Gambling
The saviours of racing
I was once at a racing dinner in York where a distinguished clergyman in attendance was invited to say grace.…
The dark world of Victorian horse racing
Two hours after showing her father, the Marquess of Anglesey, the wedding dress in which she was to marry the…
Excessive gambling is dangerous – a flutter on the horses is not
Sorry is allegedly the hardest word to say — so Carolyn Harris, chair of the all-party parliamentary group studying gambling-related…
While some bookies behave admirably, the BetBright debacle is a disgrace
Encountering a generous-hearted bookmaker is normally as rare an occurrence as finding a picture of the Duchess of Sussex without…
How do you solve a problem like fixed odds betting terminals?
You can tell by the tone of the jokes how most occupations are regarded and we’ve all heard the traditional…
If this is Aaron Sorkin’s riposte to those who criticise his portrayal of women, God help us
Molly’s Game marks the directorial debut of Hollywood’s most celebrated screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin, and is based on his adaptation of…
The founding father of bookmaking
Imagine Ryan Moore getting caught on the line by a rival’s late spurt at the end of a Newmarket race…
The Telemachuses: even quirkier than the Addams family
This delightfully good-humoured novel is the sort of genre scramble that doesn’t often work: there’s a bit of 1990s family…
In praise of fixed-odds betting terminals
Racing is an expensive sport to stage. Courses and grandstands have to be maintained, health and safety regulations have to…
Spread your bets on Theresa May’s majority
Where’s all the unpredictability in politics gone? After the hubbub about a ‘crisis of liberalism’ and the thrills of punting…
The strange cases of Mr Justice McCardie
Justice McCardie was anything but a conventional High Court judge. He left school at 15 and was called to the…
So far so good with my racing punts... maybe I should quit while I’m ahead
In Spectator Money last November, I wrote about Equotion, an algorithm gambling service or ‘Sports Betting Disrupter’ which promises customers…
Dinner with Enoch Powell's postman
Dr Ivan Mindlin was the in-house casino doctor at the Stardust in Las Vegas in the early 1970s. Mention any…
Can ITV save horse-racing?
You had to feel for ITV’s new racing team on their opening day at Cheltenham. It was cold, wet and…
The therapeutic effects of Modafinil and a mob doctor
Still depressed, or, as Matthew Arnold put it, ‘the foot less prompt to meet the morning dew’, I got out…
Will ‘Big Data’ turn out to be the punter’s new best friend?
Technology is making gambling more like stockbroking — and stockbroking more like gambling. Gamblers today often sound like City boys…
The puritan in Theresa May will kill horse-racing
When Theresa May came to power the Turf community was full of hope. Had she not been, if only briefly…
What are the odds on that? How technology has transformed the betting industry
BETTING - Mobile betting apps, big data and mind-boggling algorithms have transformed gambling, says Mark Davies
The Racing Levy stinks. So why can't we replace it?
Forced to depart Ascot earlier than usual to fulfil a cruise lecture booking on the fjords, I hadn’t reckoned with…
How racing finally became respectable
Queen Victoria disapproved heartily of the racing set and of her son Bertie’s involvement in the sport. But she must…
Virtual reality versus real reality: wisdom (and motorcycle maintenance) from Matthew Crawford
Bit of Kant, bit of Kierkegaard, bit of motorcycle maintenance. That’s one take on The World Beyond Your Head, Matthew…
The missed New Year opportunities I would have rowed the Atlantic for
Gstaad The very end of 2014 laid an egg, and an expensive one at that. I missed David Tang’s bash…
Are the Qataris ready for the curse of Canary Wharf?
I’ve written before of a ‘curse of Qatar’ that might explain misfortunes attending the Gulf state’s UK investments, of which…
Why I’m glad there’s no British Las Vegas
I didn’t realise that the Rialto Bridge has a moving walkway and muzak, that the gondolas beneath it float on…
A casino clash worthy of James Bond reaches its climax in the High Court
A casino drama worthy of a Bond film arrives in the High Court
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