The 2010 World Cup is fading into the background for every European nation who will now start competing to qualify for the Euro 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine. Just fourteen places are up for grabs and the groups are therefore set to be highly competitive, with eight 2nd placed teams having to contest a play-off to go through.

Naturally, the bookmakers will be offering a wide range of betting markets for all the matches that are taking place on Friday, although many will also be showing a selection of the games on their website and it’s completely free to watch any of them!

Bet365 have just released information which states that they will be showing the following matches this week:

Thursday
Israel v Malta 19:15 BST

Friday
Armenia v Rep of Ireland 16:00 BST
Kazakhstan v Turkey 17:00 BST
Andorra v Russia 17:30 BST
San Marino v Netherlands 17:45 BST
Faroe Islands v Serbia 18:00 BST
Sweden v Hungary 19:00 BST
Latvia v Croatia 19:00 BST
Belgium v Germany 19:15 BST
Estonia v Italy 19:30 BST
France v Belarus 20:00 BST
Iceland v Norway 20:00 BST
Portugal v Cyprus 20:45 BST

That’s a brilliant selection of Euro 2012 qualifiers to choose from and you simply need to have a bet365 account to be able to log in and view all the matches that are taking place. However, you should note that geographical restrictions apply to these games.

For example, any based in France, Belarus or the USA will not be able to watch the France v Belarus match, while anyone based in the UK, Ireland, Armenia and USA will not be able to watch Armenia v Republic of Ireland.

It’s also worth checking out Ladbrokes, Paddy Power and betfair who also have the rights to show many sporting events for free on their website.

There are some interesting matches taking place, not least the France match against Belarus which will see Laurent Blanc take charge of Les Bleus for their first competitive match since the fiasco at the 2010 World Cup. It’s a new regime after the reign of Raymond Domenech and bet365 offer a best price 1/3 that the French get their Euro 2012 campaign off to a winning start.

Meanwhile, Germany can be viewed on the bet365 live streaming console when they travel to Belgium for what could be a tricky contest. Many people are excited about this German team after some excellent performances during the 2010 World Cup and they are 8/13 with Sky Bet to get off to a flyer. Thomas Muller is 13/2 with bet365 to open the scoring in this match and he was joint-top scorer in South Africa.

Finally, you can watch World Cup finalists Holland when they travel to San Marino for the first match of their qualifying campaign and it would be a major surprise if the Dutch didn’t oblige at odds of 1/100! It may well be worth covering the 5-0 (15/2 Paddy Power), 6-0 (14/1 Paddy Power) and 7-0 (22/1 Paddy Power), then sitting back and enjoying the goalfest from the Netherlands!

Well, what’s been going on while I’ve been away? I think the most significant piece of news has been that Britain was apparently under scrutiny from aliens during the Second World War! In a collection of documents, recently declassified under the Freedom of Information Act, wartime premier Winston Churchill is said to have ordered a cover up of a report that British aircraft were being shadowed by UFOs in the 1940s as they flew reconnaissance missions. Those aliens must have been some pilots to navigate their way safely through all the ordnance that was whizzing around Britain’s skies during WWII and, of course, serachlights, barrage balloons and tracer fire from anti-aircraft guns couldn’t have been mistaken for something even more sinister – could it? The whole flying saucer debate has provided a steady trickle of revenue down the years for bookmakers and William Hill have been encouraged to cut their odds from 100/1 to 80/1 that the presence of extra-terrestrials will be acknowledged by a leading government figure within the next 12 months. I won’t be having a punt, it would be just my luck to be sat in my armchair grasping a winning betting slip when some mutated distant relative of Paul The Octopus slithered through the front door and decided I looked more appetising than a plate of mussels draped in a Spanish flag!
If that was the case, I’d certainly ask him to point his ray gun in the direction of the Big Brother house first. Our early tip Josie is still in there pitching (now a general 3/1) but Davina’s screamathon is now proving wearing even to the most ardent BB fans and the sooner they make this media dinosaur extinct, the better it will be for all those tabloids who think even a flicker of interest remains in the public psyche.

Finally, it’s good to see a relatively new kid on the bookmaking block expanding, despite the country still struggling to throw off the shackles of recession. Platinum Leisure, who trade as Just A Bet, now has five sites in the North East having taken over three shops from the stricken Pagebet. There are plans to operate three times as many by 2013 – let’s hope their enterprise is rewarded in the months ahead.

It’s not often UK and Irish bookmakers are united over wanting England to win a game of football but all the layers will surely be breathing a little easier after Jermaine Defoe’s goal saw off Slovenia and propelled Fabio Capello’s men into the last 16 of the World Cup. It’s been a tremendous tournament for the bookmakers so far, shock defeats for Spain, Germany and France and Italy’s failure to beat New Zealand have seen many multiple bets flounder but takings, estimated to rise above a billion pounds in total before the World Cup Final kicks-off, would have taken a big hit had England not reached the knockout stages. Punters’ interest in the UK will now be extended to Sunday at least and bookmakers will be praying for Steven Gerrard and his team-mates to make further inroads, though probably not to go all the way! William Hill reported that England’s failure to beat Algeria in their second group game led to their biggest-ever profit from a single international game of football, while Paddy Power profited by patriotic England supporters deserting their team in droves after two insipid performances. The Dublin-based bookmakers had larger liabilities on Slovenia!

Chancellor George Osborne’s first budget hasn’t directly affacted the bookmaking industries but, under his drive to reduce Britain’s multi-billion pound deficit, it is almost inevitable that the future of the Tote will again be under scrutiny. Governments since 2001 have been striving to get the state-owned bookmakers off the books and now, it appears, the Cameron administration would be prepared to accept a knock-down price. The asking price is now rumoured to be around £200million but how interested parties, most of which would probably be current betting and gaming operators, would get any deal past the monopolies or competition commissions would be a sticking factor that has defeated more stable governments in the past. I wonder if they’d take a tenner if I offered to pay cash?

According to the European Court of Justice, it appears the imposition of trade restrictions within the EU is perfectly legal if applied to online betting! Now, I always thought that the basic principle of the European ‘common market’ was that any individual or company resident within the community was allowed to trade with other residents, providing their trade was licensed and operating within the law. Not so, apparently, in the Netherlands which, purely by coincidence has a very profitable state-owned betting monopoly (De Lotto) and where the government has just successfully applied to the ECJ to uphold a ban on overseas betting operators trading in their country. Now I should point out that neither Betfair nor Ladbrokes have licenses to bet in the Netherlands, but that shouldn’t be a problem under normal EU laws. However, it prompted the Dutch government to go to the ECJ and ask for an endorsement of their policy, which the European Court of Justice were happy to give accompanied by the following statement (I’ve edited this slightly but the message is quite clear), "Such an objection may be justified by the objectives of consumer protection and the prevention of both fraud and incitement to squander money on gambling, as well as the need to preserve public order." What a load of absolute tosh! Are the Dutch going to ban the sale of clogs because they are totally impractical in the modern day and a waste of money? Might that cause a riot of clog-makers? Would the clog market be flooded by cheap fakes manufactured by enslaved children overseas? This is the latest in a long line of judgements handed down by European courts that seem to fly in the face of the EU charter. Betfair says it will continue to offer a service to Dutch bettors until local authorities order them not to and, in the meantime, they are applying for a Dutch betting license. However, it appears punters in Holland are going to be stuck with De Lotto, and much worse odds, than the majority of their European cousins for the foreseeable future.

More than 120 betting shop staff are facing redundancy after prominent north-east betting chain Pagebet was wound up by administrators last week. The collapse represents a dramatic downturn in fortune for the Durham-based firm who, it appears, have been guilty of speculating without accumulating enough in terms of ready cash to fuel their fairly rapid expansion and fulfil existing obligations. Pagebet, the brainchild of Austin Carney and David Archer, closed down its internet operation last year in the face of mounting debts but continued to operate 50 betting shops across England until the administrators decided enough was enough last Friday. Many have attributed Pagebet’s descent onto the slippery path to ruin on the very public falling out between Carney and Archer. Carney originally quit Pagebet in 2008 but returned last year, backed by new capital, prompting Archer to resign his position as director. The latter has recently launched freebets.com. The one piece of good news to emerge from Pagebet’s demise is that more than half of their shops have been found immediate buyers. Stan James, who have already said they will honour any winning betting slips placed with Pagebet, will assume control of the majority with Newcastle firm Platinum Leisure taking three branches in the north-east.

No such problems for Betfair, who have broken new ground this week by becoming the first online betting exchange or bookmaker to launch a sports betting app for the iPhone. Aimed primarily at punters who like to back their team in-running, the app can be downloaded free of charge from Apple’s App Store and is being released in time for customers to have a real-time bet on the World Cup, wherever they are. Talking of the World Cup, Boylesports are offering a prize of 1million euros to any registered customer who correctly forecasts the first two in each group, the last 16 winners, the successful quarter and semi-finalists and the outcome of the final itself. Impossible? I’d have thought so, but the Irish bookmakers also have several consolation prizes on offer so the free competition might be worth a try.

Following on from a story we ran a couple of weeks ago, it appears William Hill are serious about increasing their share of the global internet betting market at the expense of other areas of their core business. The London-based organisation recently revealed that their shop-based business has continued to decline in the UK, making it all the more important that the company flourishes in other fields. As far as fields go, there aren’t many further away than those in Australia but, if rumours are to be believed, that’s where William Hill are to invest a considerable percentage of their acquisition fighting fund in the coming months by tabling a bid for Aussie betting giants Centrebet. Now expansion into the Antipides is nothing new for UK/Ireland-based betting operators (Paddy Power have a controlling interest in Sportsbet and IASbet, while Betfair began covering horse racing in the states of Tasmania and Victoria in 2006 and now have product sharing agreements with most of the major sports bodies Down Under) but Australia’s gambling laws don’t exactly welcome new players into the country with open arms and any purchase will, by definition, be a protracted affair. The top brass at Centrebet are refusing to comment on the mooted £90million deal, reported in last week’s Sunday Times, but the story would make sense in that William Hill are known to be looking at new markets to invest in having withdrawn from both Italy and Spain recently. However, they may not be alone in expressing an interest in Centrebet. Coral and Ladbrokes would welcome an opportunity to move into Australia via the back door, while bwin seem to have plenty of cash to throw around in a bid to expand their portfolio outside of Europe. The Austria-based company is already making overtures in the US after all. With a draft report recommending an overhaul of the archaic 2001 Interactive Gambling Act in Australia, this vast country is shaping up to be the next betting industry battleground.

The much-vaunted trial of decimal odds at Ascot this week has proved a resounding flop according to rails bookmakers involved in the experiment. Described individually as a ‘failure’ and an ‘absolute disaster’, instead of de-mystifying traditional odds like 11/8 and 4/7, the trial appears to have caused more confusion than clarity and participating layers reported takings massively down on what they would normally expect on a busy day at one of the country’s leading tracks, with most bookmakers complaining they were losing out when situated next to rivals trading at traditional odds. The experiment had been initiated by Racing For Change, the body set up to increase public awareness of the thrills of horse racing and help drag the sport into the 21st century. Decimal odds was the first public trial of RFC’s credentials and it appears they’ve badly misjudged the bounce of the ball on this occasion. We await the next offbeat idea to role off the production line with interest!

William Hill have reported an increase in revenue in the first quarter of 2010 but everything in the garden is still far from rosy. While the online share has increased, over the counter takings continue to falter in line with most high-street bookmakers. I must admit I don’t frequent betting shops anymore, the online market is far more accessible and lucrative. But I have noticed, walking past my local LBO en route for my lunchtime cheese and broccoli pastie, that the chief attraction nowadays are the fruit machines which is reflected in William Hill’s results, namely a nine per cent increase in the use of said gaming terminals. Talking of the high street, have you heard the one about the Catholic church that has its confessional box sponsored by a bookmaker? No, it’s not the first line of a politically incorrect joke! Our Lady & St Etheldreda Church in Newmarket has signed a £10,000 deal with Paddy Power which enables the Dublin-based bookmaker to emblazon its logo on green curtains which section off the confessional box, which the local priest has named ‘The Sin Bin’. Obviously, it’s the perfect place for chastened punters to ask for forgiveness after blowing the week’s housekeeping at HQ, but whether they’ll appreciate seeing a possible of the cause of their woes advertising its services in the eyes of God is open to debate.

I bumped into a former colleague at a cafe in town last week and, as you do, we got to talking about the betting scene and about France in particular. Now this man has fingers in a lot of pies, figuratively speaking, and over an overpriced cafe americano and custard slice, tarte aux creme Anglais I think it’s called over the Channel (or should that be La Manche), he gave me some advice. To keep the culinary theme going, get a slice of a major publication or production company in France! Apparently, as you will discover, newspapers, magazines and broadcasters are much in demand by Europe’s major bookmakers seeking a heavyweight sponsor in the French parliament. Yes, it’s that old chestnut – the deregulation of internet gambling in France. Now I’m aware I’m beginning to get a little repetitive on this topic but, take my word for it, this really is a big story both in bookmaking terms and in the overall political arena of Europe. France is the last bastion of totalisation monopoly in Europe and, prior to last year, had fiercely resisted any overture to allow a free gambling market. Now the rules are set to be relaxed, commentators are keeping a close eye on the bidding process to see if the state-owned PMU is afforded priveleges not offered to other interested parties. Hence the sudden rush for bookmakers to affiliate themselves to companies viewed as quintessentially French. Sportingbet have already announced a tie-up with daily paper Le Monde, while Paddy Power is to indirectly supply the technology for the PMU to advertise betting odds and, last week, Ladbrokes and Bwin nailed their colours to the Tricolor. Ladbrokes, who already have a presence in Spain and Belgium, have invested just under £2million in France’s subscription sports channel Canal+, while Bwin have agreed a deal with the Amaury Group, who own sports newspaper L’Equipe. Of course, the aforementioned have the financial clout to engineer such deals. One can’t imagine a back street independent spreading a few betting slips around Armand’s Boucherie would have the same impact – though you could always wrap your saucissons in them.

Sat in my living room, laptop on knee, watching an excellent Sunday card at Fairyhouse’s Irish National meeting and awaiting the kick-off of today’s featured Premier League game, one can’t but sympathise with Ireland’s high street bookmakers, who are also probably sat at home watching the racing but definitely wish they weren’t. Now I don’t want to spark a religion versus racing debate, especially on one of the holiest days of the Christian calendar. But the Irish Bookmakers Association appear to have a point about the restriction on the country’s betting shops being allowed to open on Easter Sunday, especially as anyone can simply log on to the internet and have any amount of options as to where to lose their money. The association remain perplexed over what they describe as ‘archaic and completely out of date’ laws, claiming the continued enforcement of said legislation is not only costing the betting industry millions of pounds but also hitting the state which, of course, takes its cut in betting tax. The IBA do appear to have a point, being penalised for the simple physical act of opening a door. The Betting Act, the law which prevents shops opening, was drafted in 1931 – ‘in a different time and in a different Ireland’ – according to bookmakers, who claim it is ‘economic madness’ that the government continues to ignore its protestations. The trouble is the IBA can’t really plead equality with other outlets or, indeed, point a finger across the Irish Sea to how things are done in England. For example, this is the first Easter Sunday in around 15 years that I’ve not actually been working in an office somewhere so I had no idea that nearly everywhere else was shut, apart from McDonalds and the local KFC. At least that saved me some money on a new carpet, unfortunately it also means I’ll have to settle for sharing a family bucket instead of a roast dinner. Happy Easter everyone!

The Racing Post are reporting that the Tote will take the opportunity to bet on other mainstream sports if the government bows to pressure and lifts restrictions that currently mean the public-owned operator can only operate pools on horse racing. Tote chief executive Trevor Beaumont has been involved in high-level discussions with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport for over 12 months in a bid to open up the betting market and put it on a level playing field with the UK’s bookmaking giants. The French government is currently in the process of verifying law changes that will allow the PMU to take bets on football and tennis among other high-profile sports and Beaumont feels its only fair that the Tote enjoys the same advantages. Proposals set before the British government currently don’t embrace non-sporting events such as The X-Factor, Strictly Come Dancing or the Eurovision Song Contest, but Beaumont believes they shouldn’t be exempt from new legislation. "It wouldn’t make sense to have exclusions, so if pool betting was opened up to every type of event, we’d have a look at the possibilities and the market would decide what worked." The government, of course, will be doing everything in their power to make the Tote a more appealing investment to potential buyers though the barrier of compensation to those governing the sports involved in any expansion remain. The horse racing levy currently covers that sport but one can’t imagine, say, the Premier League idly standing by if there’s any chance of making a few extra million. The initial draft proposal is due for publication in June but isn’t thought to include any mention of consultation between affected parties which suggest a few people haven’t really done their homework. I’d just question whether there really would be a demand for a tote pool on other sports – surely that’s what betfair is there for?