Election prop betting isn’t as big as its sports counterpart, but bookmaker Ladbrokes expects the forthcoming UK elections to be the biggest betting elections in history. That might seem wishful thinking, but the company’s head of political betting, Matthew Shaddick, believes that bettors are going to spend in excess of £100 million in this election.

Should Shaddick’s estimate prove to be right, it would represent a quantum leap from the amount of money bookmakers took in during the last election in 2010. “We are pretty sure it’s going to be the biggest betting election, probably two or three times as big as we saw in 2010,” Shaddick said.

Certain areas and pockets in the UK are also tipped to be more active with betting on the election, specifically the seat in Kent where candidates Nigel Farage and Al Murray are locked in a heated battle that could go in any direction with the Labour and Tories also in the mix.

The Ukip leader is still considered the favorite at 1/3, but other contenders like the Tories (3/1) and Labour (8/1) both not far behind.

Meanwhile, BetVictor brings back an old friend to star in its new TV campaign to boost its non-football bet offering. The firm’s betting mascot, Maurice, has been tasked to headline three TV adverts created by creative agency VCCP.

“Our Maurice character has quickly become one of the most instantly recognizable advert stars on TV today and Maurice in the hot seat provides us with a platform to communicate to the wider betting audience, across the many sports set to dominate the British spring and summer,” BetVictor Chief Marketing Officer Anton Bell said in a statement.

The adverts, which will focus on one specific sport—horse racing, tennis, and cricket, are created to encourage bettors to bet on these sports in addition to the always popular bets on football. The first ad, called Jockey, was launched earlier this week to help promote BetVictor’s horse racing offerings as the countdown to the annual Cheltenham Festival begins.

This is a guest contribution by Steven Miller President of Card Shark Media Inc. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

First of all, I’d like to express my thanks to Alex Dreyfus and his team for organizing the 1st annual American Poker Awards that were held last week in Los Angeles. This was truly a special event that promises to bring online and brick & mortar operators, media, poker communities and content providers, and professional and recreational players into a unified and vibrant global industry.

A recurring theme mentioned by both professional players and poker room managers was the critical importance of bringing new recreational players into the game. There was a discussion of interpretation of tournament rules that gives the benefit of the doubt to recreational players when found to be in technical violation of sometimes arcane rules. There was a discussion of the flattening of the WSOP Main Event payout structure to give as many as 300 more players the opportunity to cash in what probably will be remembered by many as a lifetime bucket list event.

And one, poker room executive, Mr. Adam Altwies of the Aria Resort and Casino, told a story about an interview with poker pro Shaun Deeb, who after playing in a WSOP event, described a hand he played using a gibberish-like vernacular that could only be understood by a tiny percentage of the world’s 150 million poker players. Mr. Altwies’ advice to Shaun was to tell his story in plain English!

This reminds me of a tweet written by another poker pro, Andy Frankenberger. Here’s how it went:

“@AMFrankenberger: Then UTG 3300, call, I call btw w 22, BB call. Flop 245 dd. UTG 10k, me 20K, BB 50k(puke), fold. I tank/shove/pray. Him A3. Riv 4!”

Huh?