Live Sports Betting: No Need to Wait for the World Cup
Sports fans are counting down the days and hours until the 2022 FIFA World Cup gets underway. The big kick-off happens on Sunday when Ecuador meets the host nation, Qatar, at 4 pm. This will be Qatar’s first-ever game in the tournament.
But there is a feast of live sport currently being broadcast on the UK’s main TV channels. Most of these events will conclude on Sunday – meaning they will provide punters with plenty of midweek betting opportunities as the action unfolds.
Raymond van Barneveld’s resurgent form and reappearance on TV has delighted darts fans. The Dutch player will be in action again later this week. @Taylor Lanning/PDC
Can Ronnie Take Snooker’s UK Title Again?
Snooker’s UK Championship – the first leg of the sport’s triple crown – began on Saturday. The BBC televised event has already witnessed its share of upsets. Defending champion Zhao Xintong was the first to fall. He lost 2–6 to world number 47 Sam Craigie in the opening round.
World number two, Neil Robertson, was also beaten by a 2-6 score-line. The Australian succumbed to veteran Joe Perry. And four-time world champion, John Higgins, fell at the first flight. The 31-time ranking tournament winner lost out to Tom Ford.
Ante-post favorite Ronnie O’Sullivan has progressed. The living legend brushed aside Matthew Stevens 6-2 in a high-scoring opening-round game. The multiple world champion – who has claimed the UK Championship seven times in the past – told BBC Sport he felt “unbreakable” in a post-match interview.
Will the ‘Rocket’ justify his snooker odds and take the title for the eighth time? You may have to wait until Sunday to find out. The UK Championship final, worth £250,000 to the winner, starts at 1 pm. The game is a best of 19 frames affair.
Barneveld is Popular With Grand Slam Darts Fans
Sky Sports has already broadcast the group stages of the Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts. The competition adopts a traditional knockout format from Wednesday, with all future matches – including Sunday’s £150,000 final – being a race to 16 legs.
So far, the competition has pretty much gone the way of the formbook. Peter Wright and Dave Chisnall have been the only surprise eliminations. Playing in Group-A, Gerwyn Price was always going to be a tough opponent for ‘Chizzy’. However, it was the performance of Raymond van Barneveld that sealed Chisnall’s fate.
The massively popular Dutch player, who returned from a short spell of retirement in 2021, had to come through the qualifiers to play in the Grand Slam. Nevertheless, looking like a man-inspired, van Barneveld, beat Price, Chisnall and Ted Evetts to book his place in the second round.
Van Barneveld next meets fellow veteran, Simon Whitlock. The best darts betting sites cannot separate this pair in the match betting and offer 10/11 about either player. The winner will play either Gerwyn Price or Danny Noppert in the quarter-finals.
Another A-Plus Performance From Gold Cup Winner?
Horse racing fans have been waiting months for the return of the 22-length Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner, Constitution Hill. On Saturday the potential superstar will make his seasonal bow at Ascot in the Coral Hurdle.
One of seven contests broadcast on ITV Racing, the two-miles three-furlong event is one of many races that are likely to contain Cheltenham Festival 2023 championship race winners. In fact, the winner of the biggest jumps race of them all – the Cheltenham Gold Cup – goes in the Betfair Chase at Haydock later in the afternoon.
A Plus Tard and Rachael Blackmore will attempt to land a second Betfair Chase on Saturday. @GettyImages
2022 Gold Cup winner A Plus Tard took last year’s Betfair Chase en-route to his festival heroics. The Irish-trained champion – set to be ridden by regular partner Rachel Blackmore – is top-priced 4/9 with the leading horse racing betting sites in the early betting.
Hamilton’s Last Chance to Continue Remarkable Record
From Friday onwards – broadcast on Sky Sports’ dedicated Formula 1 channel – the 22nd and final race weekend of the 2022 F1 season will unfold in Abu Dhabi. Last year’s decisive contest will long live in the memory.
Sadly, Sunday’s race does not have so much at stake, but Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc are level on 290 World Drivers’ Championship points and will do battle for second in the standings. To this duo, every aspect of the weekend – from Friday practice to Saturday qualifying and the race itself – will be vital.
The bookmakers marginally favor Leclerc. The best Formula 1 betting sites have the Ferrari driver priced at 10/1, Perez is two points bigger in the race-winner market. Max Verstappen, chasing his 15th victory of the season, is 11/8 to take the race.
Last weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix winner, George Russell, can be backed at 7/2. Shorter, at 11/4, is teammate Lewis Hamilton. The multiple world champion has won at least one race every season since he made his Formula 1 debut in 2007.
He is winless in 2022 but on a sequence of three second-placed efforts, can that remarkable record be continued? Fans need to tune in at 1 pm on Sunday to find out.
