most amazing bets have still been placed on politics – modern-day politics, that is, and things that have made it into the mainstream media.
A man, for example, placed a bet on Scotland staying with the United Kingdom before the 2014 referendum. And he was so sure of his prediction being the correct one that he was willing to risk GBP 900,000 (more than R17 million) on it, at odds of 5 to 2. His actual winnings were just GBP 200,000 on this bet but he won, nevertheless.
An old lady in the US was not this lucky – she bet all her life savings (almost R10 million) on Hillary Clinton winning the US elections in 2016, and lost. Hotel Owner John Mappin was, in turn, more than convinced that Donald Trump would win the elections – his winnings worth GBP 100,000 (almost R2 million) stand witness to his prediction skills.
People are strange. Funny, but strange – especially when it comes to betting.