Category: Events and betting

A Short History of the Dakar Rally

In every sport, there is a great tournament or competition that is known among the fans of that discipline. Like Wimbledon is known among tennis fans or UEFA Champions League among soccer fans, so is the Dakar Rally among those who closely follow and admire rally raids.

A rally raid is a form of off-road racing that can last for several days. It’s very common for these races to last 2 or 3 days. However, the Dakar Rally can last as long as 15 days, which makes it one of the most interesting rally raids among the fans. In this article, we’ll take a look at the history of this competition, from its early days to the latest racing events. 

How It All Came To Be

The first-ever Dakar Rally was organized in December 1978. Actually, the race began on the 26th of December 1978 and ended on the 14th of January 1979. The name of the race at the time was The Paris-Dakar Rally, and it started with 182 vehicles in Paris and ended in Dakar. Only 74 contestants made it to the finish line after crossing 6,200 miles. Since there had been two categories, one for motorcycles other for cars, there were also two winners. The motorcycle category was won by Cyril Neveu who rode a Yamaha, and Alain Genestier won first place in the car category by driving a Range Rover. The event itself gained so much popularity that over 200 vehicles participated in 1980 and 291 in 1981. By 1982, 382 participants joined the Dakar Rally which was more than double the number of racers from the first years. 

NPiquet81, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons – cropped

Dakar Rally During The 90s

There were several changes that happened in the late 80s and the beginning of the 90s that left a permanent mark on the history of the Dakar Rally. Firstly, there was the first winner driving a Peugeot called Ari Vatanen that marked the dominance of the French in the race. Moreover, the number of participants reached 603, which drew even more attention to the competition. When Peugeot decided to join the World Sportscar Championship, the Citroen brand took its place and a third consecutive victory for the French. Lastly, the motorcycle category was also won by a Frenchmen in 1991 called Stéphane Peterhansel that placed that nation on the pedestal at the Dakar Rally race. It’s also important to mention that in 1992 GPS technology was used in the race for the first time and it was also the year when the finish line moved to Cape Town. 

Recent Years

The competition saw another great change in 2009 when the race was moved to South America, where Volkswagen took its first win. In 2015 the fans of Dakar Rally saw a great comeback of Peugeot, but it still wasn’t good enough to beat X-raid’s Minis. However, the French brand won in 2016, 2017, and 2018m until it made an official decision to leave the competition. 

Sports Cars Fan, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons – cropped

 

NASCAR Betting

National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, or NASCAR is the most popular stock-car racing organization in the world. Founded over 70 years ago it counts dozens of full-time and part-time drivers as well as over 50 free agents who are waiting to be picked up by one of the teams. Similarly to Grand National bet online, which lets you bet on horse races, there are many ways to bet on cars and improve your odds in this highly competitive sport.

The three main leagues available to bet on are:

  •        Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series – the most popular one
  •        NASCAR Xfinity Series – 2nd league
  •        Camping World Truck Series – modified pickup trucks racing

There are other series as well such as Pinty’s, PEAK Mexico and Whelen Euro but they are extremely hard to find in a bookie’s lists.

 

Practice & Qualifying

You won’t find odds available online until both practice and qualifying sessions are over.

The practice is an extremely important preparation process for the drivers as they get familiar with the track, sharp corners and the terrain. Teams practice several times each week before doing the qualifier.

Results in the qualifying round define starting positions which are extremely important on some tracks, where overtaking is almost impossible.

Once all the teams and their drivers have finished both sessions, casinos will provide the odds on their websites, but do not rush as they are sometimes changed before the race. Even if you missed it and the race already started, you can always jump in by placing live bets. Keep in mind that odds are constantly changing, depending on how well the drivers are performing.

The Happy Hour is the final practice and the last opportunity for teams to register their racing cars, which can give you an idea on how they might perform in the main race.

NASCAR Bets

Signing up and confirming your registration is a must, but before placing any bets it is important to be aware of all the variations and gamble options.

The three main bet types are:

  •        Winners
  •        Matchups
  •        Props

Betting on the winner is the toughest one to win but also the most rewarding. You’ll see something like this: “John Doe +1000”. In this case, betting $100 on John could potentially win you $1,000.

Matchups are way easier and way more interesting to bet on, as it doesn’t matter where your drivers ends up as longs as he is ahead of the one you’ve placed the bet against.

Props allow you to bet over or under the line set by the bookie. If the line is, let’s say, 12.5 you can either bet that the driver will finish 12th or better or 13th or below. The odds are the lowest with props, but the chances of being correct are extremely high.

MotoGP Betting

If you are a fan of motorbike races, then you have definitely heard of MotoGP, or even Moto2 and Moto3. One of the main differences between the three is the engine power, as Moto3 includes 250cc engines, Moto2 goes with 600cc (765cc from 2019), while racers in the main one are going on 1,000 cc beasts.

One MotoGP consists of 19 races after which the racer and the constructor with most points wins the championship, which is the most prestigious achievement in the sport. Both the bike quality and driver’s skill have the biggest impact on the final results.

Besides watching the races, you can try to win money whenever your favorite driver or a team wins the race or the championship by placing bets at online bookies.

Bet Online

Online bookies provide news, announcements, and odds for all the MotoGP races throughout the year and placing bet has never been easier than today.

Reading this means that you have access to a PC, laptop, tablet or mobile phone and internet connection. That’s all you need to begin your MotoGP betting journey.

Thanks to the sport’s popularity, it is not that hard to find dozens of online casinos that include the racing category, but picking the most convenient one for you is key. 

Just like with land-based bookies, odds are not the same across all websites, so being a member of multiple communities might be a good idea. It doesn’t hurt to have

instant access to more than one online betting place, as you could get the no deposit bonus across different ones and try to make enough profit to enable the withdrawal.

How to Place Bets

First and foremost, you need to create an account in a bookie of your choice. Most of them are well-optimized and compatible with smaller devices such as mobile phones, so picking the ones that have the mobile app is the way to go.

Apps are easy to use and specially made to fit all the important elements on the screen significantly smaller than its PC and laptop counterparts.

Prior to making your first deposit, there are a few recommended things to do:

  •        Check if your country is eligible for both depositing and withdrawing the money
  •        Go through all the promotions
  •        Make sure that payment options are convenient for you
  •        Get familiar with bonus withdrawal requirements

Only after all the requirements about the terms and conditions on bonus and promotions are fulfilled, you’ll be able to pull the money out. This is a standard procedure to prevent any sort of malicious behavior.

If you are not a daily gambler, you can always bet on championship winners (both individual drivers and teams). You can do so at any point during the season, but keep in mind that the odds will change over time, depending on how drivers perform in each race.

Le Mans Betting

When people talk about motorsports first things that come to their mind are probably Formula 1 or MotoGP, but not that many know about the Le Mans racing. And even fewer people think of betting on such races mostly because they prefer some more popular sports or just regular casino games, the likes of which are offered on bet-pa.com.

The most interesting part about this category are the vehicles, called the Le Mans Prototypes. It is a closed-wheel vehicle with all the mechanical car elements incorporated.

These vehicles are nothing like their NASCAR and Formula 1 counterparts, because not only is the design different, but it uses electric motors that upgrade acceleration as well, making it a type of a hybrid car.

LMP vehicles are used in several different championships and events such as:

  •        WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
  •        Asian Le Mans
  •        European Le Mans Series
  •        FIA World Endurance Championship
  •        24 Hours of Le Mans

The sport requires high focus and extreme physical strength. The professionals who dare give a shot to the 24 Hour event deserve nothing but respect and admiration.

24 Hours of Le Mans

Even though each league has its fan base, the event that draws most of the attention is 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The title pretty much explains what it’s about, but just to clarify, LMP cars race for 24 hours. It is considered to be the oldest sports car race in the endurance racing category that is still active. It is an annual event and has been held ever since 1923.

Even though the cars are designed and produced by some of the best engineers in the world, not all the vehicles manage to finish the race. In 2018 only 41 out of 60 racers that qualified managed to endure all 24 hours.

This event is watched by millions of people from all over the world each year and anyone can place a bet on their favorite driver. A very popular option is to guess whether the driver is going to stay in the race for its entirety or whether the constructor will have all the drivers active until the end.

Bet On Le Mans Races

Even though it is not the most popular sport in the world, Le Mans can still be found in hundreds of online casinos and bookies. Unfortunately, not all of them are up-to-date with the events, so make sure to find the one that actively updates their lists.

Even those that do not have the category specifically for these races will promote the 24 Hour “marathon”, so always check if the bookie you are a regular member of has done it in the past, and be on the lookout for the next year.

Some of the greatest Formula 1 and NASCAR racers compete in these events, which is why these draw most of the attention. Fernando Alonso took the win with the Toyota Gazoo Racing in 2018 with 388 laps and the total distance of 5286.888 kilometers completed.

Each driver’s performance is extremely important, but it is the team final score that counts, which makes the sport even more interesting. There are also individual podiums though.

Motorsports Betting Tips

Motorsports betting provides a huge variety of races, all more exciting than online bingo, as it includes MotoGP, NASCAR, Formula 1, and other leagues. The first competitive motorsport race ever took place back in 1894, when a French newspaper arranged the now-famous Paris-Rouen route. Motorized vehicles made their first appearance at the Olympics in 1900, even though it was for demonstration purposes only.

Throughout the years, the sport developed along with the technology, which provided more powerful engines and safer races. Nowadays we can enjoy magnificent cornering skills of automobile drivers or lightning speeds on F1 and MotoGP tracks.

How To Place Bets

First of all, it is important to understand how the betting system works and what are your options. When it comes to motorsports betting, there is no 1, x and 2 system like in other sports such as basketball or football and gamblers are, in most cases, left with one or two choices to go with.

With one option bets, gamblers can put their money on:

  •        The winner
  •        The fastest lap holder
  •        The exact or an estimate place of a racer

This system is very easy to understand and use, but be careful and always double check the player you have picked. However, even if you made a mistake, some bookies allow refunds.

The second version is pretty similar and will most likely require gamblers to choose between yes or no. For example: “Is Lewis Hamilton going to win a podium place for his team?”.

Just like with any other bet, odds increase side by side with the risk level, which is why some people like the underdog strategy. There are chances that one of the underdogs may finish in one of the top three places, and chasing the bet might bring in some profits to you. Going with the favorites is always the safest way to do it, so go with the most convenient strategy and adjust it to your preference.

Where To Bet

Some of the most popular online bookies in the world have been introducing motorsports betting in the past few years. Even though it still isn’t the most popular category in land-based bookies, the interest for this sport is growing, so is the opportunity to offer motorsports content to its fans, as well as to expand the motorsport industry overall.

There are a few things to always look for when searching for a new online bookie:

  •        Bonus Offers
  •        Event Coverage
  •        Regulations and licences
  •        Ratings

Hearing people’s first-hand experience about a bookie is sometimes the best policy. If the majority of feedback comments is negative, there is no reason to overlook that fact.

You want to be safe and stress-free when it comes to online gambling. If the website is licensed and regulated by a trustworthy authority, there is nothing to worry about, whilst shady and unregulated places should be avoided.

Bonuses & Promotions

If there is an opportunity to get the chance to spend more money than you have originally invested, why wouldn’t you use it? Or even better, what if there was a way for you to gamble for real money without actually spending any?

Well, all of that is possible thanks to generous bonus offers. In order to get free cash, look for the no deposit bonuses, where all you have to do is sign-up.

Welcome or first deposit bonuses are a great way to get started as well, as you can double, triple or even quadruple your investment.

Keep in mind that all additions and promotions have both in and out requirements, meaning that they are amount or time limited, so make sure to go through T&C before doing anything else.