Melbourne Storm Controversy and NRL Betting Implications

By admin | April 23, 2010

Join Sportingbet Australia

Australian Rugby has been rocked by the biggest scandal ever with Melbourne Storm, the premier rugby league team stripped of two premeierships, 3 minor premierships and fined over $500000 while cheating on their salary cup for the last 5 years. If you havent heard the story yet see http://www.theage.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/melbourne-storm-stripped-of-everything-20100422-tfy6.html

The news has made headlines in Australia for the last two days since the scandal was exposed and the fallout for Melbourne Storm is getting worse with major sponsors leaving the club after the story broke.

Betting on the NRL Wooden Spoon has been suspended after a string of bets were taken on the Melbourne Storm at $251 with Sportingbet Australia yesterday morning before the scandal was exposed. Sportingbet Australia CEO Michael Sullivan said the move set off alarm bells as the Storm are favourites for the Premiership and look no hope of winning the Spoon.

“We took three bets to win $10,000 and another to win $8000 on the Storm for the Wooden Spoon all within 10 minutes of each other this morning,” Sullivan said.

“You don’t take a series of bets like that unless someone knows something or think they know something and we have suspended betting on the Wooden Spoon as a result.

“Sportingbet Australia CEO Michael Sullivan said this would change the way Wooden Spoon betting would be done in the future.

“Melbourne has gone from $251 to no betting in the space of six hours which has to be the biggest shortener in betting history,” Sullivan said.

“We will look at the way we bet on the Wooden Spoon in the future as punters and bookmakers alike are betting without all the information.”

“We have refunded all Premiership bets on Melbourne as they are now out of calculations.”

Sullivan said the decision had an enormous impact on betting going forward in 2010 as well.

“This has consequences on match betting throughought the year, as what motivation do the Storm have if they can’t finish anywhere but last,” he said.

“We have suspended all markets on Melbourne’s game this weekend’s with the Warriors.

Posted in National Rugby League | Tagged , , , | Comments closed

2010 FA Cup Semi-Finals Odds and Preview

By admin | April 10, 2010

Join Sportingbet Australia

Sportingbet Australia’s 2010 FA Cup Semi-Finals Preview – Chelsea v Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur v Portsmouth

Aston Villa V Chelsea- Wembley, Saturday 10 April 2010
The main priority for Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup Semi-Final showdown with Chelsea will be trying to ensure that his side do not dwell upon last month’s 7-1 humiliation at Stamford Bridge. In fairness to Villa, they did bounce back last weekend by keeping a clean sheet in a hard-fought victory at Bolton and having beaten Chelsea at Villa Park back in October, may fancy their chances of erasing the memories of that Stamford Bridge nightmare and securing their first FA Cup Final appearance since 2000. England international midfielder James Milner is expected to be available for Saturday after being an unused substitute against Bolton and O’Neill has also seen his attacking options boosted by Emile Heskey’s return to full fitness.
Chelsea, meanwhile, have enjoyed a welcome break this week following their potentially decisive Premiership victory over title rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford. Boss Carlo Ancelotti is still without a host of long-term absentees, including Ashley Cole, Michael Essien, Jose Bosingwa, Ricardo Carvalho and Branislav Ivanovic, but the Italian has no fresh injury concerns to contend with and indeed has the pleasant dilemma of deciding whether to recall star trio Salomon Kalou, Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba to his starting line-up.

The men from West London will be installed as red-hot favourites to continue their quest for a third FA Cup triumph in the last four years and although Villa are unlikely to implode as they did a fortnight ago, it’s hard to make a case for them to win here. With no Champions League involvement to distract them, the Blues will be rested and focused and if they perform as they did at Old Trafford last weekend, they should win with something to spare.

Prediction: Chelsea 2-0 Aston Villa

Tottenham Hotspur v Portsmouth -Wembley, Sunday 11 April 2010
Harry Redknapp has inevitably dominated the build-up to Sunday’s FA Cup Semi-Final between his present club Tottenham Hotspur and his former employers Portsmouth. It was of course Redknapp who was in charge of Pompey when they lifted the FA Cup in 2008, but the south coast side have fallen on hard times since then and could take the field at Wembley with their relegation from the Premiership having been confirmed by results elsewhere. Current boss Avram Grant remains publicly confident that his side can upset the odds and book another visit to Wembley next month, but his cause has not been helped by the unavailability of both on-loan Tottenham midfielder Jamie O’Hara, who will not be allowed to play against his parent club and defender Anthony Vanden Borre, who is suspended. In other team news, England stopper David James may reclaim the number one jersey after recovering from a calf problem and there could also be places in the squad for Tommy Smith, Marc Wilson, Hassan Yebda and Prince Boateng.

Pompey accounted for Coventry, Southampton, Sunderland and Birmingham to reach the last four but were beaten by Spurs only a fortnight ago and also lost to the North Londoners earlier in the season.

Spurs slipped to their first defeat in ten outings last week, a result that saw them relinquish their hold on fourth place in the Premiership and Redknapp will be tempted to tinker with his line-up for the Wembley showdown. Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch are both pressing for starts after coming off the bench against Sunderland last time out and Michael Dawson should also return if he can overcome his Achilles problem. Tottenham have taken a circuitous route to the semi-finals, requiring replays to see off Leeds, Bolton and Fulham and are seeking to lift the trophy for the first time since 1991.

Most neutrals would love to see crisis-club Pompey make it through to the final having endured a torrid season on and off the field, but Spurs look too strong in key areas and should edge a tight one.

Prediction: Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Portsmouth

2010 FA Cup Semi-Finals Betting Odds

Posted in Soccer Betting | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments closed