Alonso odds-on for F1 crown

SPORT AND SHOWBIZ BETTING: AFTER four wins from his last seven starts, Fernando Alonso has leapt to the top of the F1 World Championship standings.

Fortune has favoured the dashing Spaniard in recent weeks - he certainly had the rub of the green against his rivals in last weekend’s Korean Grand Prix - and Alonso is now a best-priced 4-6 to clinch the title.

With two races remaining, he is 11 points clear of Mark Webber (13-5) and it really does look a shoot-out between the two despite claims that Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel (both 16-1) are still in with a shout.


ENGLAND succumbed to New Zealand in their opening Four Nations RL international Down Under and it’s hard to envisage anything but a similar story when they take on the mighty Australians this weekend.
Our lads are almost 5-1 to win the game on Betting Exchange site Betfair and I won’t be rushing to take the price.


FOLLOWING the amazing (disgusting, some might say) Wayne Rooney saga of last week and Manchester United’s win at Stoke on Sunday, the Reds are back in to 5-1 from 6s to win the Barclays Premier League title.
City are out to 8-1 after losing at home to Arsenal, who have been cut to 6-1.

Chelsea, boasting a five-point lead and the most potent strikers in the league, look certainties to me and the 8-13 currently on offer is perfectly fair.

For those looking for an alternative market, several firms are betting without Chelsea and United.

Arsenal top the lists at 10-11, with City at 5-4, Tottenham at 8s and Liverpool at a huge 33-1.

Who would ever have thought the Mersey giants would fall so far (and quickly) from their lofty perch?


IT’S that time of year when this column starts to keep a close eye on the “votathon” shows which run until Christmas.
The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing attract massive television audiences, and the betting markets on both are quite lively, too.

Matt Cardle has quickly established himself as the one to beat in the former programme which I avoid like the plague due to the nauseating presence of the smug, self-adoring Simon Cowell.

As for SCD, Countryfile’s Matt Baker and Eastenders’ Scott Maslen are the early pacesetters at 2-1 and 3-1 respectively, while the show’s pin-up girl Kara Tointon is a 5-1 shot and talented veteran Pamela Stephenson 11-2.

Novelist and former politician Ann Widdecombe, like John Sergeant before her, provides the not-so-serious side to the show

But even though she is clearly a hit with the public, I really can’t see anyone securing a big pay-day by snapping up the 33-1 currently available about her winning the competition.