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Investopedia Review

Investopedia is a website offering definitions, advice and articles on financial and trading matters.

There is a wealth of investing knowledge and information contained within the site, with literally thousands of articles and information pieces available. 

If you have any queries about the often bewildering and overwhelming world of financial terminology and jargon, Investopedia.com is the place to go. Don’t know your CDSs from your CFDs? There is help available…

Here we have a look at the difference sections of the Investopedia site and have a look at how to make the most of its mountain of information.

 

Markets

In the markets section of the website there are top stocks and funds analysed with their annual performance included. At the time of the writing there are articles on Vanguard REIT ETF (VNQ) and the top 5 mutual fund holders of Medtronic, for example. 

 

Retirement

In the retirement section of the website you can get all sorts of advice and information on how to look after your money in retirement. At the moment articles such as “Tips for retiring in a bear market” and “Protect Retirement Money from Market Volatility.”

 

Wealth Management

There is useful information in the Wealth Management part of Investopedia, looking at topics such as “Luxury cars with the best resale value” and “It pays to be Henry (high earner not rich yet).” This section appears to be aimed at the more affluent visitors to the site.

 

Financial Advisors

There is an area of the site devoted to advice and information for financial advisors, with info on how to make the most of tax deductions and tips for maximising social security.

 

Reference

When most people think of Investopedia they probably think of reference articles and this is certainly a major part of the site. There are reference sections devoted to the basics of stock investing, economics and options, with all those difficult acronyms and terms explained so that you are can invest with a greater degree of knowledge and certainty.

There is also advice on financial exams, with exam prep for Series 7, CFA Level 1 and Series 65 exam included.

In the reference section there are lots of helpful videos such as “Your Property Tax Assessment – what does it mean” and “The world’s top 10 hedge fund firms.” There is also a “Term of the Day” – today’s term is Alternative Minimum Tax or AMT.

 

Simulators

Another feature of the Investopedia site is the simulator section, which includes simulators for both stocks and forex. With the stock simulator you can start with a balance of $100,000 and zero risk – well, with no potential gain either other than the fun of seeing how you do.

 

Conclusion 

So there you have it, a brief guide to Investopedia. We have by no means covered everything that is available on the site as there is a huge amount, but above are some of the key elements and topics. You can also signup for newsletter on a range of topics – many of those raised above in fact – so that is a good way of keeping up to speed on things if you don’t have time to visit the site every day.

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What is a Tricast Bet?

We are here to make understanding betting jargon easier with our series of guides breaking down complex betting terms, so that anyone and everyone can work out what their options are when it come to betting, making it a much more engrossing pursuit.

So what is on the itinerary for today? Well, we will be checking out what a tricast bet is, and when best to use it.

When should you place a tricast bet?

The tricast bet is another type of bets mostly used to bet on horse racing and greyhound racing, but it can be used to bet on any sport that has three or more participants that will be ranked in order, such as a football division like the Barclays Premier League, where you could pick the top three, or a bicycle race like the Tour de France.

In horse racing there usually has to be at least eight runners in a handicap race for tricast bets to be made available.

How do you place a tricast bet?

If you know what a straight forecast is, a tricast bet will seem pretty familiar. While the aim of the former is to correctly predict the top two participants in an event, the tricast goes a step further and challenges you the to guess what order the top three participants will finish in.

Obviously this makes a tricast bet harder to win a straight forecast bet, but the odds you will be offered will reflect that. Major sporting events like the Grand National have a lot of punters opting for a tricast bet as it gives you good odds and the potential of a great return if you end up getting your selections right.

What types of tricast bet are there?

There are two different types of tricast bet, and if you have checked out our explanation of a reverse forecast bet you will probably be able to work out what the difference is.

The straight tricast bet works in the same way as the straight forecast bet – you picked the top three in the order you think they will come in, and you will only receive a return if you get the order right.

The type of tricast bet is called a combination tricast bet. This works in much the same way as a reverse forecast bet, in that you do not actually have to get the order right to get a return, you just need to correctly predict the top three participants for a particular event.

It is called a combination tricast bet as the top three can have six different permutations, but for a reverse forecast bet there are only two.

As with the reverse forecast bet, covering all the permutations with a combination tricast bet will require you to increase your stake, so if you opt for a combination tricast bet your stake will be three times higher than it would be with a straight tricast bet, so remember this when you consider placing one.

Fancy making £500 risk-free profits each month? Then check out our number one matched betting product, Profit Maximiser. 

Angus Loughran

Angus Loughran Profile

The Early Days

Angus Loughran, son of James Loughran was born in Glasgow 50 years ago. His father, was a director of the Halle Orchestra. When he is not traveling around the world, he lived with Nancy his mother in Altrincham, Cheshire. His friends and others believe he is the most listened to football analyst on the earth. 

Loughran is a very passionate sportsman but was never actually very good at playing the sport. He threw himself into rugby games by commentating on rugby matches from the touch line and taking bets at Ampleforth- which is a distinguished Catholic public school in North Yorkshire.

In his search for a good bet, 15-year-old Loughran made about 300pounds after he advanced to the Oval and handed Chris Tavare the batsman, a stool during an endless long and boring inning. The crowd raged and Loughran found himself on the news at 9pm and this marked the start of his career.

After he was discovered by Andy Jacobs, the producer of Fantasy Football League, Angus Loughran’s sporting life became more hectic. Andy Jacobs was looking for an anorak and nerdy kind of person to be part of the Fantasy Football League household and he eventually bumped into Loughran commentating on Spurs at White Hart Lane.

The rise of Statto

Angus Loughran eventually became a British sports pundit and commentator. He appears on television, newspapers and websites regularly, and usually concentrates on football and horse racing, writing articles and betting tips daily on online bookmaker Easyodds and the Daily Telegraph. Angus has also provided English football commentary for ESPN and Eurosport.

He first provided racing commentary for Ladbrokes for their betting shops, but rose to fame when he became the resident statistician on the BBC two television series Fantasy Football League. Wearing a dressing gown and pajamas in the locker room, during the set he would give the facts and figures about each of the guest Fantasy Football teams, while hosts David Baddiel and Frank Skinner made fun of him. He also had made a cameo appearance in the Mel Smith directed Blackball in 2003 and in the Rowan Atkinson comedy film Bean in 1997.

Angus Loughran’s bankruptcy issues

Loughran was declared bankrupt in February 2008 at a court hearing in Manchester County for debts he owed Sporting Index. The bankruptcy process was cancelled in April 2008 after Loughran presented an IVA to his creditors.

Over the years, Eurosport commentator and BBC racing expert Angus Loughran has done many promotional favours for Sporting Index, with whom he has a very close relationship. However, there will be an uneasy feeling concerning the tactics used to regain a paltry debt from a popular sports person and a friend of the firm.

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What is Betfair Commission?

Unlike some places, at Betfair you don’t pay tax on your bets. What you do however is pay commission on your winnings. On the plus side you don’t pay anything if you lose.

The top rate of commission is 5% on your net winnings, but you will often pay less than this, the more you bet – based on a points system.

Points System

The way their system works is the more points you have with them the less commission you pay. And the way you get more points, yes you guessed it the more bets you place with them the more points you receive.

You earn points every time bet with them on a market. For every ten pence of commission you pay to them you’ll earn yourself one point, that’s assuming you have net winnings. If you get yourself a loss they’ll still give you points, they call this implied commission. They work this out in the same way as they do standard commission for you. They award points equally whether you get a win or a loss.

The way they work out their commission is by taking your net winnings and multiplying that by the market base rate, and this is when your all important points come in.

They take this figure and then apply the discount you’re entitled to based on your points discount.

The points work on a sliding scale. For example if you have between 1000-2499 points you’ll get a 2% discount all the way up to over 150,000 points and you get a 60% discount.

Now there is a little caveat to this, once you get to a 20% discount you stay there until you complete the Betfair know your customer checklist of requirements.  To complete this you need to send them copies of the following –

Personal Identification –

This can be a driving licence, passport or a national identification card.

Address Verification –

Is can be a copy of your bank statement, a tax bill or a utility bill. Whichever you choose it must be less than three months old.

Source of Payment Verification –

This only applies if you have a debit or credit card registered to your account.

A copy of the front only of the credit or debit card you use.

Copy of your card statement relating to the account you use, blanking out the card numbers except the first 6 digits and the last 4 digits.

A copy of your bank statement that has the card number you use on Betfair visible, again blanking out the card numbers except the first 6 digits and the last 4 digits. This must be less than 3 months old.

 

Using Your Points

Now once you’ve got all of that technical stuff out of the way you can get down to using your points.

As soon as Betfair calculate your discount they reduce your points balance by 15%. This is called the weekly decay. As long as you bet at roughly the same rate every single week your discount rate will remain the same. If you bet less every week your discount rate will go down. If however you start betting more and get enough points to move up a discount level that higher discount will be applied to your account immediately.

Every three months you get yourself something called a Betfair holiday. You can use this when you go away so our points don’t decrease in your absence and discount level stays where it is for when you get home. You can only have 4 of these holidays available in your account at any one time.

football player celebrating

Tibor’s Footy Tips – New Review

UPDATE – 3rd April 2016

Unfortunately due to a poor run of form, Tibor’s Footy Tips service has been discontinued by the Betting Gods platform. Our review therefore concludes here. 

 

 

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Tibor’s Footy Tips

28th February 2016

How do you make money betting on football?

That is a question we have often pondered here at Honest Betting Reviews, as football tipster after football tipster have failed trials on this site.

It must be incredibly difficult, because no-one we have come across seems to have mastered it yet.

But as ever we are hopeful that someone will crack it one day and so it is with that hope we turn to Tibor’s Footy Tips, a relatively new service from the Betting Gods stable.

Certainly if we end up as happy as the chap on their sales page then we should be in for a good time.

To date Tibor has made over 80 points profit with a healthy strike rate of 63% and a return on investment just under 10%.

It is early days as the service has only been going six months, but so far you would have to say the results have been encouraging.

It is a fairly selective service, with just 1-2 bets per day, so it seems Tibor is putting his time into finding quality rather than quantity.

As with all Betting Gods’ services, you can get a free 14 day trial, which is a great way to see if the service is for you.

We will run our normal three month trial here and see whether we can finally find a profitable and consistent football tipster.

Back soon with more updates. In the meantime you can check out Tibor’s Footy Tips here. 

maccabi v chelsea correct score

Betting Exchange Commission Rates

Betting exchanges have become very popular with punters since their introduction around 10-15 years ago. With exchanges, you bet against other people rather than a bookmaker and you can set your own odds as a layer if you wish.

The idea of never having your account limited or closed by betting exchanges, together with better odds, have been big draws with bettors.

But just how much commission do you pay with each of the betting exchanges? We have a look at each one below:

Betfair

Betfair is the original betting exchange, formed by Andrew Black in 2000. It is also the biggest, with annual revenues of around £400 million. Betfair has always charged a top rate of 5% commission, which reduces the more you bet.

Betdaq

The second major betting exchange to open, Betdaq is also the second biggest betting exchange, with around £75 million of bets matched each week. It was bought out by Ladbrokes in 2013, but the site did not change the way it operated. Betdaq charges a top rate of 5% commission just like Betfair, but likes its main competitor, it also offer the punter the chance to lower that rate the more they bet.

Smarkets

Smarkets is a newer entrant to the exchange market but is growing fast, down in no small part to its flat 2% commission rate for all customers, which it says “we guarantee this will never be increased.” Let’s hope they stick with that!

Matchbook

Matchbook has been around for a few years now and commands a reasonable share of the exchange market. It takes a slightly different approach to commission, charging just 1% commission, but this is charged on both winning and losing bets. So how will that affect you? Well it depends how much you lose? If you win most of your bets then this would be considerably better than betting with Betfair or Betdaq, but if you lose most bets then it could work out worst. Mind you, that would mean losing a lot of bets!

Ladbrokes Exchange

Ladbrokes opened their own exchange in 2013 to rival the big boys of Betfair and Betdaq. Like those sites, Ladbrokes charge a top rate of 5% commission which also reduces the more you bet. 

So there you have it – the commission rates of the top 5 betting exchanges. If you want to get the best value for your bets, it is best to shop around and see if you can get the same price at one of the lower commission exchanges. 

Ladbrokes exchange screenshot

Ladbrokes Exchange

The Ladbrokes Exchange was launched in 2013 as a competitor to Betfair and to expand Labrokes’s range of betting products.

Ladbrokes also bought Betdaq a while back, but they have not merged the two sites and both continue to operate simultaneously.

Here we take a look at some of the key features of the Ladbrokes Exchange, how it compares to the other leading exchanges and give it an overall rating.

Commission Rates

Ladbrokes Exchange charges a top rate of commission of 5% just like Betfair, but this reduces the more you bet with them.

Free bet

There is a £25 free bet with the Ladbrokes Exchange once you have amassed 4 exchange points with them.

Premium Charges

Users will be pleased to learn that there are no premium charges with Ladbrokes Exchange, unlike Betfair where the most successful punters have to pay up to 60% of their winnings back to Betfair.

Liquidity

Liquidity on the main markets is good, with top football matches such as the Premier League and La Liga achieving similar prices to Betfair in-running, but without quite as much volume available to back and lay.

On more specialist markets such as snooker and cricket, the liquidity is not as good as Betfair, but that could be said for most of the other exchanges too.

Usability

The website is easy to use and you can find the main markets quite easily without it loading a new page each time. There is also instant market refresh ability which means things do refresh quickly without you having to do it manually.

Overall Verdict

Overall it is a good exchange and it is nice that there are now a few serious players emerging to take on the market dominance of Betfair. There is decent liquidity on the main markets and the site is easy to use. 

It would be better if the commission rates were a little lower, as to really compete with Betfair this is what you need, otherwise people are probably just going to use Betfair for its better liquidity. But you can get lower commission rates the more you use it, as with Betfair of course.

It is certainly worth taking advantage of the £25 free bet though, which comes in handy as a bonus.

 

 

 

 

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Bet Kudos

Bet Kudos is a tipsters and betting systems portal that provides tips across a range of sports including horse racing, football, greyhounds, golf and mixed sports.

It offers the opportunity to connect with professional tipsters and follow their tips for a monthly or quarterly fee. It has been operating since 2013 and has a full proofing record for all the current tipsters on the website.

We have only reviewed one Bet Kudos service so far and that was Lucky 7 Naps – which happens to be their number one all time service in terms of points profit.

We take a look at some of their top services and how they stack up against the top tipsters in the business.

 

Lucky 7 Naps

At number one in Bet Kudos’s all time list is Lucky 7 Naps. We reviewed this service back in July 2015 and gave it a neutral rating.

Quite incredibly, although it amassed 449 points profit during our 3 month review at advised prices, it made an 80 point loss at Betfair SP. 

So we couldn’t really be sure about the practicality of the service and prices did reduce very quickly after bets were sent out. We also had a few comments from subscribers to Lucky 7 Naps saying they had struggled to get the advised prices. 

The name Lucky 7 Naps comes from the fact that the service focuses on races with 7 runners or less. There are few other details about how the selections are arrived at.

Subscriptions cost £28.50 per week, £66 per month or £133.50 per quarter.

 

Betfairway

Second on Bet Kudos’s list is Betfairway, which as you might have guessed specialises in golf betting. They began tipping in April 2013 and have amassed over 1300 points profit since then. However, they often tip at 5 points each way on each selection, so it is not quite as impressive as it sounds. 

Some of their biggest winners include Martin Kaymer to win the Players Championship at 80/1 and JB Holmes to win the Wells Fargo at 60/1 in 2014, and Pablo Larrazabal to win the BMW Championship at 60/1 in 2015.

According to the sales page, they have developed some incredible “secret systems” and strategies to give them the edge over the bookies.

Subscriptions come at £40 per month, £99 per quarter or £199 for 12 months. 

 

Exchange Profits

The third selection of Bet Kudos’s services is Exchange Profits. This is a service – as you may have figured out – that places its bets on the exchanges. It is based on inside information which the owner of the service then passes on – known in the business as “the barking dog” apparently. Having an inside view plus insider contacts is key to making profits for this tipster.

Rather strangely for a service called “Exchange Profits,” its results vary considerably between advised odds and Betfair SP. The all time results show profit of 900 points whilst this figure is just 250 points at Betfair SP. 

Still, to be ahead on both metrics is encouraging and not to be sniffed at. Subscriptions start at £25 for the first month then £49 per month or £98 per quarter. 

 

BK Man at the Races

Next up is BK Man at the Races, which is another tipster claiming to benefit from inside information. The service apparently benefits from a “man on the inside” who receives tip offs from racing experts who pay “tens of thousands of pounds” for their information. 

The service has made over 400 points profit at advised prices since inception in 2013, but this figure at Betfair SP is -42 points.

Subscriptions start at £45 per month or £90 per quarter.

 

One the Nose Horse Racing Tips

A relative newcomer to the Bet Kudos stable is On the Nose Horse Racing Tips, which is operated by a chap who uses a variety of factors, including trainer and jockey, form and going to choose his selections.

Apparently whilst on the Tipster Planet site, the tipster made over 400 points profit in just 4 months and since joining Bet Kudos in February 2015 made over 600 points in his first year. Staking is between 2 and 4 points and there are quite a high volume of bets. 

The cost of subscription is £39 per month or £78 per quarter.

 

 

betfan

Betfan

Betfan is a sports and horse racing tipping portal that provides access to a range of different tipsters.

It’s has been around for a number of years and is one of the original “tipping portals” that give punters the chance to access tips from professional punters in a number of different sports in one place.

They apparently have over 50,000 subscribers, so seem to have a large following that has been built up over the years.

Those familiar with Betfan will know the bright and bold marketing pages for their tipsters, which are a feature of the site.

Here we look at some of their top tipsters – although we should point out that we haven’t reviewed any of their tipsters formally yet:

 

Fantastic Eights

Fantastic 8's

Betfan’s top performer of 2015 and overall since the service was set up is Fantastic Eights, which managed over 2,000 points profit in the calendar year. Staking is very high as well, with standard stakes being 5 points per selection and 3-4 races per day being covered. They only had one losing month in 2015, which is consistent performance.

The name Fantastic Eights is based on the fact that they tend to only tip in races with 8 runners or less. Tips are usually sent out later in the day when markets have formed and most non-runners have been declared. The strike rate is around 20% with an average of 5-6 runner per race.

Subscriptions for Fantastic Eights cost £38 per month or £76 per quarter.

 

Shrewd Tipster

Shrewd Tipster

Second on Betfan’s all time list is Shrewd Tipster, who has made over 1,600 points profit since inception in March 2010. The Shrewd Tipster is a guy called Jimmy Welsh, who specialises in flat and all-weather racing and compiles his own list of horses to follow and than waits for them to appear under favourable conditions. We are not sure if that is actually Jimmy on the sales page, but if so he looks like a suave individual!

Anyway, the proofing record shows a very consistent profit graph, which has steadily built over more than 5 years of tipping. Staking is between 1 and 5 points and they tip in less races than Fantastic Eights, with generally 1-2 tips per day, with the occasional double or multiple. 

Jimmy’s advice is to never back a horse to do something it has never done before, which seems sensible advice. 

Subscriptions to the Shrewd Tipster cost £69 per month, £149 per quarter or £249 for six months.

 

Mr Smith

Mr Smith

In third place on Betfan’s all-time list as another relative newcomer in the form of Mr Smith. Having been tipping since April 2015, Mr Smith has amassed over 1,000 points profit in that time. Staking is a standard 5 points on each tip and there are 2-3 tips per day. 

Mr Smith says his success comes from hours of grueling hard work and his passion for racing. He doesn’t claim to have any insider contacts or hang out with trainers and owners, but does a lot of time studying races and that is how he comes up with his selections.  

Subscription costs are £49 per month or £98 per quarter.

 

Unity Racing Club

Unity Racing Club

Next on the list of Betfan’s top tipsters is Unity Racing Club, which began tipping in July 2014 and has made over 1,100 points profit since then. Its staking is lower than some of the other tipsters on this list, ranging from 1 to 2.4 points per selection. This is a very high volume service with often 10 tips per day and many days with 5 or more.

Selections are apparently derived from a combination of inside information and computer software, which includes speed ratings and handicapping. They then watch races to form their final opinion on the horses. 

Subscription costs are £57 per month or £114 per quarter.

 

So there you have it, some of Betfan’s top tipsters there. One day they may make it on to our best football and horse racing tipster lists, but not for the moment. 

 

 

Value Seeker Review

The Value Seeker – New Review

You can check out the Value Seeker here

We are starting a review of the Value Seeker today, a system by prolific systems author Tony Gibson. 

Selections are posted each morning on Tony’s forum for members of his site. Being a member also gives you access to a number of his other profitable services.

There are on average around 2-3 selections per day and the advice is to back them at Betfair SP (BSP).

The system has achieved mindblowing results of nearly 1400 points profit in just over 18 months, which would equate to £140,000 profit to £100 level stakes.

It is interesting to note that apparently the Racing Post are publishing a book detailing how Tony came up with the system, which should be worth a read given the past results.

So with very high expectations, we commence the trial and wait with bated breath to see if the spectacular results continue…