Category: Gambling and Casinos

The Norwegian team failed to qualify for this year edition of the World Cup, but that doesn’t mean Norway doesn’t have a great soccer team.

Norway can point to a decent record in recent times. The Scandinavians qualified for the 1994 FIFA World Cup USA but fell in the first round by the slimmest of margins. All four teams in their group finished on the same number of points and goal difference; but Norway had scored fewer goals and packed their bags for home.

Four years later they had a great part in France 1998 defeating the powerful Brazil in what’s considered the best game they’ve ever play in the final stage of this competitions. That victory allowed them to go to the round of sixteen, but lost against a very good Italy squad.

Norway missed the Korea/Japan World Cup and this year won’t be present either in Germany. But they have lots of young players that given the continuity needed the can put together a very good team for the future.

South Korea is by far the most successful Asian team. They’ve been to more FIFA World Cup finals than any other Asia team. This will be their seventh appearance and sixth consecutive.

Asia’s most frequent visitors to FIFA World Cup finals and first appeared at the global showpiece in 1954. Prior to 2002, however, they had not managed a single win in 14 finals matches. That all changed under Dutch coach Guus Hiddink who led them to the last four victories over four European teams, were they manage to get to the semifinals leaving in the way Italy and Spain a first for any Asian team in a World Cup.

Park Ji-Sung, now at Manchester United, provides a genuine attacking threat from midfield while left-back Lee Young-Pyo is a key figure in a defense. That operates in front of experienced goalkeeper Lee Woon-Jae. There are plenty of options up front while, Ahn Jung-Hwan whose golden goal defeated Italy, Cha Du-Ri and Lee Dong-Gook the top scorer at the 2000 AFC Asian Cup.

With an impressive and experienced squad Korea will have the opportunity to repeat their performance from last year edition. In order to do that they need to prepare very good and one step of that preparation will be the friendly matches. Such as the one they will have in Oslo against Norway that will help them to correct those last minute details before the big tournament.

Sports betting for these games, is available in most books, so don’t miss your chance to bet on an exciting game such as this one and start preparing your picks for the world cup.

North Dakota is a gorgeous and expansive state where visitors and residents alike are able to pick up the trails of famous legendary figures such as Lewis and Clark, Custer, and Sitting Bull. North Dakota provides a real taste of frontier life whether visitors are at a pow wow, a modern working ranch or exploring an authentic military fort. Some of the most popular attractions for tourists include the Big Sky Buffalo Ranch, which is home to the fabled albino buffalo bull, and the Antique Schoolhouse. Casinos are also a very popular attraction in the state of North Dakota. Some casinos worth mentioning include the following:

The Windbreak Saloon and Casino is located at 3150 39th Street in Fargo, North Dakota. This North Dakota casino is also an excellent place to catch a great live band and enjoy some delicious food. Blackjack is the main casino game played here, with tables available for play from 4pm to midnight every night. Roulette and slots are also offered on the gaming floor. Ladies Night is two nights per week at the Windbreak and if you are looking to make a night of it, you can stay in the Flying J Hotel right next to the casino.

The Skydancer Hotel and Casino is located at HWY 5 West in Belacourt, North Dakota. Now open seven days a week and 24 hours per day, the Skydancer Casino offers over 525 different exciting slot machines with which to try your luck. If you enjoy video game based slots, Skydancer offers a great selection in addition to the classic slots everyone loves to play. Those who enjoy Bingo will enjoy playing in the Bingo Palace and the Skydancer Casino also offers great live entertainment and dining.

The Prairie Knights Casino, owned by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, offers a wide variety of casino games. There is also a wide variety of one penny to five-dollar slot machines to choose from, as well as several multi-denominational slot machines. If you feel like a big spender, Prairie Knights Casino also offers high stakes slots starting at $10 a turn. Blackjack tables are also available here, with opening bets from $3 to $100. Along with the fabulous gaming selection offered by Prairie Knights Casino, there are also several great restaurants to dine at and it you are looking for an excellent spot for a quick getaway, look no further then The Prairie Knights Lodge.

This is just a very small sample of the great casinos in North Dakota. No matter where you choose to go you are sure to have an excellent time.

North Carolina is relatively new to gambling. The first North Carolina casino was introduced in 1994. North Carolina casinos are run by the Cherokee Indians. North Carolina has much to offer casino visitors with its Atlantic Ocean shoreline and beautiful beaches. North Carolina provides an ideal getaway for the gambler who doesn’t want to spend the whole time in the casino.

North Carolina became the 12th state on November 21, 1789. It covers 53821 square miles with 301 miles of coastline. Additionally, North Carolina has two nicknames: it is known as Old North State or the Tar Heel State. The population as of December 2000 is 8,049,313 people. Finally, North Carolina offers great weather and a climate that is family oriented to visitors.

The Cherokee Indians opened the first North Carolina casino in 1994. Harrah’s Cherokee Casino offers video gambling only, no table games. The video gambling options include poker, slots and blackjack, among others. The games offered are all skill based, even the slots. The slot games differ from non-skill based slots because there are two spins and the player chooses to keep or discard the results from the first spin. In the contract signed between the North Carolina state government and the Cherokee Indians that set up the casino it is guaranteed these video gambling machines have a minimum return of 83%.

Harrah’s Cherokee Casino is open to gamblers over 21 years of age. The casino operates 24 hours a day. It is located at 777 Casino Drive in Cherokee, just 55 miles southwest of Asheville. There is an attached hotel with 252 rooms available. There are also five on-site restaurants. Harrah’s Cherokee Casino is family oriented with a childcare center and 1,500-seat entertainment area. Parking is free for casino guests. Harrah’s Cherokee Casino offers a great vacation option for families or singles.

North Carolina casinos are very different from the glitzy casinos found elsewhere in the United States. Harrah’s Cherokee Casino provides comfort and entertainment under one roof for the convenience of guests. Visitors to North Carolina must stop in and enjoy the casino. When not in the casino guests can enjoy the entertainment or dining provided at the casino or they can venture out to enjoy the lengths of beaches that North Carolina has to offer. North Carolina provides casino fun and beach relaxation for the ultimate in vacation destinations.

Football returned to gridirons, TV screens and sports books recently, and while the game surely was a welcome sight for bored eyes, bulging wallets, beer distributors and casino spread sheets, there also is a widely held perception that when it comes to NFL betting, gamblers hold an edge over bookmakers early in the season.

Roxy Roxborough, the founder of Las Vegas Sports Consultants and the man who revolutionized sports wagering by using mathematical formulas and computer models to help compute accurate odds, disagrees with that notion.

“For years it’s been said that oddsmakers are more vulnerable earlier in the year because the teams are new, but I don’t buy it,” said Roxborough, now retired. “Oddsmakers work with the same information as the bettors. Sometimes it’s just a matter of interpretation. In the case of NFL betting, you often have teams with new coaches and–because of trades, free agency or injuries–new quarterbacks. You don’t learn a lot in the exhibition season and that’s basically because teams try to limit the playing time of their significant players because they’re worried about them getting hurt. So you really have to start making assessments based on projections rather than past performances. But I think the oddsmakers and the players are in the same spot. I don’t believe there is any inherent edge early in the NFL betting season. Sometimes people just pick winners. That’s important to remember. Technically, the pointspread makes each game a 50/50 proposition so there are going to be times when players pick more winners than losers.”

The early portion of the NFL betting season is no more stressful than any other segment of the season, insisted Roxborough.

“I don’t think there’s pressure on any particular game or any particular week but I think there is pressure over the long haul to produce,” he said. “Oddsmakers shouldn’t measure their work after a week or after a month. It’s better to assess it in terms of the entire season.”

Nevertheless, the tendency is for both NFL bet takers and NFL bet makers to take stock every Tuesday morning. Interestingly, Roxborough says that winning or losing over a 7-day period usually is determined by the results of only a handful of games.

“Generally, when wiseguys and squares clash, when they wind up on opposite sides of a game, it’s because the public has pushed the favorite too high and the sharps, who perceive some value, buy back the underdog,” explained Roxborough, who literally wrote the book (Race and Sports Book Management) on the topic. “That often helps balance the line. But there are games each week where the public and the squares wind up on the same side and those games are the biggest decisions.

“If I can break down a typical 14 or 15-game NFL weekend, there are usually four or five games where there’s not much of a decision,” explained Roxborough, who founded LVSC on his kitchen table in 1982. “For some reason, those game aren’t particularly attractive, be it the matchup or that people don’t see any edge in the number. Those games don’t move. Then there are four or five games where the NFL betting action is split, where there’s good two-way action. And then there are a handful of games–let’s say four–where most of the action is on one team, where the betting is very one-sided. It all comes down to those one-sided games. If the bookmaker splits them, because of the vigorish, he does fine. If he goes 3-1, he does great; if he goes 4-0, he does absolutely fantastic; if he goes 1-3, that’s not so good; if he goes 0-4, that’s a disaster.”

Although any new season offers fresh hope for the bettor, Roxborough, who was a professional gambler for five years before launching his oddsmaking company, pointed out that few professional players earn their living betting football.

“If I were still a professional gambler I wouldn’t play NFL football,” revealed Roxborough. “For starters, there aren’t enough games. So trend analysis, which was one thing I was big on, is pointless. Second, you can’t turn your money over fast enough to get a reasonable rate of return because you only get to choose from 13-16 games a week and each team only plays 16 games. I just never saw NFL betting as being a viable opportunity. That’s why most sports betting pros end up wagering on what they call linear sports, sports such as baseball and pro basketball.”