Bookies Blog

Heading into Super Tuesday Hillary Clinton and John McCain are the hot favourites to pick up their party’s nominations, following strong showings in the Florida primary.

In Florida McCain took 36 percent of the vote, Mitt Romney 31 percent, Rudy Giuliani 15 percent and Mike Huckabee 14 percent. The results mean Giuliani is almost certain to drop out of the running for the Republican race and endorse Mr McCain following one of the most disastrous election strategies ever.

Hillary Clinton is now a best price of 13/10 (bet $10 to make a $13 profit) to be next US president while McCain is rated a 9/4 chance. Barack Obama is a 3/1 shot, followed by Mitt Romney at 14/1. Only Michael Bloomberg, who may still decide to run as an independent candidate, is rated shorter than 100/1 and he is a 40/1 chance at the moment. The failure of Rudy Giuliani to capture the voter’s imaginations may make Mr Bloomberg unwilling to run.

The success of John McCain has caught several bookies out. When the betting opened he was a general 4/1 shot to be next US president but by November 1 he had been pushed out to 40/1 as his campaign floundered. Since then it has picked up extraordinary momentum but it has to be remembered he could still be bet at 14/1 on January 1.

In the betting on who will secure the Republican nomination, McCain is a 1/5 shot, with Romney his only realistic rival at a best price of 14/5.

Hillary Clinton is top priced at 53/100 to be the Democratic Candidate with Obama rated a 7/4 shot in the run up to Super Tuesday, which is likely to prove decisive in who gets the candidature.

Check out all the Next US betting president odds, betting on the Republican nomination and betting on the Democratic nomination at Bookies.com.

Betting on the next Ireland manager has heated up today with Giovanni Trapattoni heavily backed for the job, according to bookmakers Ladbrokes.

Ladbrokes spokesman Robin Hutchinson said: “We started getting enquiries about the former Italian national team boss at around midday and quoted an initial price of 12/1. He was backed in to 5/2 second favourite by the evening after we laid over £5,000 at a number of prices in between.

We took over 100 bets on Trapattoni through the course of the day and it will be very interesting to see if there is anything in it.”

Check out all the betting on the next Ireland manager at Bookies.com

France are a top priced 7/4 to win the 2008 Six Nations championship, despite being beaten by rivals England in the World Cup rugby semi-finals last summer.

Les Bleus are as short as 5/4 with Ladbrokes but are on offer at 7/4 with Corals, who clearly want to ‘get’ the Gallic team.

England are second favourites at a top price of 5/2 with betinternet, which is also a hugely generous price compared with most bookies.

Next up in the betting are Ireland at a general 11/2, followed by Wales at 9/1 and Scotland at 14/1. Italy are, as usual, the massive outsiders and are offered at 100/1.

The difference of opinions means bookies are betting to 98% on the Six Nations winner; that means you can currently bet on every side and be guaranteed to make a profit on the event.

The bookies clearly believe that there is no dominant side among the six as you can bet on there being no Grand Slam winner at a best price of 4/5 with Skybet. No Triple Crown winner is a 2/1 shot.

At Bookies.com we are still waiting for a proper set of spread betting prices to come out so we can have a bet on a low scoring Six Nations season. Evidence from recent rugby union fixtures in the Heineken Cup and Premiership games suggest the top sides are doing a lot more time wasting and diversionary tactics once they are in the lead and I think this all adds up to low scoring (and slightly dull) games.

Check out the Six Nations 2008 winner betting or the Six Nations Betting Index at bookies.com

Chelsea have been installed as the 5/2 favourites to win the FA Cup after the fifth round draw saw Arsenal drawn against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Bookies pushed out both the Gunners and United on the back of the draw, to a top price of 6/1 and 7/2 respectively.

Chelsea have got a dream draw in the last 16 with a home tie against Huddersfield while Liverpool will hardly be complaining about their fixture against Barnsley at Anfield. Rafa Benitez’s out of form side are now 7/2 for the FA Cup, which looks short given their recent form.

Portsmouth are now the fifth favourites for the competition at best odds of 11/1 after being drawn away to Preston North End.

The value outsiders in the betting look to be West Brom, who are playing almost Premiership quality football at the moment and are drawn away at Cardiff City yet can be backed at 50/1, and in form Bristol Rovers. The in form Rovers are 500/1 for Cup glory with Ladbrokes yet have a home tie against Southampton in the fifth round and have a great chance of making the last eight.

FA Cup Outright Winner Betting at Bookies.com

FA Cup fifth round draw

Bristol Rovers v Southampton
Cardiff City v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Sheffield United v Middlesbrough
Liverpool v Barnsley
Manchester United v Arsenal
Preston NE v Portsmouth
Coventry v West Bromwich
Chelsea v Huddersfield

With the team line ups for the Formula One season now known the bookies have opened up their betting on the Constructors Championship.

Ferrari are unsuprisingly the 4/5 favourites with Canbet and Victor Chandler, followed by McLaren at a best price of 15/8 with Stan James.

For those who think that Renault can improve massively this season then you can get 8/1 with Stan James about the Alonso led team being top dog in 2008.

BMW are on offer at a general 16/1 while every other team is on offer at 40/1 or bigger.

Given that many people think that FIA stands for Ferrari’s Interests Always then it is not hard to see why the bookies make them such short priced favourites. I don’t think there’s a huge amount of value in the market as it stands, certainly until we learn how Kovalainen adapts to his new car. If he does prove to be as good as many expect then the 15/8 McLaren may be the value wager. I have backed him at 16/1 each way for the Drivers’ Championship on the basis of the skill he showed last season but he’ll only really shorten up if he shows that he can drive the car as well (or better) than Hamilton.

Check out all the 2008 Formula One betting odds at bookies.com