Scenario one: You have €20 burning your pocket waiting to back a hot tip in the 2.30 at Leopardstown but it’s bucketing rain and the nearest bookies is a five minute jog away. Scenario two: There isn’t a Lotto agent in sight and you just know your lucky numbers will come up tonight. Scenario three: Your combination of Thierry Henry, Michael Owen, Roy Keane and Shay Given would clean up the points in the fantasy football competition stakes but you can’t get your hands on the evening paper. But before you throw in the towel, turn on your PC and you could be cashing in.
Online betting is taking off and you had better be on it. It’s convenient, tax-free and definitely not seedy. Virtual betting shops house everything you need in one place, and with just one account you can access the full spectrum of the same services that are available across the betting shop counter. The online option means never again will you have to brave the odd looks from hardened punters down the local smoky bookie office when you ask what ‘odds on’ means.
Growing interest
Online betting is a recent development in the Irish Internet sector, with the majority of current sites still only in their infancy. It’s been a slow process for most Irish virtual betting shops getting themselves sorted making business online, particularly when foot and mouth dampened things on the track early last year.
So why are bookmakers going online? The Internet has lured bookmakers into its arms with the promise of a wider catchment area. Terry Rogers, a famous name in the Irish betting world, says: ‘Gambling lends itself to the Internet for the main reason that everything, such as registering, depositing and playing, is done online – you never have to go further than your PC.’
The profile of those making Web wagers is changing too. ‘In the early days it was mostly men who used the Internet to bet. Quite a lot of women would prefer the online option to walking into a betting shop where they feel a bit intimidated,’ he adds.
As security and certification are, naturally, major concerns, the prominent VeriSign logo spotted on many betting Websites should reassure Web betters. Many sites are licensed and regulated under comprehensive and mature legislation while some are affiliated with the UK Independent Betting Arbitration Service. ‘It’s an independent arbitration body where a client can find a solution to a complaint that otherwise cannot be reached amicably with a betting office,’ explains Bill O’Brien of Bananabet.com, a fully licensed Irish bookmaker.
For those interested in finding a flutter online, there’s a generous selection of homegrown sites to choose from. Some recognisable household names include PaddyPower.com and Ladbrokes.com, while more eye-catching names include Bananabet.com, Easinumbers.com and Luvbet.com. For a comprehensive listing of Irish online betting links visit EirBet (www.eirbet.com). You’re bound to come up trumps with something to place your lucky euros on here. Just remember that legally you have to be over 18 to engage in any online betting activity. Some sites, such as Bananabet, will look for proof of age by way of an ID card, if they are unconvinced of a visitor’s age.
Banana split
Bananabet’s colourfully-designed site matches its ‘easy to remember and friendly’ name and is just starting its second year of operation. The background of the site’s managing director, Bill O’Brien, was in banking, but he left it in order to put his ten years’ of bookmaking experience online.
Going online was attractive to O’Brien because it gathers a larger audience than an on-street version. ‘There are only so many clients within the locality of a betting shop,’ he comments. ‘With the Internet you’re dealing with clients from all over the world.’
To get betting with Bananabet, you open with a minimum deposit of €10 (max €500) by credit or laser card, or by cheque or bank transfer. Minimum bet is €1 and maximum bet for new clients is €200.
Based in Dun Laoghaire, the site provides full sports betting coverage, with other events such as Big Brother and the Lotto. ‘With the election and referendum coming up we will do something on politics,’ he adds.
It also features a few innovative special offers; for example, if your first bet with Bananabet is a losing one, it will refund your stake in full up to a maximum of £25. You also get a free subscription to UK racing magazine In the Know delivered to your door.
And should you really need some help with the basics of betting, Bananabet has a cheeky monkey racing game for practice purposes.
The also rans
An equally strangely named virtual betting shop is Luvbet.com, set up by O’Halloran Bookmakers who were originally based in Youghal, Co Cork, and now based in Malta. Though most sites look dull compared to Bananabet’s yellow glare, this site is particularly flat. Cosmetics aside, it covers everything from all sporting events to taking bets on who will become the next German Chancellor. Highly navigable and straightforward, the site minimises possible confusion by presenting all betting events clearly and chronologically.
Despite its famous name, the Website associated with Paddy Power (www.paddypower.com) did not live up to its real-life reputation and failed to impress. A design flaw left you scrolling forever downwards, meeting nothing more than a mislaid banner half way down every (extremely long and bland) page, before eventually getting to the bottom where all the action starts. Apart from a WAP service, its functionality is similar to other virtual betting shops.
A little more exciting is Hackettbet.com. Hacketts have been bookmakers since 1965 and their online business is much the same. The guest button lets you get a taste of the site before committing yourself to joining up and slapping money down.
Ladbrokes.com is part of Ladbrokes Limited, the betting and gaming division of the Hilton hotel group. Its ‘Bet Help’ link instructs you simply on how to complete a bet, specific to the page you’re on.
PC Sports Betting (www.pcsports.ie) is a sports betting firm based in the west of Ireland. As well as boasting competitive pricing on sports events, it also claims to have outstanding customer service where staff members try to answer all e-mails within three seconds. PC Live! readers may want to check out the truth of that themselves (but maybe not all at once).
Lotto fun
Little do we realise but most of us enter into a betting transaction at least once a week. Well, what do you think you are doing when you buy a Lotto ticket? For those of you who like numbers (excluding accountants, of course), there’s a site that lets you try your luck in lotteries that take place all over the world. Easinumbers.com is a site set up by Terry Rogers that lets people bet on the outcome of lotteries – 45 lotteries all over the world to be exact, from Wisconsin over to Hong Kong and down to South Australia.
Launched November last year, the site now has about 5,500 registered members. ‘A lot of bookmakers went into the sport area. The market seemed to be fairly saturated, so we decided to set up a site to do with numbers only, which are popular in the betting shops,’ explains Rogers.
Playing the Lotto this way is totally different to the actual real Lotto, ie purchasing a Lotto ticket. ‘It’s a different product completely. Most national lotteries look to get six numbers and give out a grand prize that’s set from its income. With our site you can back one to five numbers, depending on your feeling,’ he goes on. ‘The most popular choice, both on our site and in the shops, is a three number selection. They’re not looking to win our top prize of €250,000 – they are playing the smaller stakes which have better odds and yield prizes of around €400 and over.’
Because of its simplicity of design, one could very easily become a lottery addict on this site as players can also pick their lucky numbers in the next ten worldwide draws in one simple click on the site.
The site is also planning two new games: EasiBalls, which is a random number generating game that takes place every six minutes; and 49ers, which is a bookmaker generated game that occurs twice daily. So prepare yourself.
Name of the game
Fantasyworldsports.com is a Website that doesn’t class itself as a traditional online betting or gaming site but still lets you put your money where your mouse is. ‘We are a betting and gaming site but we’re different to the usual elements of stakes and betting tax,’ explains Joey Fernandez, managing director of the fantasy sports site. ‘We provide customers with online fantasy games based on real world leagues. This means that you pay a fee at the beginning of a season and you play a game for the duration of a league or championship.’
It launched its first game two months after its set up in March 2001. Membership to the site is free but to partake in a league you have to pay, usually around €10, by credit or laser card, cheque or bank draft. There are currently 10,000 users registered with Fantasyworldsports. ‘It is open to everybody but it very much benefits the skilled-based player. In the example of a football league, you are basically a fantasy manager of those teams and players for the season. You would pay a set fee, choose which clubs and players you would like to represent you and then earn fantasy points based on their real life performance.’
The top prize for most points accumulated in the EuroSoccer League that Fantasyworldsports.com is running conjunction with TodayFM and The Mirror is €20,000, with a runner-up family holiday prize. ‘It is more entertainment based than for your hardened gamblers who wouldn’t be trying to win a trip to the Premiership but would rather get big money from their bets,’ he adds.
Another site that is not exactly an online betting venue but still provides the opportunity for a flutter is Intrade (www.intrade.com) — a sports trading exchange based in Ireland that allows members to buy and sell contracts on major sports events at prices determined wholly by market supply and demand.
At Intrade.com, contracts can be bought or sold at any time until the conclusion of the event, enabling members to trade in and out of contracts at will. The contract size, expiry times and currency values are predetermined by the exchange. The only variable for each contract is the price at which members are willing to trade and all prices and trades are visible to every member. You can apply for membership online and start trading once you fund your account with €127 (minimum). The site has recently teamed up with Yahoo! UK & Ireland to supply unique sports trading content on the search engine’s sports category pages.
High rollers
For the more serious betting crowd, Betdaq may provide a more tempting challenge. Betdaq.com, wholly owned by Irish financier Dermot Desmond, is an international betting exchange that lets individuals from the more exclusive end of the sports betting community match bets with each other over the Internet. Going live last September, this high-end bet brokerage service doesn’t place limits on the size of any order.
The Betdaq Betting Exchange technology will match bets made by individual registered parties together on a selection of premier sporting events rather than offering its own odds. Some of the exchange’s features include a minimum bet of $500 to set a price and $100 to take one, client anonymity, deal transparency, open pricing and comprehensive statistical content. Technically Betdaq doesn’t call itself a bookmaker and is not therefore subject to betting duty. It hopes to make its money by charging a one per cent commission on bets.
Online real time financial bookmakers, Epan.com lets speculators bet on company share prices in EU and US financial markets. As you are making geared financial wagers, you’ll really need to know what you are doing. All bets are free of commission and capital gains tax. You open a bet when you buy or sell. If you buy you are betting that the chosen market will go up, if you sell you are betting that it will go down. Epan.com is owned and operated by Ballsbridge-based Pan Index Ltd.
Better off betting online
In the case of putting money on the Lotto, the odds of reaping money are better with Web bookies than if you just went out and bought a standard Lotto ticket. Lucky online betters win more money betting on three numbers on Bananabet or Easinumbers.com. The latter gives you 410/1 odds while Bananabet offers a better paying 500/1 odds on three correctly picked numbers in the Irish Lotto draw — that’s a handsome €2,500 return on a lucky €5 bet compared to a measly scratchcard on the actual Lotto itself.
‘We found that some people follow a particular number,’ says Bill O’Brien. ‘If a number hasn’t come up for about 20 draws, people will back it and if it doesn’t come up this Wednesday they’ll put money on it for Saturday for more money. They’ll keep chasing it. Some people have a ‘system’ of Lotto betting.’
While doing research for the Easinumbers site, Terry Rogers unearthed a few interesting stats: ‘The most favourite numbers for Irish punters is 4, 7 and 11. But funnily enough, in Asia nobody would bet on number 4 — it’s like our 13.’
Joey Fernandez of Fantasyworldsports reckons the Internet is the way to go because it’s an inexpensive medium. ‘We designed a dual method of play: By telephone or on the Web. People prefer to play online because of the free access they have from work rather than pay premium rate telephone charges.’
Whatever your way of choosing numbers or fantasy football teams, it could be very much more worth your while doing it online.
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