William Hill may ban betting on certain football matches

Bookmaker tries to eliminate “suspicious betting patterns”

William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe has confirmed that they are considering suspending betting on end-of-season football matches where there is little at stake.

Over the last few seasons, reports of “suspicious betting patterns” in lower league clashes between sides with little more than pride at stake have become more common and bookmakers are determined to crack down.

Paddy Power abandoned betting on almost all of the end-of-season games in Ireland but Sharpe says William Hill don’t plan on preventing punting from

Posted: June 11th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Duffy should be among the big winners at the BRIT Awards

Sadly there’s only one market that you can still bet on

The bookies stopped taking bets on the Brits earlier this week after growing suspicious of the amount staked on Paul Weller winner British Male Solo Artist. The one market left open is the Best British Single on William Hill, where you can still back Duffy’s Mercy at 7/4.

The favourite is Girls Alouds’ The Promise at 11/8 while Coldplay’s Viva La Vida is 7/2. chickendinner believes Duffy and Coldplay both stand more chance than Girls Aloud and that the main reason they are favourites is that their song is the most recent of the nominees and therefore fresher in people’s memories. Our predictions on who will win what are after the jump:

Posted: February 18th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Lisa Snowdon is still 5/2 to finish as top female

Vastly improving star can still be backed at a generous price

With Rachel Stevens’ popularity cast into doubt by the fact she wound up in the dance-off despite scoring twelve points more than Jodie Kidd, Lisa Snowdon’s prospects of finishing as top female are improving by the week but she is still 5/2 with Bet365, Coral and William Hill.

As well as being the only female to have improved her score on four out of five occasions, this week Snowdon and her partner Brendan Cole became the first pair this series to score 35 or more in consecutive weeks. In each of the last two years, the couple who have achieved this feat first have gone on to win the series. Boylesports, SkyBet and William Hill all still offer 8/1 on Lisa winning.

Click here for all the latest odds

Posted: November 10th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Will Lewis Hamilton really win Sports Personality of the Year?

Formula One world champion cut to 4/7 after triumph

Lewis Hamilton is now 4/7 with most bookmakers to win the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year after winning the Drivers Championship, while only William Hill offer the shortest odds at 8/15.

Whether Hamilton’s efforts will prove enough to defeat some of Team GB’s Olympic gold-medalists remains to be seen though - it will prove an advantage that his success has come towards the end of the year as it is fresher in people’s memories but Hamilton was the overwhelming favourite last year only to finish second.

And while Rebecca Adlington and Chris Hoy look likely to pose the biggest threat, Andy Murray can’t be written off because victory in next week’s Masters Cup would see his long odds (50/1 with 888sport, 99/1 with Betfair) plummet. Paddy Power are playing it safe by keeping Murray at 33/1 for the time being

Posted: November 4th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | 1 Comment