The Sportsbook Centre

Recent Sports News and Previews

Tennis
Following a short winter break, the tennis season is back in full swing. And this week, all eyes will be on Melbourne, Australia where the first Grand Slam o...
Football
La Liga - Matchday 12All eyes will be on the Spanish capital this coming Saturday when fourth-ranked Atletico Madrid host table toppers Real ...
Football
Premier League preview and odds: West Ham United vs Sunderland October 22, 2016 15:00pm - Olympic Stadium
Football
Premier League preview and odds: Swansea City vs Watford October 22, 2016 15:00pm - Liberty Stadium
Football
Premier League preview and odds: Leicester City vs Crystal Palace October 22, 2016 15:00pm - King Power Stadium ...
Football
Premier League preview and odds: Hull City vs Stoke City October 22, 2016 15:00pm - KCOM Stadium
Football
Premier League preview and odds: Burnley vs Everton October 22, 2016 15:00pm - Turf Moor Premi...
Football
Premier League preview and odds: Arsenal vs Middlesbrough October 22, 2016 15:00pm - Emirates Stadium
Football
Premier League preview and odds: AFC Bournemouth vs Tottenham Hotspur October 22, 2016 12:30pm - Vitality Stadium
Football
Champions League Preview and Odds - Barcelona vs Manchester City October 19, 2016 20:45pm - Camp Nou
Football
Premier League preview and odds: Liverpool vs Manchester United October 17, 2016 20:00pm - Anfield Stadium
Football
Premier League preview and odds: Southampton vs Burnley October 16, 2016 16:00pm - St. Mary’s Stadium

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Recommended Deposit Bonuses

Ladbrokes - £30 Matched Bonus
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Highlighted Events

FA Cup
Premier League
The Ashes

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Recent Sportsbook Articles

Opening a new Bet365 account is very similar to most other bookmakers. Users are tasked with entering a valid email address, selecting a username, choosing a password, and selecting a fou...

Bet365 £1000000 Slots Giveaway

Games
Paddy Power has gained notoriety as one of the more fun online betting sites. With generous odds on sports bets, great promotions, and plenty of variety, Paddy Power is a premier online s...
The goal of most Paddy Power members it to find themselves in the position to withdraw some winnings. Paddy Power makes withdrawing funds a quick and simple process. Members can withdraw ...
Making a Deposit with PayPalPaddy Power makes depositing to your account a simple task. One common preferred deposit method is the e-Wallet platform called PayPal. Paddy P...
One of the most popular perks to gambling is being accepted into a VIP club. Paddy Power offers its big spenders the deluxe treatment through the Paddy Power VIP. Paddy Power VIP members ...
Opening an account at Paddy Power is a very simple process. The next step is to have your account and information verified by Paddy Power for compliance purposes. Online gaming reg...
Anyone familiar with the world of sportsbooks and online casinos knows the name Paddy Power. Starting with interesting marketing and closing the deal with great service and promotional of...
A plethora of online betting options has flooded the market. Sites can set themselves apart by providing top notch customer support to their members. Paddy Power understands the value of ...
Paddy Power provides all the trappings of a full-service online gambling site. From poker to sports betting, Paddy Power has it all. Even better, Paddy Power offers apps for iOS and Andro...
As a premier bookmaker, Betfred is known worldwide for its fantastic promotional offerings. Betfred is known as an online gaming site focused on its members enjoying themselves. Registeri...
If you are lucky enough to win at Betfred, then you will likely be interested in collecting those winnings. Betfred makes it easy to withdraw funds from your account.Withdrawal...

 

Betting around the world

Bulgaria | Croatia | Italy | Romania | Malaysia | Portugal | Romania | Serbia | Sweden

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About Sportsbooks

Betting on team and individual sports has been popular since the mid-19th century. This was especially true here in the UK, where gambling clubs in the back rooms of taverns began the practice of keeping records of wagers in books. This led to the expression "betting a book", and before long, the person who wrote the entries became known as a "bookie", slang for "bookmaker", a term which entered the English language in 1885.

Meanwhile, in the United States, the results of sporting events and horse races on either coast were broadcast across the country over telegraph lines. This led to another idiom, "playing the wire", to describe the operations of American betting clubs. Although remote betting had become possible nationwide, a federal anti-gambling law called "The Wire Act" effectively banned the practice in 1961.

Today, the organizations that take legal wagers on sporting events are known as sportsbooks. They include the well-established betting shops of Britain - BetVictor, William Hill, Bet Fred, and others - which after numerous consolidations still number about 8,500. Another 150 licensed sportsbooks can be found in Nevada, the only US state where wagering on sports other than horse racing is legal. And now, thanks to the Internet, there are at least 367 sportsbooks conducting business in English online, making sports betting accessible everywhere.

The most popular sports for wagering in North America are American football, basketball, and baseball, in that order. The former two include both professional and college versions. In the rest of the world, betting on football (soccer) dominates, and it reaches a fever pitch during the quadrennial FIFA World Cup championship playoffs. Other team sports with a strong following among bettors are Aussie Rules Football, Cricket, Gaelic Football, Futsal, Handball, Ice Hockey, Rugby League, Rugby Union, and Volleyball.

Apart from team sports, boxing has long been a popular sport for wagering, now joined by Mixed Martial Arts and UFC events. Bets can be made on tennis and golf matches, motor sports, cycling, darts, hurling, and snooker. And some sportsbooks will take wagers on the outcome of political elections, beauty contests, and television reality shows. Betting volume at sportsbooks can vary greatly throughout the year. It typically follows seasons and major events, reaching a peak when playoffs, tournaments, or championships occur.

Two types of wagers are most commonly made on the winner of a given event. One of these is known as a "straight-up" or "money line" bet, in which fixed odds are quoted. For example, when a 2-to-1 favorite wins a heavyweight fight, a winning wager of £2 pays £3 - the original £2 bet returned, plus £1. If the 2-to-3 underdog wins, the winning £2 ticket pays £5 - the original £2 bet returned plus £3. The odds are often expressed as decimals, too.

The other type of common wager is called a "spread" bet and it is usually applied to team sports, predicting how many points the favorite is expected to win by. For example, if the underdog New York Giants are quoted at +3 playing against the Dallas Cowboys, the Giants get an extra 3 points added to their score; a 28-27 loss would become a "win" for the N.Y. bettor. Spread betting is especially prevalent in the sportsbooks of Nevada, while bookmakers in Europe and Asia generally prefer to offer straight-up odds.

Sportsbooks make money whether teams or individuals win or lose. They accomplish this by "balancing the action" - i.e., attracting enough bettors on the losing side of the bet to cover the payout on the winning side. Through experience, bookmakers have learned how odds and spreads can be adjusted up or down to accomplish this. The sportsbooks then earn their profits through a small commission called the "vigorish", which is captured from the losing wagers. As long as the betting on either side of an event is about even in dollar terms, the sportsbook cannot lose.

Premier League Statistics

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