As I am sure most of us know, betting from anywhere in the world has been possible for some time now!

The explosion of Internet betting has bought many new opportunities to the betting population. With this comes the increasing dilema of which on-line betting site to use. If you have any experiences with the following sites or sites not listed please email them to info@jcracing.co.uk or use the contact form so that we can update this information.

N.B. JC Racing does not accept any responsibility for inaccuracies or mistakes in this text. The aim of this section is just to provide a guide to some of the current on-line betting sources available and should not be taken as a referal or endorsement of any of the companies listed below.

Sporting-Odds.co.uk - One of my favourite sites

Not least because they price up every horse, in every race, every day - and if you open an account via our link you will get a free £25 bet to assist you!

SportingOdds is a fixed-odds online betting site brought to you by the SportingBet Group - SportingOdds is interactive, instant, bringing you the fun and excitement of a revolutionary way of betting. They aim to provide you with an unrivalled In-Running service, coupled with a comprehensive range of betting opportunities. If SportingOdds doesn't offer a bet on an event, then it's probably not worth watching!

Betfair.com - The forerunner of the Betting Exchanges

Not to my own taste and, given the bad publicity over recent years and the plethora of betting scandals since they arrived (backing horses to lose is, to me, totally opposite to normality in racing) I have strong views about the long-term value of such services to the Sport of Kings.

But, by way of providing you with some information about Betfair - All bets on Betfair have been placed there by users who either want to have a bet in the normal way (back), or offer odds to other punters (lay)- Bets are matched between people with opposing views.

Why use Betfair?

• You can bet that an outcome will happen (back) or that it won't happen (LAY).
• You can choose the odds you want to play at
• You can bet whilst the game is in play.

Back or lay

When you "back" a selection (be it an individual, a team, horse, dog or other), you are betting that it will win. This is just like betting with conventional bookies.

When you "lay" it, you are betting against it winning. For example, if you're betting in a market on which team is going to win the Premiership and you lay Man Utd, you offer odds to other punters who wish to back Man Utd. If Man Utd don't win, then you pick up the backer's stake. If Man Utd wins, then you pay out. This is what bookmakers traditionally do.

You never know who you are betting against, your privacy and the confidentiality of your bets is maintained by Betfair's secure site.

Choose odds

With Betfair there is always a choice of what odds to accept. If you want better odds than are currently available, you can place an order for a better price, but be realistic because there has to be somebody prepared to lay the bet at those odds, and vice versa.

Take a look at the odds before a game and you will see them change as visitors back and lay their bets. The odds often improve nearer to the off, as there are more people in the market.

You do not pay tax at Betfair, and commission is only paid on your net winnings on each market. This is particularly beneficial if you have multiple bets on a single market such as the Premiership Winner market. Some of your bets may win, some may lose, however you only pay commission on your NET winnings. If your bets in a particular market amount to a net loss, you do not pay commission.

We offer a customer incentive scheme. You can receive a discount off the standard Market Base Rate dependent on how much you bet. The more you bet, the larger the discount you receive. This is known as your Discount Rate.

Blue Sq Internet Sports Betting - Launched in May 1999

Their aim is to open up the traditional world of betting to a new experience that is fun, fast and easy to use. That's why they try to keep their service as simple and jargon-free as possible so that even newcomers to betting will find it easy to place a bet.

Blue Sq base their service on providing something for everyone, which means a huge range of different markets, from football to FTSE to Friends. So you don't have to be a sports fan to enjoy what's on offer - Based in the City of London, Blue Sq can boast the significant financial backing of the Intercapital Group Limited, the international financial services group. This association and their presence in the UK gives them and their customers extra confidence and security.

Blue Square is committed to remaining the Number One in interactive services. They are available through Sky Digital on Open TV, with services on OnDigital, NTL and Telewest. They also have a WAP service so that you can place your bets whilst on the move. All of these developments are designed to make placing a bet as comfortable and convenient to you as possible - In my own opinion this is a very good site. The design is simplistic but stylish, page download time is fast due to this and, of course, there is the option to bet every race everyday. Early prices are limited to a few races but prices do often seem to be better than other places. To open an account it is only necessary to invest £10. Minimum bet stake is £1 and maximum bets vary according to the bet being made. In terms of ante post pricing I have found them to be competitive and often better than William Hills .

Members are able to customise their own area according to what information they would like to be displayed. This site has one of the best methods for making multiple bets. You can make multiple selections and then chooses from any type of bet possible with the number of selections made. 

UKBetting On-Line - ukbetting.com limited is a British-based company

Licensed as a bookmaker under the jurisdiction of the British courts. It is a subsidiary of the large public company ENIC Plc. Ukbetting.com was the first UK-based internet bookmaker and has been trading successfully since August 1998. Ukbetting.com is registered with The Independent Betting Arbitration Service.IBAS (Tel: 0207 293 3883) which is an independent third party offering adjudication for customers who have an unresolved betting dispute with their bookmaker. Ukbetting.com are keen sponsors of racing, including the first British horserace of the Millennium, the Channel 4 televised £40,000 "ukbetting.com Chase" at Uttoxeter.

The only thing that I am unsure about is the availability of multiple bets. Tax free betting across all sports is now available. Betting is available on the whole days racing every day and there is also a wide range of sports betting opportunities.

This site has a couple of nice extra features which the others do not. There is the possibility to place DF and CSF bets. There are also live shows from the racecourses allowing customers to keep up to date on the price they are going to get (SP). In addition to this each horse has owner, jockey and form figures available so you can make a final check before placing your bet.

William Hill - Well know bookmaker

I am sure many of us are already very familiar with this company as a leading high street bookmaker. Many of us were left wondering why they were so slow to jump on the on-line betting band wagon. At least they were not as slow as Ladbrokes. Complications with an off-shore license slowed their entry to the tax free betting market but they have now made up for that! Their tax free betting site has the option to read information in 10 languages with a minimum bet of one penny - That's what it says at the web site. That should have all the grandma's and grandads logging onto the net in a bid to get all of their 2p perms on! Probably the best aspect of this site is the on-line commentary on the days racing. The regular pundits have been known to give quite a few winners from their daily selections and have also been kind enough to mention JC Racing once or twice. :)

They are accepting bets on a variety of sports and in any one of 19 different currencies. Something which not every on-line bookmaker is offering. Early prices are somewhat limited. It seems that the big companies are still going to play it safe in this respect although it remains as the only real source of differentiation in the on-line betting market where the smaller companies are quickly catching up in their service offerings. I have often found the site to be quite slow even over a fast network connection.

Corals - Eurobet.com - Coral Group Holdings plc

The Coral Group is owned by Morgan Grenfell Private Equity, the private equity arm of Deutsche Asset Management, which is the asset management division of Deutsche Bank AG. The Group consists principally of Coral Racing Ltd, Coral Stadia Ltd and Coral International Ltd. Deutsche Bank AG With over 1400 branches in Germany , over 260 in Italy and Spain and numerous branches in other European Countries, Deutsche Bank is the biggest bank in the Euro currency zone. More than 75000 staff serve almost 7 million customers in 57 countries around the world. Coral Group Trading Ltd. Coral is the market leader in quality retail betting in the United Kingdom.

Joe Coral began his bookmaking business by operating betting pitches from racecourses in 1926 and opened one of the first licensed betting offices in the UK in 1961. The Company now operates over 850 licensed betting shops in England , Scotland and Wales , together with 2 greyhound stadia and employs over 5000 people. In the year 2000 it had a turnover of around £1bn sterling per annum (1.6 billion Euro).

Eurobet Holdings - Since the launch of its web site in June 1995, Eurobet has developed a market leading European sports betting operation. Eurobet was the first bookmaker to accept on-line bets, from all over the world, through its offices in Gibraltar . It specializes in the Football (soccer) market, and provides services in five currencies and five languages, offering a variety of different types of bets, single and multiple bets, and Asian types of bets, via phone and internet. Eurobet was also the first on-line bookmaker to make betting available by mobile phone using WAP. At the time WAP was still very much a virgin technology in terms of its acceptance and faced the increasing possibility of competition from Japan etc in the form of I-Mode mobile phones.

Littlewoods - Bet 247

Bet 247 is Littlewoods answer to the decreased profitability of the Pools which for so long was the only form of gambling for many people. Then came the Lottery and shortly after the explosion of the Internet Gaming industry. In answer to increasing competition Littlewoods made their own move into the on-line betting industry with Bet 247. Based in the UK , they do not have the luxury of avoiding tax regulations but they do have limited tax free periods. Bet 247 has been quick to adopt the latest technology and has developed its own WAP based services as well as Interactive TV betting, accessible via digital TV subscription.

Whether Littlewoods can maintain their position in this highly competitive market is yet to be seen. They are not a name which is closely associated to the Horse Racing Industry but it appears that they are willing to try to make an impression here. It remains to be seen if Littlewoods can improve on the, "We are not here for the punters benefit" attitude displayed by many of the big players in this industry.

Ladbrokes - Launched in May 2000

by Ladbrokes, the world's biggest bookmaker, ladbrokes.co.uk gives you a complete sports betting service. Ladbrokes is owned by Hilton Group plc, the world's premier international hotel brand which also operates Ladbrokes Casinos and Ladbrokes International, the global tax-free betting service provider. Ladbrokes is the UK and Ireland 's largest bookmaker with over 2000 high street Ladbrokes shops, a major Telephone Betting business, Crayford and Monmore greyhound stadia and betting franchises at major sporting events including FA Premier league matches. The Betting and Gaming Division of Hilton Group operates licences in Europe , Latin America , the USA , South Africa and the Middle East . No name delivers you greater reassurance than Ladbrokes.

The group also owns the Vernons football pools business, which is one of the two major participants in this market and is the market leader in standing entry football coupons. Ladbrokes International operated tax-free telephone and internet (ladbrokes.com) betting services in Gibraltar .

Bruce Betting - Small Irish Bookmaker

Moved into online betting in 2000, with some intriguing offers:

• Take a Live Betting Price, and if the horse wins at a better price Bruce will pay the better.
• If your horse comes under orders but fails to start, we will refund your stake.
• Bruce pays 1/4 odds on all Handicaps - all the time.
• We pay on the first five in handicaps with 23 or more runners.
• We have always provided a Free Phone Number - 1800 50 49 48.
• We quote morning prices for almost every Irish and English race everyday
• Bruce Offices are open Every Sunday.
• We pay double the result on the winning horse.
• If you have a winning bet with our Credit Card Line, you can collect your winning at any Bruce office.
• We pay a 10% Bonus on correct forecasts and tricasts.
• Dial - A - Bet Free £25 Bet to all new accounts!

Put that all together and you get a breath of fresh air in the betting industry. The only doubt is that the business is not an established name. If that is important to you then so be it.

Cashmans - Established in 1973

Cashmans Bookmakers is a Cork institution, with ten shops spanning Cork city and county. Cashmans strength comes from value, choice and innovation. Cashmans customers can get a price on every horse, every day at every meeting or bet on a multitude of sports and events including Football, GAA, greyhound racing or golf.

Again, this seems to be a case of David taking on Goliath. A relatively small but well established Irish bookmaker willing to price up every horse and race each day. There is also the fact that Cashmans is not the most renowned company in the world. If that is important to you then may be you should look elsewhere. If not and you do happen to try this site, please let us know more.

Victor Chandler - established in London in 1946

The Group originally comprised: Headquarters operation in Gibraltar with 350 staff 30 international off-track betting shops The St. John´s Casino in Antigua On-track operations at major European racing and golf events Marketing operations in Hong Kong , Bangkok , Malaysia and Japan

The Victor Chandler Group has been established as a racing and general sports betting and bookmaking business for over 50 years. With a fearless reputation for laying the largest bets, the group has consistently been recognized as the most innovative and dynamic player in the sector. More importantly, it has consistently been recognized as the most accredited, discreet and legitimate operation - invariably referred to as the Gentleman´s Bookmaker.

Victor Chandler is a company with an impressive track record and was one of the first to capitalize on the off-shore tax rules. They were quite slow to translate this into an on-line betting site. The reality of this is that they seem to have taken their time to provide a site that encompasses their expertise and re-affirms their desire to provide a quality service to everyone. The Victor Chandler site is not only professional but is probably more complete than any other on-line betting site. Simple, well designed and easy to navigate. Additional information can be found to aid punters in betting. The only down side as with many on-line betting sites is the failure to go the whole way and provide the early prices that every punter is searching for.

TotalBet

TotalBet is an offering provided in association with the Sporting Life. 

Paddy Power

Irish based on-line betting site providing a further offering to the already plentiful supply of On-line bookmakers. 

Paddy Power seem to be offering competitive odds on a range of services - A good advantage with them is withdrawals to debit or credit cards - none of this footling about waiting for a cheque to arrive from some Columbian (or other) bank!

The information above should not be taken as any form of recommendation by JC Racing. This information is for reference purposes only and should not be taken as direct advice.