Welcome to the oggs blog

Archive for the ‘General’ Category

« Older Entries

They think its all over… it is now (well at least until 2014)

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

After a full month of head-to-head match-ups, heartbreaking losses, exciting victories and unbelievable flops, the 19th FIFA World Cup has come to its dramatic finish, with Spain reigning victorious for the first time in history. The final match itself, which saw Spain defeat the Dutch national team 1-0 after extra time, was a historical event because the entire football-watching world knew that regardless of who took home the World Cup trophy this year, it would be a team that had never done it before.

The 2010 World Cup saw many other interesting firsts, the most significant of which started before the players ever stepped foot on the field. In 2004, FIFA announced its selection of South Africa as the host nation over Morocco and Egypt, making South Africa the first African nation to host the tournament. South Africa’s World Cup also was to become the most-watched television event in history—FIFA estimates that about 700 million people witnessed the final match on July 11, 2010.

As exciting a time this Cup was for the entire population of South Africa, “Bafana Bafana” (the national team that goes by the Zulu moniker that means “the boys”) failed to make it past the group stage—making them the first host nation to do so. Since 1938, host nations have automatically qualified for the final tournament and many champions have won the World Cup title on home soil, including Uruguay, who hosted the first tournament in 1930.

Other upsets in this year’s series came from 2006 defending champions Italy and runners-up France. These teams, which have each won four and one World Cup championships respectively, failed to advance past the group stage—yet another first for this international tournament. Not only did these two international superstar teams not see play in the knockout stage, they each also finished last in their respective groups.

More notable record-making statistics from this year’s World Cup include:

●    It was the first time a European nation won the championship outside its home continent

●    It was also the first time two different European nations took the title in back-to-back tournaments (Italy in 2006, Spain in 2010)

●    The 2010 tournament is tied with the 2008 Summer Olympics for hosting the greatest number of nations in a sporting event (204 entrants)

●    Just six teams from the Union of European Football Assocations (UEFA) made it to the round of 16, a record low since 1998, when FIFA expanded the World Cup to host 32 teams in the tournament

●    The national teams from Ghana and Paraguay made it to the quarter-finals for the first time

The 2014 World Cup will be held in Brazil for the first time since 1950, making them the fifth country to host the tournament twice. This World Cup will also be the first one held in South America since 1978, when it took place in Argentina.

Posted in Articles, Football, General, WP | No Comments »

Online Casinos from Hell(s)

Monday, July 12th, 2010

Einstein implied that the origins of gambling went back to creation, with his thoughts about god and throwing dice. Come to think of it, dice could not have been around when God was about to do the business, so Adam and Eve would have had to play with knucklebones if they had to divine an answer to a question or for some excitement to pass the time of day.

One needs only go back a few hundred years to the 17th century to learn how London hell-holes, or “hells” came about and what went on there. These were houses opened by tradesmen with a bent for gambling and who reinvested their winnings in opening these establishments to attract gamblers from all walks of life. They housed a variety of games that attracted gamblers and the operators that ran them, with the house charging rent plus sometimes a cut of the revenues for sheltering  the table game and keeping the patrons from being caught breaking the laws on gambling in the streets. Gaming until that time was carried out whenever crowds could gather, at fairs, racecourses, parks, and like places, till the practice of running the game tables indoors, to afford more homely comfort than playing in the open air; subject to the elements, the police, or personal needs cutting games short.

Offering the games then in fashion, these houses were designated as “hells” for attracting large crowds to play the tables continuously for sessions that sometimes lasted for many days, in a charged, smoke filled atmosphere with plenty of alcohol. Fortunes were won and lost, and these were places where players needed their wits about them if they were not to be fleeced by the sharp operators who made it their business to relieve them of their money. The games usually went on as long as there were still players with money to be relieved of them.

Some of these London hells were later run as clubs; a number operated exclusively for members, whilst others were open to the public, and just as casinos recruit players, these clubs had appointed agents to procure players, for which, they were remunerated. Catering was added, with some famous chefs engaged. Royalty and noblemen attended, as much to play, as to savour the superb culinary offering laid on by some of the top operators. Indeed, some made a habit to lose £100 or so each year to be able to enjoy the exceptional cuisine on offer just as some punters go to the Ritz today, playing the tables to get the free meals and other perks. Some of these houses are still around, having become well known land casinos and top class clubs; of these, Crockfords, Brooks, Whites and Boodles have survived to this day and thrived.

Games that achieved popularity in those days included the game of Hazard, played with dice, which was addictive and popular, both over here in the UK and in French aristocratic circles. Whist, Backgammon & Tick-Tack were other games of the time, as was E,O the forerunner of today’s Roulette.

In contrast, casinos started life in Europe as small places of entertainment housing prostitutes to serve the men who sought the pleasures from their company.  Table games and more particularly gambling were introduced to supplement the operating revenues, and as time went by, the gaming aspect became the more important source of profit and eventually, the sole serving of a casino (apart from food offered to keep gamblers on site for as long as possible), with the girls dispersed to pastures new.

As technology developed and slot machines were introduced, they stood out as a characteristic feature of a casino, with flashing lights, big jackpots, and immediate gratification. Long corridors of Vegas casinos were lined up with these slot machines that draw crowds of gamblers and which were favoured by those looking for light entertainment without breaking their head with having to learn games, skills or make tricky calculations…

Then the internet came, and money was thrown at its development from the adult and the gambling industries. Classical slots were translated electronically to ape the land based ones with Random Number Generation software that recreated the workings of their mechanical antecedents. Other games, such as Blackjack, Roulette. Baccarat, were digitalised, ready to be operated from a distance and served to the gambler online.

The rest is history, albeit very recent, and thus was born the online casino originating from Hells.

Posted in Articles, General | No Comments »

Wimbledon is back!

Friday, June 25th, 2010

The end of June, Strawberries and the sudden re-emergence of Sir Cliff Richard can only signal one thing. Yes, you guessed it; the Wimbledon Championships are here again, and for once, the weather is so glorious in the UK that they might not need the famous sliding roof at all this year!

Whilst all eyes have been on the football World Cup for the last couple of weeks, tennis will now share the spotlight as the Wimbledon Championships got underway this week. It is already shaping up to be another cracking tournament as the longest match in Grand Slam history caught everyone’s imagination and dominated the early headlines. John Isner of the USA and Nicolas Mahut of France played for a gruelling eleven hours and five minutes, with Isner eventually winning the match 70-68. If you think that there is room for another epic match in this year’s tournament you can get 500/1 for that, not likely then but you never know! Isner himself, is a whopping 125/1 to win Wimbledon, but with this victory spurring him on, and the elevation of his profile this could just be his year.

As you would expect the betting on the men’s championship is dominated by Federer and Nadal. Federer is 7/4 and Nadal is 23/10, a Federer and Nadal final is around 9/4 with the bookmakers. Not much value to be had there, however a little further down the betting and there are some great names with some fantastic odds. You can get 6/1 for Great Britain’s Andy Murray to win (and if he does he will be the first British man to lift the men’s trophy since 1936), 10/1 for American Andy Roddick and 22/1 for Austrailian Leyton Hewitt. You can also bet on a player simply reaching the final, here you will get 3/1 for Andy Murray, and 12/1 for Leyton Hewitt.

As in the men’s tournament, the two biggest names in the ladies game dominate the betting. Serena Williams is the outright favourite with odds of just 13/8, her sister; Venus Williams looks like a great bet with odds of 3/1. If you fancy a Williams Sisters final, then you are not alone as the bookmakers obviously do to, offering odds of just 2/1. Other notable names present a much better chance of a substantial return, without a massive outlay. Kim Clijsters is 6/1, Maria Sharapova is 8/1 and Jelena Jankovic is 25/1.

Posted in Articles, Betting, General | No Comments »

Synthias, the gamble too far?

Friday, May 21st, 2010

Scientists in the USA have created the first synthetic living cell, transplanting synthetic DNA, constructed digitally, into a host cell and recorded their discovery in Science magazine. Ethics apart,  could this be a gamble too far?

Dr Craig Venter’s team have found the last piece in the jigsaw required to play creator and could be betting the house. Many will find breaching the mysteries protecting the secrets of life, frightening and best left alone. Are we about to let the genie out of the bottle, with little confidence of putting it back?

Given the stunning surprise greeting the news of the discovery, the research may have proceeded without any regulation at all. Stem cell research, genetic modification, etc… were held back for years before slowly being unleashed. This work seems to have slipped the safety net. Heaven help us if it gets out of control and falls into the wrong hands.

It maybe Dr Venter’s team is a group that is known and respected yet the authorities who gave the permissions and funding seem to have lacked judgement in allowing such research without apparent controls being established.  Already we are told of  mega rapid rate of reproduction in billions.

This development goes beyond ethics and religious issues of playing creator, and whilst it maybe the development has potential benefits in many areas, acting as a speeded up made-to-measure genetic engineering process, it must come with colossal potential risks of unleashing the Armageddon we fear for our world.

Venter’s team seem to have achieved the first self-replicating life form whose origin is a human brain telling a computer to compose the DNA for it.  We normally value academe, but allowing the work to get out of control puts us in a fearsome danger zone we’ve never been near before.

I can only hope that the authorities will quickly step in and impose proper regulations for future groundbreaking work of the kind done by Dr Venter’s team so that we do not let genies out, and end up having to cash our chips.

Posted in Articles, General | 3 Comments »

Fillies oblige doing their Duty

Monday, May 17th, 2010

On Sunday 2nd May, 1,000 guineas day, I had the treat of watching top class racing at Newmarket on TV.  Pleasure for me usually means attending a race meeting on a sunny day, with a picnic lunch, a beer and a bet to cover the expenses – but I haven’t been able to go for a while.

I last made it to Newmarket for the July 1981 meeting as part of Bill Marshall’s party; on my previous visit to headquarters in 1970 I had a great day and saw the great Nijinsky win. I’d bought half a share in a filly with Bill who agreed to show me how to pick winners, something he was normally good at. I got into owning half of Miss Stolen, when my wife, pregnant with our first child had been moved by a story on TV about Bill Marshall flying back from South Africa in his own plane to join in the war with the RAF, and she thought that he had appealed for new owners.

Responding to her call, and thinking I’d be in on a good source for savvy gambles, we visited his yard the following Sunday, and cut the deal. I did not know then that she would end up as expensive pet food, having raced once at an Edinburgh evening meeting (unseen by me), and that It would cost me nearly £1,000 trying Bill’s tips. I usually back my judgement (successfully, I might add, as my wife and I are useful readers of form), and had many a fun day coming back from the races with full pockets.

So, back to the 1,000 guineas. My wife had reminded me of the racing on the telly and I switched on just in time to see Strawberry Daiquiri parading; the mare looked so outstanding, that having no intention to bet, I ended up phoning Ladbrokes for a touch at 11/8 and Strawberry went on to oblige. The Guineas followed – wide open at least in the betting – and I decided on Criquette Head’s filly – Special Duty, and got 9/2 in a fairly open race.

I didn’t really enjoy the race as the runners split and I could not judge the group that was ahead. Evidently, it was the stand side and Duty was pipped by Henry Cecil’s filly going past the post at 66/1. I was left really feeling stupid not to have backed a Cecil filly, in a classic, at 66/1! When the stewards enquiry was announced, I thought little of my chances, having been impressed as to how the Cecil filly, when falling behind jerked back into the lead. It was not until we were shown the head-on footage that we could see the Cecil filly gradually swerving to carry Special Duty halfway across the field. The stewards reversed the placings after a long enquiry, during which, the French filly’s trainer had thought her charge would get the race if it had been run in France. Just like old times, I came out ahead, and called it a day. I find it best to always quit when ahead.

Yesterday, Special Duty ran again in France, and won her second Classic, again after another disqualification – surely a record that will not be easily broken.

2010 1,000 guineas

Special Duty winning in the stewards room, brought back memories of another great filly with a similar name that I backed for the 1970 1,000 Guineas with Lester Piggot on board. Humble Duty won the 1970 guineas in great style by 7 easy lengths, hardly extended as she flew towards the winning line.

1970 1,000 gunieas

Posted in Articles, General, Horse Racing | 4 Comments »

Roman Abramovich happy to have the blues

Monday, May 10th, 2010

What do you spend on a hobby? Here’s a tale of two rich men spending big money gambling.

Sheik Mohamed bought thoroughbred horseflesh by the dozens, spent gazillions of dollars over many years; There is little doubt that the Sheik’s love of horses is in his blood and is no doubt a knowledgeable, master horseman, probably almost as good as the Queen,  yet his calculated gamble had an angle. He had meant in addition to indulging his pleasure in a royal pastime, to lay down foundations to establish a leisure and tourism industry, PR for Dubai and an entree into the money world to pave ways to big borrowing to satisfy his appetite for “borrow and spend”. Barring a blip last year when Dubai got close to defaulting on a mountain of debts running to billions, you could see how much wealth he has built up with borrowed money and ask: Didn’t he do well ?

Mr A’s buying Chelsea FC from Mr Bates a few years back, on the other hand, seems to be based purely and simply on the notion of Roman  indulging his hobby.

Yesterday, on the last day of the football league season, you could see the man as excited as any kid with his favourite toy, as the game unfolded with the Blues trouncing Wigan , hammering goal after goal past their crestfallen goalkeeper who could only jump up and down in the goal mouth flailing his arms! And when the whistle blew, with Chelsea’s score at 8-0 against Wigan, many records falling to them on the way, Mr A raced onto the pitch chasing his players who were transporting the silverware to the dressing room. Roman has spent hundreds of millions of pounds on Chelsea football club; Helping Mr Abramovitch collect the records was their Chelsea’s man of the year, Didier Drogba, who beat Wayne Rooney to the record of Premiership Goals scored this year and helped Chelsea’s club score of over 100 goals. Chelsea deserved taking the Premiership top spot

Leading me to bet that Abramovich is happy to have the Blues

Posted in Articles, General | 3 Comments »

Brown hung in for a hung Parliament

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

I wonder what Gordon Brown dreams about all night; Except on rare occasions he looks sullen and grim faced when seen on television, giving the impression that his nocturnal brain wheels were engaged and spinning faster than a hamster on pep pills. His latest bright idea, no doubt an inspiration from the night shift was to declare an election pledge to introduce fixed term parliaments, given he waited till there was no option by 6th April other than to go and ask the Queen to dissolve the current parliament, an event Her Majesty anticipated and made sure not to miss, arriving that morning by helicopter landing on the Palace lawns.

Ladbrokes were quick off the mark, stealing a march by setting their bookie board out on Parliament’s lawns, getting masses of free publicity from the hordes of photographers and reporters there to mix it with the now redundant MPs. Ladbrokes were offering 8/15 for a Tory majority, 13/8 for the hung parliament, 10/1 for Labour and 250/1 for a Libdem majority. Despite collecting fines, the Ladbrokes representative was in no hurry to move on, telling reporters there were not enough fines to force him off that pitch that day!

Posted in Articles, General | 4 Comments »

Grand National Betting

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

Here at Oggs we have a few more thoughts on the Grand National and the team are divided on who they are going to back this year. Plotting the history we see familiar names, we all have our own champions and we all have a ‘nearly’ story. ‘But what are we all betting on this year?’ I hear you ask, well read on, find out and see if you agree. 

Aintree, 10th April, The Grand National betting spectacular. The busiest betting day of the year in the UK. Horses, riders, bookies, punters, the tipsters; who will be the 2010 Grand National hero?

Did you know the Grand National is the most bet on horse race in the whole world? Now that’s a fact that is annually trotted out each year, together with the 40 national hunt riders and their fearless horses. It’s the greatest horse racing betting spectacular because of its history, its immense and famous fences, the immense distance and especially the love punters have had for greats like Red Rum, Arkle, Corbierre, Last Suspect, L’escargot, Spanish Steps etc . Not all were winners, but they came back year after year and battled out through hedge and mud against each other to the admiration and awe of us all.

It’s a race for the gambler and the housewife; favourites go off at decent odds and even runners up being favourites or not pay well too as they go off anywhere between 6-1 to 500-1. And then there of course is work place sweepstakes which sweep the country the week before. Why I always get the worst horse in these I don’t know.

Now I’ve been quite lucky or perhaps just shrewd over the past 30 years. A tactic of choosing 3 horses, 8, 9 and 10 year olds, has produced more than 50% winners and a fair few placings adding to the winning pot. I haven’t chosen all 3 yet this year, I normally decide 24 hours before the race, not leaving anything to chance, but I have an early favourite and one that today Ruby Walsh decided to partner – Big Fella Thanks. A very decent Paul Nicholl’s trained horse and powerful runner it’s the first of my three and I’d say why not get on early at Ladbrokes or William Hill etc via Oggs UK Bookmakers and I’m sure you’ll find they will be offering welcome bonuses or even a special Grand National free bet. Good luck and I’ll post more on my 2nd and 3rd choices in a week’s time and what other horses the team here tip for a good return.

Posted in Articles, General, Horse Racing, JC | 1 Comment »

What Odds A UK Hung Parliament in 2010?

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

A year ago the Conservatives in the UK were a dead cert to oust Labour and David Cameron their leader become Prime Minister, but this weekend’s latest political polls predict a Hung Parliament.

The odds on a Hung Parliament were long, but now quickly narrowing, even though the Tories lead the polls, a lead that has come under constant attack from some sharp social media PR whipped up by Labour, especially its orchestrator Lord Mandelson.

It’s been 36 years since the last hung parliament in the UK. The most recent elected hung parliament in the United Kingdom was that which followed the February 1974 general election, which lasted until the October election that year. Prior to that the last had been following the election of 1929. Hung parliaments can also arise when slim government majorities are eroded by by-election defeats and defection of Members of Parliament to opposition parties. This happened in 1996 to the Conservative government of John Major (1990-97) and in 1978 to the Labour government of James Callaghan (later Lord Callaghan of Cardiff) (1976-79).

Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats could yet be King Maker, but as they say a week is still a long time in Parliament and who knows what will yet transpire in the run up to an election that although has not been announced by Gordon Brown must happen by this June. As a gambling spectacle it sure will be an intriguing one, perhaps the best ever, political gambling is one to keep an eye on this Spring.

Posted in Articles, General | 6 Comments »

The War of The Wolds – Kauto Star v’s Denman 2010

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

The annual Cheltenham Festival horse racing kicks off on the 16th March and runs to the 19th March, but there is one race on the last day of the event that is all of a twitter, the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Kauto Star vs Denman, 1-1 so far and it’s been dubbed the War of the Wolds!

The festival has been so keenly awaited, especially after Kauto Star’s impressive win over Denman in 2009’s Gold Cup.

The bookies have Kauto Star edging it over Denman, 1-1 so far against each other, both superb chasers what ever the outcome it’s no doubt going to be close.

William Hill and several other British bookmakers can be found here on UK Bookmakers pages in Oggs, where you’ll find both generous free bonus bet offers, but also the full 4 day card for all those antepost bets.

Since Kauto Star won his first Gold Cup in 2007 the racing world knew it had found something special and it has been proved right as this wonderful beast has gone on to add three King George’s, a couple of Tingle Creek’s and a second Cheltenham prize to his ever growing CV.

Then in 2008, just when Kauto backers were already dreaming of spending their Gold Cup winnings, Paul Nicholls unleashed another superstar in the shape of Denman who went on to jump his stable mate in to the ground in one of the most stunning displays that Cheltenham has seen.

After an injury plagued start to the season all but robbed Denman of his chance in the great race last year, Kauto went on to claim his second Gold Cup and racing fans all over the world thought it could be the end for Denman who many feared would not be the same horse after his injury and certainly now not able to compete with Nicholls’ two – time Gold Cup champion.

Any doubts the masses had were soon forgotten as Denman shouldered top weight in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury to put in a trademark stunning display of jumping and put himself right back in to the frame for the big race at Cheltenham and have Kauto Star backers quaking in their boots about if their hero could stave off a challenge from a Denman on top form.

Posted in Articles, General, Horse Racing, JC | 3 Comments »

« Older Entries