Whether you play it, watch it or do both, sport is a major part of our lives. It unites nations, peoples’ from across the world, of different colours, social backgrounds and religions and it is a place where competition is healthy and a necessary part of the process, not something that is dangerous and should be curbed and controlled.

It is this competition and sportsmanship that makes us want to get behind our team, our favourite player or our nation and bet on them winning, scoring that goal and raising the national flag. So why not make some money out of it?

People have been betting on sport since sport began. Odds and probabilities are some of the earliest forms of mathematics, most likely because of their involvement in sport and the potential for gambling.

In the US, sport betting is far more common than it is in the UK. In Britain most of the real gambling is done on horse racing, but in the US, no sport is left untouched. But, the UK too is now catching on to the universal trend of sports betting. This new phenomena is largely as a result of the Internet, turning websites into online bookies, casinos and even bingo halls.

There are many advantages to betting online. The first of course is convenience. You can sit at home, watch the game and place your bet without leaving your beer.

But there is also anonymity. Nobody needs to know you are a gambler and you don’t need to feel embarrassed about making mistakes or what other people might think of you. This is leading to groups that have never previously gambled, such as women, to get involved and place a bet on their favourite sport.

There is also a lot more potential for fun. In-play betting is relatively new. It allows you to bet on a variety of things such as the next person to score and whether someone will get fouled in the next five minutes for example, and the odds are constantly changing as the game moves on. It can turn even the most boring games into the most exciting match of the month.

If you want to give online gambling a try, check out 32 Red who offer a range of sports betting options, but you can also ease yourself in with 32 Red’s online bingo.

In the world of Football betting (Soccer for our overseas visitors) there has been quite a shift in betting patterns over the last few years. We have seen massive growth in the Football betting markets. Perhaps more interesting for the punter though has been the rise of Asian Handicap Betting.

If you have heard the phrase, but did not no what it meant, you are in the right place. Asian Handicapping put simply removes the draw from the equation and ads a handicap to one of the teams. For those who are more used to betting on two outcome sports such as American Football or Basketball this can be a real boost as it means that betting systems can be carried over to Football without having to be rewritten in their entirety.

However, before we get too excited we must remember that the odds after removing the draw have been balanced carefully by the bookmaker. There is also a weighting or ‘spread’ in the bet. For example in a traditional bet you have the following choices… Read more…