Reports compiled by major English newspapers have shown that 13 billion pounds was gambled on by the poorest 25% of England’s population. Most of this money was spend on high stakes and high speed gambling machines. This is double the amount that was spent by the richest 75% of the population, which is an alarming statistic.

The 55 poorest boroughs in the UK, which are mostly located in the northern part of the country, have around 3,000 betting shops where this money was spent. 470 million pounds of the 13 billion was lost by gamblers on fixed odds terminals.

In the same 12 months, the richest 115 districts of the country saw around 1,300 bookmakers take 6.5 billion in bets, with 231 million lost by gamblers. This shows the concentrated efforts of bookmakers to target the poorest quarter of England’s population through these gambling machines. They are fully aware of how addictive they can be, and seek to gain as much profit as possible. The industry denies these allegations, but it is difficult for them to argue with cold, hard facts.

There are more and more small betting shops opening, with many of them only having fixed odds betting terminals for customers to use for as long as they want. Recent self policing by betting shops may help matters, but the government is not convinced.

Neil Goulden, the chair of the ABB, says that people have to look at population statistics before coming to these conclusions. While those gambling machines may be targeting the poorest 25% of the population, in numerical terms those are a lot of people. In addition, he claimed that the average betting shop in a rich area generates more money than the average betting shop in a poor area.

Despite those claims, critics are convinced of the betting industry’s malicious targeting of poor communities, and have called on Parliament to take action.

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The breeding of horses is as much a guess as it is a science. One of Europe’s top equine operations, Juddmonte Farms, has thrown caution to the wind with the mating of two of it’s greatest champions. The product of this mating is a beautiful filly. The sire is none other than Frankel, one of Juddmonte’s greatest runners. The dam is the superstar mare Midday. Both of these fine equine specimens were trained by the late, legendary, English trainer Henry Cecil.

Here is a listing of the major accomplishments for Frankel and Midday.

Frankel

• He was a perfect 14-14 winning each race during his career
• He earned the highest time-form rating ever given with a 143 for his victory in the 2011 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes
• He was twice voted European Horse of the Year (2011, 2012)
• Won almost 3.0 million euros during his career
• He dominated the Classic 2000 Guineas in 2011 as a 3-year-old
• He is generally regarded as one of the top 2-3 horse of all-time

Midday

• She was a three time winner of the prestigious Nassau Stakes (only one to achieve this honor)
• She captured the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf in the United States
• She earned almost 2.3 million euros during her career
• She had a record of 23-9-7-3, all against top level competition

For owner/breeder Khalid Abdullah, this pairing has produced one of the most anticipated foals in recent years. This beautiful filly was foaled on Feb. 5 and weighs in at 132 lbs. This filly comes with the highest of expectations. Her sire was a brilliant miler who won races from five furlongs to 1 1/8 miles and the dam was a true stayer winning at distances up to 1 1/4 miles.

In his first season at stud, Frankel covered 133 mares. The Midday filly is the first one to actually hit the ground. For Midday, this is her first foal. The future plans for Midday call for her to be bred back to Frankel in 2014. The racing world would indeed be blessed if Frankel succeeds at stud the way he did on the racetrack.