Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Belmont Stakes

Horse racing is a form of professional gaming and one of the most prestigious ways of spending your leisure time. In North America, horse racing attracts many followers who not only bet and watch it live from the stands but also watch the races on television. There are several popular horse racing events that American keep track of and one of the more popular ones is the Belmont Stakes.

This racing event is held at Belmont Park in Belmont, New York during the month of June. It is classified as a Thoroughbred American Grade 1 horse race. The race runs for 2.4 km (1.5 miles) and is open to all Thoroughbreds that are 3 years of age. The geldings and colts should carry the weight of 57 kg (126 pounds) while fillies should carry 55 kg (126 pounds). This race is the US Triple Crown's final and 3rd leg. It commences 5 weeks after the Kentucky Derby and in 3 weeks after the Preakness Stakes.

Although the Belmont Stakes only ranks fourth in North America in terms of attendance, it typically surpasses attendance of other races that includes the Breeder's Cup. The amount of Belmont Stakes attendance is only next to the Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Oaks and Preakness Stakes. In 2004, the Belmost Stakes had a massive 21.9 million TV viewers and ranked highest in household viewing rate after the 1977 Seattle Slew win over the Triple Crown.

Short History of Belmont Stakes

The very first Belmont Stakes event was in commenced in Jerome Park Racetrack which is located in the Bronx. The venue was built in 1866 by Leonard Jerome, stock market speculator and August Belmont, Sr. its financer and where the race got its name. The races where held at the Jerome Park up to 1890 then transferred to  Morris Park Racecourse. The races were held there until May of 1905 when it was transferred to the newly opened Belmont Park which is a 430 acre race track located in Elmont, New York, Long Island. It can be found outside New York City in the borough of Queens.

The races were cancelled during 1911 to 1912 following the closure of Belmont Racetract due to an anti-gambling legislation passed by the New York state.

In 1880, the first US post parade ws held at 14th Belmont. Prior to 1921, the races were run in a clockwise tradition following the English race. Ever since the race was run by Americans, the direction took a counter-clockwise turn. Winners of the Belmont Stakes were honored with the August Belmont Trophy, which is among the most prestigious awards of the country.

What Makes Belmont Stakes so Distinct

Aside from having the 3rd highest honor in the Triple Crown races, being the last race to be run, it earned the recognition of being the “Test of the Champion”.

In 1931 it was established that the order of the Triple Crown races were the Kentucky Derby first, then the Preakness Stakes and lastly, Belmont Stakes. The Belmont Stakes races are typically held during the 1st Saturday after or on  June 5. Kentucky Derbies start on 1st Saturdays of May while the Preakness Stakes begin 2 weeks later. Three weeks after the Preakness Stakes is when the Belmont Stakes begin.

Being the last race to be run and its distinctive one lap length around the immense Belmont race track, most of the 3 year old horses have difficulty maintaining their speed and stamina being unaccustomed and lacking experience in running the long distance. The Belmont races need strategic timing and positioning of the horse in order to win the critical lead.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Avoiding Online Scams

Be mindful of the million and one scams that you can encounter online. These scammers are everywhere and they will take every opportunity to fool you into a scam. Lotto playing is not an exception and scammers have created devious ways into fooling you that you have won the lottery.

You may have unwittingly fallen victim to one of these scams. You may have received a letter in your email stating that you have won millions in the lottery. You have to be wary about receiving this kind of correspondence. First, you cannot possibly win millions in a lottery that you have not joined in. Second, any legitimate online lottery system does not send you a check over the mail and ask you to pay for something before you can even claim your winnings.

The Lottery Scam of EuroMillions

A perfect example of the lottery scam could be based on the EuroMillions lottery.

Most of the online lottery scams focus on the EuroMillions because this lottery is notorious for giving out huge jackpot prizes. The scam comes in the form of a letter stating that you have won the EuroMillions lottery prize. It may even come with a cheque with a specific amount like £250,000. The cheque might even look authentic that you may think you can encash this with the bank.

But be careful because no lottery organization ever sends a winning cheque in the mail if you haven't even joined the lottery yourself! No legitimate lottery company ever demands you to pay for something before you can even claim your winnings. The winnings from a legitimate EuroMillions Syndicate is totally tax free and they deliver their services as they promise.

What to do In Case of A Lottery Scam

The best thing to do whenever you receive a letter like this that appears to be a scam is NOT to respond to the organization that sent you these. You can make a copy of the cheque and the letter sent to you and bring it as evidence of the scam when you report it to the right authorities.

This will trigger an investigation with the postal authorities and the police. They will do what is necessary to catch these criminals with fraudulent activities.

When the letter sounds doubtful then don't! Don't pay any fees or correspond with those that sent you the letter. Trust your instincts when you feel that there is something not right with these letters. Most of the time your instincts are correct!

If you really want to win the lottery then just join legitimate lotteries online like Overseas Subscribers Agents. It is the trusted websites that have the legal systems enabling you to join prestigious lotteries such as Euro Millions.OSA  is a secure site that guarantees you access to the famous European lottery that normally only Europeans can get to join. By joining this website you are entitled to participate their multi-lottery system and get the opportunity to win legitimate games and prizes.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Compare Online Casino vs Online Lotteries

There are several forms of entertainment online and these can be in the form of online gaming. You can choose between playing online casinos or online lotteries, both will bring you the amount of gaming satisfaction that you are looking for.

It really depends on your gaming preference when choosing which kind of online games that you should bet on. However, it cannot be helped when these two forms of games are put against each other for comparison. Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of each does help you make that decision which games you should put your precious wagers on.

Advantages

Although it may seem that casinos and lotteries share a lot of things in common, by giving both modes of gaming a deeper inspection you can clearly see the advantages of each.

Both forms of gaming involve a lot of numbers and risk taking. Both games of course will require you to invest a certain amount of money for wagering in order to receive cash awards. The differences lie in the method and rules of the games.

In playing online casino games, you can have more options to play because of the variety of games available. The online casino websites can be designed to simulate a real life slot machine or enable you to play with other people in a game of poker even if all the players are from different parts of the world. Online casino sites promise their players a “visual treat” every time they play because of the animated graphics and its capability to connect players on a virtual level. You will find these online casinos highly interactive and a lot more exciting than online lotto websites.

Online lotto websites, although they can be designed to be equally eye-catching, lacks the interactive feature that online casinos offer. You just simply view, enter your bets, watch out for results and play on your own.

Disadvantages

Because of too much versatility, online casino websites tend to be too complex and complicated for the first time or average player. Once the player learns the rules of the game, the risk of being addicted to them is higher. That's because there is not much control with how much you will wager every time you win. Most online websites are designed to make the games very enticing for the players to keep playing and eventually they spend more than what they can afford just to win back whatever money they have lost. Online casinos give their players credit options which make it more tempting for them to wager more than their wagering limits.

With online lotto websites, you have more control in your expenditures. These websites are very straightforward whenever you place in a bet for your winning combinations. The rates or prices of each ticket are pegged at a fixed amount and they give you options if you want to bet on more complex tickets. You don't overspend because you know exactly what you will be paying for.

It all really depends on your preferences in choosing the games that will satisfy you most. The only limitation would be your spending capacity and which games you'll like.