Horse race gambling fans look forward to Cheltenham

As we have often observed before on these pages, sports gambling in Ireland and all over the world has changed dramatically since the widespread availability of sports gambling online. We are no longer restricted to sporting seasons in our home country and we can follow our favourite sports wherever it is taking place in the world. How many of us actually take advantage of these overseas sports gambling opportunities however is a debatable point. Perhaps football gambling fans will gamble on matches in the rest of Europe, and cricket and tennis gambling enthusiasts certainly have some big events to follow during our winter, most notably in Australia, but what about our favourite gambling sport horse racing. When it comes to gambling on horse racing we tend to be a little insular except for the really big events. The National Hunt season is of course well underway and although January is a relatively quiet month in terms of big races, horse race gambling fans will undoubtedly be looking forward to the Irish Champion Hurdle this weekend at Leopardstown. Run over two miles with a winning purse of 110,000 euros the Champion Hurdle is the first big race of the year. This year there are just eight runners and if the bookies are to be believed there are only two horses in with a chance. Hurican Fly is of course the odds on favourite at 4/6 with Paddy Power, challenged only by Jezki at 6/4. Horse race gambling fans looking for an outside bet may also be tempted by Arctic Fire currently at 12/1. On the horizon now that Christmas has been and gone is of course the Cheltenham Festival, perhaps the biggest event of any year for Irish fans of gambling on horse racing. It is often said that half of Ireland appears to descend on Cheltenham every year for the Festival, and it is certainly one of the biggest sports gambling weeks of any year.