Although slot machines may seem like the poor relation in casinos, in Las Vegas for example, the slots actually offer the biggest payouts and are the most popular. There are no complicated rules to learn, no intimidating players to face and you can place very small bets. So, the basic criteria that made slots so successful in the first place hasn’t changed to this day and despite the huge popularity of card games such as poker and blackjack, slots are still riding high.

So much so, that along with online poker and online blackjack, you can play a massive variety of online slots. Furthermore, because everything is computer based, more lines and symbols can be added. The most popular slots games from Sky Vegas such as Rainbow Riches works on a five-reel, 20-line system and has several different bonuses. Slot games are an obvious online choice. No other players are required, they are quick and easy to play and you can dip in and out of each session. Plus, you can win huge progressive rewards, thanks to the availability of so many players. For example, you can win up to £200,000 with the Rainbow Riches game.

Potentially, there is less margin for error playing online slots compared to real-life versions. This is because online casinos use highly sophisticated random number generators and one player can’t ‘sit’ on a ‘hot’ slot machine for hours. The game is fairer as a result.

Furthermore, there’s more anonymity. Nobody knows who you are; all they have is a screen name. You can therefore be anyone you want. This gives players added confidence and even encourages women and men who had never previously thought about gambling to give slots a try.

Remember though, before you start any form of online gambling you should be fully aware of the industry at large. Visit Gamble Aware for more information.

Undefeated in this year’s Champions League, Real Madrid have sailed into the final four. Now they face a real challenge against an on-form Bayern Munich. Chelsea last reached the quarter finals in 2009 when Barca ended their hopes of victory. Will di Matteo’s recent appointment be the catalyst Chelsea need for success in this rematch or will Barcelona prove too strong?  We’ve Got The Best Reload Bonus You’ll Find Anywhere: 25% Bonus up to €20!

Terms and Conditions

·        In order to receive the bonus, please enter bonus code ‘FREEBONUS‘, when making your next deposit.

·        This offer is only valid until 28/04/2012 23:59PM UK time.

·        The bonus will be credited to your account once the deposit has been rolled over once.

·        In order to withdraw the bonus, customers should roll over their bonus 4 times. Only stakes made with the bonus and winnings generated from the bonus will be applicable towards the rollover requirements. Only Sports bets will be applicable in calculating the roll over.

·        To fulfill the rollover requirements all wagers must be made on odds of at least 1.60.

·        If a withdrawal is requested before the roll-over requirements are met, the bonus and all winnings generated from the bonus will be automatically cancelled and withdrawn from the customer’s account.

·        If the rollover requirement for this bonus has not been met within 90 days of the qualifying deposit any funds held in the bonus balance will be forfeited.

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With Leinster having a home draw against Cardiff Blues, who they pasted 52-9 in the RaboDirect Pro 12, followed by a potential draw away to the winners of Saracens v Clermont Auvergne they are placed as the bookmaker’s favourites to win this year’s Heineken Cup and once more be crowned Champions of Europe.

Thanks to a fabulous performance in the group stages, winning six from six, Munster have landed the home draw in both the quarter finals and semi finals. To get to the semi final and face the winner of Edinburgh and Toulouse they must first overcome a much improved Ulster side. In December Ulster put in a fine performance to overcome Munster at Ravenhill, but Munster are formidable at home and are favourites to progress.

Toulouse face a tricky performance away to Edinburgh who managed to win five out of six games in the group stages. This was a group that contained Cardiff Blues, London Irish and Racing Metro and demonstrates that Toulouse won’t have everything their own way in Edinburgh.

The final quarter final match sees Saracens take on Clermont Auvergne at home. Saracens came through a difficult group containing Biarritz, Ospreys and Treviso, winning five games to secure a home draw. Clermont came out on top of a group with Ulster, Leicester and Aironi, having smashed the hapless Italians 82-0 away, scoring 12 tries in the process. Having scored the most tries and conceeded the joint least, Clermont are certainly the team to watch out for.

One thing is certain: the final in Twickenham on May 19th will be a cracker!

Quarter Finals

Sat 7th April 2012

15:00 Edinburgh v Toulouse
17:45 Leinster v Cardiff Blues

Sun 8th April 2012

13:45 Munster v Ulster
16:30 Saracens v Clermont Auvergne

Semi Finals

Sat 28th April 2012

Saracens/Clermont Auvergne v Leinster/Cardiff Blues

Sun 29th April 2012

Munster/Ulster v Edinburgh/Toulouse

Outright Winners

Of last year’s teams only one has retained their captain, IRB Player of the Year, Thierry Dusautoir of France. Of the managers only Andy Robinson, Declan Kidney and Warren Gatland have survived from last year.

While many will fancy the ultimate winner to be either the Frech, Irish or Welsh, one should not discount England. A combination of bad behaviour on and off the pitch has seen the old crew decimated in favour of a bunch of lads so thrilled to finally get the nod that the hope is they fear losing their shirt more than they fancy flinging some dwarfs about. This has given Stuart Lancaster the ideal opportunity to instill some much needed discipline into a team that was woefully lacking it under the stewardship of Martin Johnson. This hungry, young team may not crumble when faced with the might of the established French and Irish teams like their predecessors did. They start the tournament off with very winnable games against Scotland and Italy, which may give them the confidence needed to sustain a title assault.

The fixtures are below as are the odds for the tournament!

Sat 4th Feb 12 14:30 France v Italy Stade de France
Sat 4th Feb 12 17:00 Scotland v England Murrayfield
Sun 5th Feb 12 15:00 Ireland v Wales Aviva Stadium

Sat 11th Feb 12 16:00 Italy v England Stadio Olimpico
Sat 11th Feb 12 20:00 France v Ireland Stade de France
Sun 12th Feb 12 15:00 Wales v Scotland Millennium Stadium

Sat 25th Feb 12 13:30 Ireland v Italy Aviva Stadium
Sat 25th Feb 12 16:00 England v Wales Twickenham
Sun 26th Feb 12 15:00 Scotland v France Murrayfield

Sat 10th Mar 12 14:30 Wales v Italy Millennium Stadium
Sat 10th Mar 12 17:00 Ireland v Scotland Aviva Stadium
Sun 11th Mar 12 15:00 France v England Stade de France More

Sat 17th Mar 12 12:30 Italy v Scotland Stadio Olimpico
Sat 17th Mar 12 14:45 Wales v France Millennium Stadium
Sat 17th Mar 12 17:00 England v Ireland Twickenham

Outright World Cup Winner

Heineken Cup Outright Winner

Outright Winner

Grand Slam Winner

• A computer with an internet connection, the faster the better
• A Betfair account
• Money in that account
• A reasonable knowledge of the sport you wish to trade on
• Try to develop a system

Clearly the first two requirements are no-brainers; however, while you can use Betfair with a dial-up connection, it is not practical while trying to bet in-play. A faster connection makes for a more enjoyable experience and increases your chance of turning a profit. It also helps whene betting in-play on events happening elsewhere on the planet. That extra couple of seconds might be the difference between getting decent odds and turning a profit, or been beaten to the punch!

Creating a Betfair account is pretty simple. Simply click on this link, which will take you to the Betfair website. The link to sign up is on the right-hand side at the top of the page. Because on-line gambling is illegal for those under the age of 18, Betfair may independently verify your age. Occassionally Betfair also carry out Know Your Customers (KYC) checks. These are similar to checks carried out by banks and are generally only used when large amounts of money are passing through the account. Betfair also allow you to set a deposit limit and a loss limit on your account. This is extremely useful when one is worried about over-spending on Betfair.

With Betfair, you can deposit money into your account from a credit or debit card, a bank transfer or from Paypal. This is done from the ‘my account’ tab at the top of the page. The ‘deposit fund’ link is on the left-hand side of the page. Funds usually leave your bank account on the same day that you make the deposit. When depositing money, you can set a nickname for each card you use, which can make it easier to keep track of your money. When withdrawing money, click on the ‘withdraw funds’ link on the left of the ‘my account’ page. Designate the card you want to be credited and the money should be in your bank account within 2 – 5 days. Always ensure that you have enough money in your account to cover any bet!

As with any betting, it helps to know the sport you’re betting on. This doesn’t mean that you should only stick to mainstream sports, as opportunities can exist in more obscure sports. For example, Betfair offers a market on Bandy, which is a form of hockey played on ice. By doing your research and becoming acquainted with a particular sport it will give you a distinct advantage over casual gamblers who are less informed on the sport or event.

With any form of gambling, it helps to have some of system in place. If your system is ‘I’ll bet only on horses where the jockey wears red’, then maybe internet gambling isn’t for you. One punter we know of likes to bet only on the ‘over/under’ markets. He maintained that with his system he was able to turn a healthy 10% profit on his bets. Sadly, we’re not going to disclose his system, and once you develop your own winning system, keep it to yourself!

1) The stake – the amount of money being risked

2) The odds – Betfair offers all its markets in decimal odds, but hovering over the odds boxes will display fractional odds

3) The return – the money returned to the backer, which includes the profit and original stake

4) The profit/liabiliaty – the amount the backer stands to win or the layer will lose

Backing

Every bet on Betfair requires both a backer, someone who thinks something will happen, and a layer, someone who thinks it won’t. We will begin with discussing how to back a bet. The easiest way to familiarise yourself with Betfair is to place a bet. This is easily done:

1) Go to your market of choice where odds for both backers and layers are shown; however, lay odds are only shown once you have logged in.

2) Click on the blue box displaying the ‘back’ odds. A little on-screen window will appear asking you to place your odds. You can choose any odds you like and Betfair will try to match your bet; however, this might not always be possible, depending on the odds you choose.

3) Place the amount you wish to bet in the ‘your stake’ box. If you’re starting out it’s best to keep the bets low. The minimium bet on Betfair is £2.

4) Once your happy with your bet click ‘place bets’. Betfair will then ask you to confirm your bets.

5) Click ‘confirm’ if you want the bet to be placed or ‘cancel’ if you don’t

Congratulations, you’ve just backed your first bet on Betfair!

Laying

While backing a bet can be done in any bookmakers on any high street in the UK, laying a bet can’t. This naturally makes it almost counter-intuitive to those new to exchange betting, but once you’ve placed your first bet you’ll realise just how easy it is. So let’s get started:

1) Once again, navigate to your market of choice

2) Choose the selection you want to ‘lay’ ~ the selection you think will not win the bet. For example, if Wales are playing England at football and you ‘lay’ Wales, you’ll effectively be betting against Wales to win

3) Click the pink ‘lay’ box beside your selection and a new on-screen box will appear

4) You can accept the odds in the ‘backer’s’ box or you can change them to suit yourself. By increasing the ‘lay’ odds you are increasing the odds offered to those backing the win. This will serve to increase your potential winnings or losses

5) If your happy with the bet click on the ‘place bet’ tab

6) Click ‘confirm’ if you want the bet to be placed or ‘cancel’ if you don’t

By now you should have placed your first ‘lay’ bet. Well done!

Today sees the most important game of England’s World cup, a showdown against the old enemy, Germany. Since that historic win in ’66, the Germans have enjoyed the spoils at all the major footballing events. Alas, this success normally comes about because of England’s inability to win a penalty shoot-out.

To acknowledge, or even celebrate, this fact, Coral are offering a great bet. Should you place your money on Germany to progress on the back of a penalty shootout, Coral will refund your bet if no shoot-out takes place. Should England win via a shoot-out? You might be too happy to care about your bet! Besides, Coral are offering a free £10 bet if you create an account with them today. Win – Win!

Coral also have England as slight favourites to win inside 90 minutes, which we are all hoping they do!

England Germany Match Odds

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