The Federation of Irish Sport is trying to convince Ireland’s government to allocate more funds for the country’s sports organizations and the money should come from taxes generated on sports betting receipts.

Federation President Sarah O’Connor made the remark after pointing out that overall funding on the country’s sports organizations have dropped by 27 percent since 2008. O’Connor also pointed that since horse racing and greyhound racing already receive tax money the government gets from sports betting, other sports should receive the same kind of allocation to help boost their respective programs. That decision ultimately lies with the Exchequer, which is in charge of collecting and management of taxes and government revenues.

Since the government stands to receive more taxes from sports betting this year, the Federation of Irish Sports thinks that there should be more funding sources to be shared to various social sectors, including the development of the country’s numerous sports organizations.

Speaking of sports, one sport that’s always popular in Ireland is darts. With the PDC World Darts Championship on the horizon, sponsor William Hill believes that the 2014 installment of the event will generate a record-breaking handle that will validate the popularity of the sport and the increased interest in betting on the event and the sport.

“We‘re expecting our turnover on the William Hill World Darts Championship darts to smash £10 million for first time this year,” William Hill spokesman Tony Kenny said, as quoted by SBC News.

According to Kenny, betting action is heavy on 16-time champion Phil Taylor, who William Hill lists as a 2/1 favorite to add to his growing collection of trophies. Taylor, known as the “Hammer” in the circuit, last won in 2013 and figures to have stiff competition from defending champion Michael Van Gerwen, who William Hill has at 11/4 odds to successfully defend his title. In addition to Taylor and Van Gerwen, bettors have also put money behind two darkhorses, namely Gary Anderson and Adrian Lewis, who are 13/2 and 12/1 odds, respectively, to win the tournament.

The PDC William Hill World Darts Championship begins today, December 18, 2014 at the Alexandra Palace, London, and will run until January 4, 2015.

Bodog-sponsored Ayr United FC may have received an early Christmas present after word broke that Glasgow-based property financier Brian Gilmour is preparing to inject a massive amount of capital into the team. On Friday, the Daily Mail reported that Gilmour was holding talks with Somerset Park chairman Lachlan Cameron on a plan that Gilmour hopes will elevate the Scottish League One side to the Scottish Premiership within six years.

The Mail claimed Gilmour was prepared to inject £45m into the club over a six-year span if he’s allowed to assume majority control. The cash would go toward a new 10k-seat stadium (pictured right) and family entertainment complex to replace the aging Somerset Park. The venue would be located in the Heathfield area and would be funded by the development of 320 private homes in the vicinity. The club would move to the new stadium by 2018.

Gilmour told the Mail he believed he’d “offered a good price for the business” and that the parties were “pretty close to the terms we want to lay out.” Cameron confirmed that he’d spoken to Gilmour but said there was “really nothing to report on it. There is nothing to talk about.”

Gilmour said he wanted the new complex to be “a place where people want to go. Ayr United need to be an intrinsic part of the community.” Gilmour claimed the project would generate “900 full-time, permanent jobs and will benefit the local economy to the tune of £110m.”

Earlier this week, Ayr United sacked manager Mark Roberts after six years with the club. Roberts’ assistant Andy Millen is filling in as manager until a permanent replacement can be found, hopefully by Jan. 6. Current frontrunners for the job include Hurlford’s Darren Henderson and Stranraer manager Stephen Aitken.

The club has won just one of its last 11 matches and are hoping to avoid relegation to League Two. But Gilmour insists there was “no reason why Ayr United should not be playing in the top half of the Premiership.”

Playtech subsidiary Titanbet has launched a partnership with UK commercial radio station talkSPORT that allows the online sportsbook to team up with the station’s “Kick-Off” show.

With the new platform, Titanbet gets the benefit of being partners with a full-fledged radio station that has a tremendous reach on fans of the English Premier League and other top-flight football leagues. talkSPORT’s ‘Kick-Off’ show goes live on air every weekday, which also gives Titanbet the opportunity to take advantage of the show’s air time to promote its online betting service across various cross-platform opportunities, including takeovers of the station’s websites, online adverts and social media support.

“Having deals with offline, online and now broadcast outlets allows us to grow our brand even further and talkSPORT’s audience provides the perfect demographic for us to make the next step as a business,” Titanbet brand Ambassador and Head of the UK sportsbook Russell Yershon said in a statement.

In other news, data provider the Racing Post has been tabbed by the Racecourse Data Company (RDC), the joint venture between Racecourse Media Group, Arena Racing Company and nine independent racecourses, as the official distributor of pre-race data for any British horse racing event for the next four years.

Under the agreement, the Racing Post will provide official pre-race data in all of its print and digital products, in addition to getting licensed to sell its data to other customers alongside its own expert opinions on the world of British horse racing.

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with RDC,” Racing Post CEO Alan Byrne said in a statement.

“We look forward to selling official British racing data along with our own unique content to a range of customers in the domestic and overseas markets who appreciate the value that Racing Post expertise can bring to their businesses.”

Prop bets and novelty bets never get old. They’re not as straight-forward as traditional spreads and over/unders, but the fun that comes with betting on props and seeing them win is unlike any other feeling. This year, we had our fair share of amazing props that eventually cashed for those savvy enough to see them coming. Well, most of them, at least. Some props made the headlines for entirely different reasons. But the sheer fact that this particular prop caused an entire industry to look at itself and investigate the way it polices its own advertising standards. So without further ado, there are the top prop/novelty bets of 2014.

James Rodriguez – Golden Boot

Entering the World Cup, the glamor names to win the Golden Boot award (Top scorer for the entire tournament) were Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. It seemed fair because Ronaldo and Messi were, and still are, considered as two of the best football players in the world. Meanwhile, Colombia’s James Rodriguez was a young star that still didn’t have the cache of Ronaldo, Messi, and some of the best players in the world. Well, we all know what happened during the World Cup. With the exception of Germany actually winning the tournament, there wasn’t a bigger star in the tournament that Rodriguez. He scored six goals in five matches, winning the Golden Boot award despite getting 33/1 odds at the start of the tournament to do so. Hell, if you score goals like the one below, you deserve all the accolades you can get.

LeBron James – Free Agency Destination

LeBron James’ decision to go back to the Cleveland Cavaliers after spending four years with the Miami Heat not only sent Clevelanders into a frenzy, it also gave those who bet on his return plenty of reasons to be happy. At the onset, James was a strong favorite to stay in Miami. Sportsbooks even thought it was a lock, posting odds on him staying in South Beach at 1/4 odds. The next closest was him going back to Cleveland at 5/1 odds. Well, if people had the power of foresight and bet on a return to the Cavaliers, those who bet on that prop came out smelling like roses.

Oscar Pistorius – Paddy Power

This particular prop got a lot of attention for all the wrong reasons. At the onset of Oscar Pistorius’ murder trial, Irish bookmaker Paddy Power posted an ad, saying that anybody who bets on the prop would get their money back if Pistorius ‘walked’. Not only did Paddy Power receive a ton of backlash for the tasteless ad, it also brought UK advertising into disrepute, forcing the Advertising Standards Authority to castigate Paddy Power after it received 5,525 complaints from the ad. That, by the way, was a record in the UK. Ultimately, Paddy Power also took the unprecedented step of apologizing for the ad, even if said apology still contained measured words like “occasionally” and “probably”.

The global sports scene has also had its share of notable moments in 2014. A lot of them have conspicuously involved incidents from out of the field of play, which goes to show how eventful the sports world has been this year. Hopefully, we see less of these types of news in the sports world or the coming year. Otherwise, prepare yourselves for more scandals, accidents, and the usual plate of Luis Suarez biting incidents.

#SochiProblems

I can’t decide if I should laugh at the Sochi for being so ill-prepared to host the Winter Olympics or laud Sochi for somehow surviving the three weeks without any catastrophic blunders. Since I’m in a giving mood at this time of the year, I’ll give credit to Sochi for getting through hosting the Olympics, even if it unintentionally gave rise to one of the world’s most popular hashtags this year.

Germany wins 4th World Cup title

It was one of the best World Cup tournaments I’ve ever seen. So many heroes, so many villains. So many triumphs, so many heartbreaks. In the end, it was Germany that won its fourth World Cup title, doing so by squeaking past Lionel Messi and Argentina in the Finals. Mario Gotze’s extra-time winner proved to be the difference in the game, resulting in exulted joy in Bavaria and a lot of pain and suffering in Buenos Aires.

Oscar Pistorius sentenced to five years after killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp

More than a year after killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at their home in South Africa, Oscar Pistorius finally received the verdict from his heavily publicized trial. The Blade Runner was found guilty of culpable homicide by South Africa judge Thokozile Masipa, who also sentenced Pistorius to five years in jail. IT was probably the best scenario Pistorius could have hoped for given the circumstance, even as a throng of people continue to believe that he murdered his girlfriend and got a laughably light sentence out of it.

This is a guest contribution by Tegan Day. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

The novelty bets movement shows no signs of stopping, with all major betting sites now offering their loyal customers a taste of this offbeat gambling phenomenon. Unlike traditional betting, these novelty alternatives give bettors a chance to put some money on outlandish outcomes in any number of places across contemporary culture – and make a tidy profit on an improbable result.

With gamblers across the globe more than acquainted with the concept of risk vs. reward, what is it about novelty betting that’s tempting gamblers to take a chance on these weird and wonderful long shots? And what do betting companies stand to gain from novelty offerings like these?

Pop Culture Factor

Sports betting is the lifeblood of the gambling sector, with millions of committed customers all over the world financially invested in scores, events and performances. No matter how enormous the sporting sphere may be, though, its drawback is that it will never garner wider appeal outside of sporting culture. The beauty of novelty betting is in giving customers the opportunity to make money from popular culture—whether that’s TV, music, politics or whatever else.

Risk vs. Reward

One of the things that separates novelty bets from the rest of the gambling sphere is the lack of variables when compared with things like football matches—where seasoned bettors can predict the likelihood of their desired outcome with some degree of accuracy, thanks to all the variables involved and statistics available.

With eight teams left in the running to win the Super Bowl, oddsmakers have spent a majority of the past two days updating the Super Bowl XLIX odds. That shouldn’t come as a surprise now that the public can zero in on the remaining teams and lock in their picks before this weekend’s Divisional Round games.

Right now, the defending champion Seattle Seahawks are penciled in as the 9/5 favorites to become the first team to win back-to-back SuperBowl titles since the 2003-2004 New England Patriots. Speaking of the Pats, Tom Brady and company are the second favorites at 5/2 odds, followed by the Green Bay Packers at 5/1, and the Denver Broncos at 6/1.

See a trend here? All four of these teams received byes in the Wild Card round and are hosting the Divisional Round games from the comfortable confines of their home fields. Of the four teams that did play – and win – last weekend, the Dallas Cowboys have the shortest odds at 9/1, followed by the Indianapolis Colts and the Baltimore Ravens, both of which have been given 18/1 odds. Making up the rear as the unlikeliest SuperBowl winner are the Carolina Panthers at 30/1.

It’s no coincidence that Carolina’s odds are this low. They’re by far one of the worst teams to make the playoffs, winning the putrid NFC South by essentially sucking the least among the four teams in that division. Add that to the fact that Cam Newton seems to come and go every game and that they’re heading to Seattle to face the Seahawks and it’s even a little surprising that they’re odds are this low. If by some miracle the Panthers beat the Seahawks this weekend, don’t expect their odds to drop that much. They’ll have to face Green Bay or Dallas on the road. Doesn’t inspire too much confidence, does it?

Naturally, bettors should key in on the four title favorites for their picks. After all, it shouldn’t be too hard to convince yourself to have Brady, Aaron Rodgers, or Peyton Manning on your side. Same with Russell Wilson and the Legion of Boom. But if you’re feeling lucky or adventurous or a combination of both, the team that should be on your radar are the Baltimore Ravens at 18/1.

They’ll have a tough test this weekend against the New England Patriots, but if there’s a team that has given the Pats fits over the past few years, the Ravens are that team. Granted, Rob Gronkowski has been next to unstoppable this season, but the Ravens have the blueprint to stop the Pats, and that should be enough to consider Baltimore as a legitimate dark horse if you’re into that kind of bets.

Whichever team you choose, be advised that this is the last week where you can odds as high as the ones being offered on the board. Once we know which teams are playing in the Conference Championship games, those odds will drop significantly.

Ladbrokes has been announced as the successors to Tetley’s as sponsor of the Rugby League Challenge Cup, which will be known as the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup.

The Ladbrokes Challenge Cup kicks-off at the end of this month and culminates in the Grand Final scheduled to take place at Wembley Stadium on 29 August.

Challenge Cup fixtures are broadcast across Sky Sports and BBC. Last year’s final reached a cumulative audience of over 7.2 million, with the sport’s governing body the Rugby Football League (RFL) estimating Ladbrokes to benefit from more than 1,000 hours of dedicated global TV coverage over the course of the contract.

Ladbrokes will work closely with RFL players and personalities in various sponsorship activation initiatives and will also launch the tournament’s inaugural Ladbrokes Player of the Round Award and will also introduce a responsible gambling initiative for RFL rugby clubs, players, supporters and staff, in an effort to curve potential problem gambling issues.

The deal is for three years and reported to be worth around £1m a year.

“I am delighted to announce a three-year partnership that will see the sport’s oldest and most prestigious competition become the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup,” said RFL commercial Director Chris Rawlings

Outgoing Ladbrokes CEO Richard Glynn also commented on the recent growth in the sport, saying, “This exclusive deal will bring Ladbrokes unprecedented access to the action, which all of our customers have become accustomed to as part of The Ladbrokes Life.”

The College football National Championship game is all set for January 12  and as early as now, the public and the sharps have been pounding the Ohio State Buckeyes, forcing a lot of sportsbooks to drop the line from -7 to -6.5.

Back-and-forth action like this is typical for a game of this magnitude, especially if the game is only days away. What’s a little interesting is how tight sportsbooks are adjusting with the slightest of movements.

The Oregon Ducks opened as a touchdown favorite but apparently, a lot of people are sold on the belief that the Buckeyes are capable of keeping the game close and covering. Believe it or not, a significant chunk of early bets have come from bettors who have actually laid money on Ohio State to win the game outright.

Sportsbooks know that something like this was bound to happen, especially when it comes to a championship game. As such, they adjust early on, keeping the money line at a reasonable price to prevent an onslaught of Ohio State bets coming in. Here’s a tip: if you want to bet on Ohio State to win the title game, you’re not getting good value for those odds. Same thing with the Super Bowl.

Clearly, though, that dynamic hasn’t stopped the public from going all-in on the Buckeyes. It’ll be interesting how the line moves from here on until kick-off, but if the early action is any indication, books will probably try to to do what they can to secure some Oregon money and make it an even playing field.

As far as the totals are concerned, it was entirely predictable seeing the number jump from the opening line of 73.5 to 75.5. Expect that number to move up even more because the tendency for the public is to pray for a high-scoring game, which would be a good way to root for if they have money on the over.

So keep a close eye on how the spread and the over/under moves in the days to come. Chances are, you’ll get the odds you wanted in the first place. But if all else fails and you still don’t have money on the championship game, just enjoy the game itself and maybe put down a small-sized bet on it being a high-scoring affair.