Free Bets on the Grand National

It's not far away now, on 6th April 2013 the Grand National will take place at Aintree so time is running out for the chance to bet for free on the showcase race of the national hunt season.

Why is time running out for a Grand National free bet? Well because in general the bookies usually withdraw their free bet offers during the week of the Grand National.

Why do they do that? Well I believe it is because they know damn well that most punters will have a few quid on a horse that week. So with that in mind, they don't need to bother offering a free bet to entice a punter to open an account.

When all is said and done, why bother to give a free bet away for opening an account, if the punter is probably going to open the account regardless?

This is why I recommend that anybody wanting to open an account to bet for free on the Grand National would be wise to make their move over the next few days, possibly before March is out. 

Start looking for a bookie now, but be careful as some require you to use your free bet within 7 days of opening your account. So to make sure you are covered, find a bookmaker that gives you 30 days to use your free bet from the day you open your account.

At the moment Betfred, BetVictor, Blue Sq, Boylesports, Paddy Power and Stan James all give you 30 days to use their free bets in.

At the recent Cheltenham Festival I noticed that a lot of the bookmakers reduced their free bet offers, rather than withdrawing them all together. Maybe they will follow that protocol for the Grand National, I'm not sure?

All I can go on is what I have witnessed over recent years and that is that a lot of them will withdraw their free bets altogether.

Paddy Power (there is currently a £50 Paddy Power Free Bet available to new customers)  are the main player in bucking that trend as they tend to accept loss leaders. Maybe with them involved in offering incentives, certain other bookies will keep their bet for free offers open - but just to be on the safe side, if you want to secure a Grand National  Free Bet I would act soon.

Gus Poyet Odds On Favourite to be Next Reading Manager

Interesting to see that Gus Poyet is now the odds on favourite to be the next Reading boss after the ridiculous (in my opinion) sacking of Brian McDermott.

I know that these markets are generally driven by rumours. Rumours sometime that are false, and rumours that are driven by insider information. The trick is trying to work out which is which.

I haven't a clue if this Poyet rumour is false or not, but looking at it in the cold light of day I wouldn't be touching this bet at odds on with a barge poll.

Here are some reasons why. Reading are likely to go down, Brighton have a slim chance of coming up, and the Chelsea managers job will be going in the summer.

The positive to jumping ship to Reading is he would be working with a club equipped for the Premier League. If/when Reading go down, he would probably expect to come back up with them next season.

And if Brighton don't get promoted this season. Who would represent the best chance of gaining promotion next season? Poyet would probably think Reading.

The negative is that there is a slim chance Reading and Brighton could swap leagues over the next few months.

Onto the Chelsea, job and while I don't see Poyet getting it, he must harbour hopes of landing it.

Would joining Reading now virtually rule him out of the Chelsea job running? Or would Poyet see it as an opportunity to do a good job at Reading for 3 months, possibly perform a miracle and keep them up, and in doing so he would impress Abramovich enough to maybe get the big job?

I can see reasons for Poyet staying at Brighton, and I can see reasons for him moving to Reading.

If this gamble on him is based on speculation and not insider knowledge, it could be a very risky bet. For me there is enough doubt in there to steer well clear of it.