Horse Racing

The final way the majority of online gambling sites allow you to gamble your money is through good ole' horse racing. Its an American pastime with great tradition, so why not offer you the ability to gamble on these horses through the comfort of your own computer. Almost every track is offered, along with every race that occurs there. The one thing that strikes me as very interesting is the gambling site does not keep any "juice" or any of your winnings. They allow you to bet straight up for horses. The only reason this must be is that people have a lower chance of success in gambling on horses then on other sports. I am sure that if the sites were not making decent money on horse bets, they would not offer it to the customer.

Online Casino's

Along with sports wagering and poker, there is another way these gambling sites make there money: Online Casinos. http://www.bodoglife.com/casino/ is a link to Bodog's online casion. Who needs Vegas when you got the games, flashy lights, and even pictures of gorgeous women, all available right from your home on Bodog. The biggest issue with these is no where does it show how this "online" casino is regulated. Vegas is heavily watched by the gaming commission, and for the most part, people who go to Las Vegas trust that what they are doing meets regulations. Sadly, online, there is no such gurantee. It is beyond me what kind a person would trust playing on an online casiono, other then the fact it offers the chance to play with real money. From my experience, the "play money" games have a much greater chance of success then the "real money" games. Coincedence? I think now.

Poker

Through researching these online gambling sites, I think I have discovered the number 1 reason why they are so profitable: Poker. Poker is offered n almost every gambling site out there. The example I used was Bodog Poker (no link because it requires a download). After downloading it to my computer, I saw that every hand of poker played on this site, costs the winner of the hand 1 cent. Does not seem to be all that much, but then a did some number crackdown. There are roughly 100 to 150different "real money" poker rooms offered. Different styles of poker. amounts of players allowed in the room, as well as different buy-in requirements seperate certain rooms. Nonetheless, each room takes 1 cent per hand. Although in no way, shape, or form is this reasearch scientific, I came up with that there are around 30-40 hands of poker played, depending on how many players are in each room. So, by taking the average of both, lets say there is 125 rooms with an average of 35 hands played each hour. This makes Bodog $435.50 per hour, roughly $10,500 per day, and an astounding $3,832,500.00 a year. ALMOST 4 MILLION DOLLARS!!!!!!! For what? Running a computer program that allows people to play online. I mean, there is no risk involved here. Its just a mere 4 million Bodog gets to pencil in for expected profits each year. Although this 4 million comes from people all across the world, the vast majority of all online gambling comes straight from American citizens, directly to Costa Rica or some other country that has a company offering online gambling.

Locks of the week, week 7

15 of 28 is my current record betting on football this season, and I am beginning to find out how gambling can be so difficult and why such sites make so much money. With the football season coming down to the end, hopefully we can improve our record and get some right.

Tennessee +3 (at Kentucky), Kentucky has been up and down all season, and I just feel like the mor talented Volunteers will get the job done today.

Notre Dame +5 (at Stanford), Even though no team (other then maybe Wisconsin) has let me down more times then the Irish, I'm putting my faith in that they will finish the season on a strong note and beat Stanford.

Kansas -1 (Missouri), This game is being played in a neutral site, but Kansas's offense will be a little too much for Missouri to handle.

Alabama +5 (at Auburn), Nick Saban has had an embarrassing first season as Bama's head coach, so he will probably use every trick in the bag to get a victory here, and that will keep it close.

Cincinnatti Bengals +1.5 (vs Tennessee Titans), The Bengals offensive fire power will be a little too much for the Titans and Vince Young to keep up with.

Locks of the Week, week 6

After another dissapointing week 2 weeks ago, I had to do some real soul searching. This has been a bad year, even though i'm 13 for 23, for football betting. Well, i gurantee a better than 50% outting for this week. Here they are:

Michigan -3 (at Wisconsin), Wisconsin has really been lathargic on offense, and Michigan just has the better talent overall.

Tennessee +1 (vs Arkansas), At home, Tennessee is as tough has they come, and they will will beat a one dimensional Arkansas offense.

Kentucky -4 (at Vanderbilt), After an embarrassing loss for Kentucky, I expect them to play a great game and blow out Vanderbilt.

Notre Dame +3.5 (vs Air Force), After a humiliating loss to Navy, its is just unfeasonable to see Notre Dame lose to two state instituions in a row.

Dallas Cowboys -2 (at New York Giants) Although this is a biased pick (seeings the Cowboys are my absolute favorite team), I know the team better then any, and the Giants will not be able to hang.