The sports betting industry may still be reeling from a hellacious weekend in the NFL, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look ahead to what’s in store for this week.

Two important sporting events from opposite ends of the world are scheduled to commence action, beginning with the 2015 Australian Open.

As many of you know, Novak Djokovic is the odds-on favorite to win the men’s title at 5/6 odds while Serena Williams has been penciled in as the favorite to win the women’s title at 5/2 odds. But suppose you’re not as confident as you should be on the two favorites. Who among the rest of the field have legitimate shots to win the tournament.

Over on the men’s side, Roger Federer sits second at 5/1 odds. After him, it’s Andy Murray at 7/1 odds, Rafael Nadal at 8/1, Stan Wawrinka at 10.1, and Kei Nishikori at 12/1. The spread fall precipitously after these six players, all the way to 30/1 for Grigor Dimitrov, Milos Raonic, and Tomas Berdych. David Ferrer looks interesting at 60/1, although how much of a chance he really has could depend on the bracket he finds himself in.

Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova is the closest threat to Williams for the women’s title at 9/2 odds. She’s then followed by Simona Halep at 13/2, Petra Kvitova at 9/1, and Engenie Bouchard at 10/1. Other notable players with double-digit odds, include Victoria Azarenka at 12/1, Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic at 15/1, Agnieszka Radwanska at 20/1, and Venus Williams and Garbine Muguruza at 30/1 apiece.

Moving to the world of motorsports, the Daytona 500 isn’t getting nearly the same amount of betting attention as it used to. But with a two-week gap between the NFL Conference title games and Super Bowl XLIX, this year might be the time to get acclimated to the odds leading up to the Daytona 500 on February 22, 2015. With so many “favorites” getting, you know, favorable odds, you might cash in if you play your bets right.

At the moment, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a short favorite with odds as low as 9/2 all the way up to 12/1. His list of competitors also demand some kind of attention, including Jimmie Johnson at 5/1 odds and as high as 12/1 odds. Matt Kenneth also has a decent chance. He’s being offered at 8/1 odds with some books opening him at the same 12/1 number as Junior and Kenneth. Then there’s Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, and Jeff Gordon. All three can also be bought at 12/1 odds at the right sportsbook.

The NFC Championship game was some kind of something else, wasn’t it? I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a game with a team having been shut out for two-and-half quarters roar to life and come back the way the Seattle Seahawks did to take that game from the Green Bay Packers. Incredible. It was arguably one of the most exciting finishes to any playoff game we’ve seen in a while. Some part of me still wonders how in God’s name did Green Bay choke that game away. Granted, miscues from their defense and special teams were largely responsible. But still, how the hell did they lose that game? It was like the football equivalent of the San Antonio Spurs choking away Game 6 of the NBA Finals to the Miami Heat.

You know what else was eerily similar between both games? Seahawks fans actually left before the comeback began! Sorry, fellas. You missed out on an epic finish. Too bad.

You know it was looking bad for the Seahawks when live betting odds on that game had them as high as 10/1 to win the game after Russell Wilson threw his fourth interception with a little over five minutes left in the game. If you picked that time to lay some wood on the Seahawks, then congratulations; you’re a certified betting savant.

Even those who put money on Seattle must’ve thought the game was in the books, leading me to wonder how many rushed to the trash can to retrieve those crumpled tickets they had thrown away earlier.

Unfortunately, the AFC Championship game wasn’t as exciting, but we did still see a whole lot of trickery from the New England Patriots. In the end, they probably didn’t have to do it after walloping the Indianapolis Colts, 45-7, to set up Super Bowl XLIX against the Seahawks.

It wasn’t at all surprising that New England is now being offered as the -1 favorites after the line actually opened with Seattle being -2.5 faves. But that spread was released before the Patriots bum-rushed the Colts. As soon as the AFC title game was getting out of hand, sportsbooks immediately flipped the tables to put New England as the short faves.

The good thing is that you don’t have to rush out of the house to bet on the game because Super Bowl XLIX is still two weeks away. What you should do is absorb as much about the game as you can. Be educated and when you feel the time is right, put money down on the game and the myriad of novelty bets that will undoubtedly be offered ahead of the game.

London, England.

Casino Kings, a brand new online casino house, has launched in London.

The site, casinokings.com, is a dedicated online casino offering that intends to compete in the iGaming marketplace through a diverse portfolio of online and mobile casino and slots games.

The site features over 240 online slot and casino titles released by some of the gaming world’s most popular developers. The games featured include releases from developing giants Microgaming, Thunderkick and NextGen Gaming, with many titles available across the site’s desktop and mobile platforms.

The popularity of online slots and casino games has exploded since the advent of mobile gaming. Casino Kings aims to take advantage of this continuing boom in the UK’s online gaming industry by offering mobile content that has mass appeal. The latest gaming releases take advantage of the superior graphics technology offered by today’s smartphones, making even the best games playable wherever the player may be.

Nathan Howes, Marketing Manager at Casino Kings, cites this accessibility as a key foundation for the site’s success.

“When we created Casino Kings we did so with a vision to give every 21st century gamer the power and the tools to play the best games available online wherever they were and whenever they wanted. This means ensuring top gaming titles from industry-leading developers are available not only on desktop but also across our mobile platform,” says Howes.

WPT President Adam Pliska: It’s The Best Job in the World Video

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Former World Series of Poker bracelet winner Darren Woods has been sentenced to 15-months behind bars for his online poker crimes.

A former World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner has been sentenced to 15-months behind bars, and ordered to pay back £1 million to the organizations, and players, that he duped during his crimes, after being found guilty of fraud by representation, in connection to online poker scams, at Sheffield Crown Court last week.

Darren Woods, 29, pleaded guilty to nine counts of fraud by false representation, after originally being charged, and maintaining his innocence, on 13 separate charges, and although 15-months is nowhere near the maximum sentence of 10-years, it’s still a victory for online poker.

The investigation into Woods behavior started in late 2011, when the Humberside Police’s Economic Crime Unit slapped a restraint order on him, and froze all of his assets. Woods, a one time 888Poker sponsored player, and Limit Hold’em coach on PokerStrategy, was in hot water after allegedly multi-accounting and creating bogus accounts to profit from affiliate payments.

Judge Paul Watson QC also ordered Woods to pay back £1m to those he had wronged, or else expect his jail sentence to be extended by a further six-years. Reports in the Grimsby Telegraph state £911,217 had been restrained, and Woods was ordered to pay £287,673 in compensation to an unnamed Gibraltar based gaming company, which would be used to pay back players that Woods had defrauded on their site. Police believe Woods made far more than the one million he is being asked to return.

Prosecutor Andrew West told the court: “At the moment, he has assets well in excess of £1.4 million.”

There is nothing, in either court reports of the Grimsby Telegraph reports that show any remorse coming from Woods, and the latter even ran with the headline: “Jailed Healing Poker Millionaire Darren Woods Insists: I’m Not the Criminal, I’m the Victim.”

BLUFF have decided that the February issue of their print magazine will be their last, as they roll out a 100% digital format in the forthcoming months.

BLUFF’s print magazine is heading the way of the Dodo. It’s a shame. Sadly, it’s progress. It’s inevitable, and a sign of the times. Technology is a wonderful thing, but a physical copy of a magazine is something else. The touch, the feel, the ability to roll it up and use it as a devastating weapon.

On Sunday, I went to the local casino to play in the £35 Freezeout event. There were copies of BLUFF magazine strewn all over the place. Everyone was reading a copy. It was their way in. A perfect way to stay current whilst drinking a cup of cold tea, talking nonsense, and folding their hands.

After February that will be all gone. But as Lance Bradley, Vice President of Content, explains – the view needs to change to one of excitement.

“The way our readership enjoys our content has changed and this really allows us to reach more of our target audience where the numbers show they’re reading us – via mobile devices and online.

“We will still produce the same features. We looked at Grantland as a content delivery model that would appeal to our readers and we believe that we can eventually become that for poker, producing more long-form and fun content than ever.”

It’s a sensible approach. People are using mobiles and tablet’s to read the news, and costs will reduce considerably, thus helping people stay employed for longer. I’m all for that.

The World Poker Tour announce plans to return to the Austrian capital of Vienna in the Spring of Season XIII.

The World Poker Tour (WPT) has announced plans to host a festival of European poker, as part of the Season XIII festivities, and the Austrian capital of Vienna has been selected as the host venue.

The event will be sponsored by partypoker, and the Austrian Festival of poker will be spread across 14-days Mar 12-17, with the WPT returning to their familiar Austrian casino partner: The Montesino Casino.

“World Poker Tour Vienna 2015 will be one of the biggest events ever held at the Montesino Poker Club with combined estimated prize pools up to €2,500,000. As well as hosting such a prestigious and renowned poker brand, what is extra special about this festival is the wide variety of buy-ins offering huge prizepools,” commented Karl Novak, CEO of the Montesino Vienna.

The wide variety of buy-ins that Novak refers to is thus:

€3,300 Main Event

€6,000 High Roller