Skip to main content

BetBrokers goes broke

Listed UK company, BetBrokers, the firm you were supposed to use if you struggled to get bets on yourself, went into administration last Friday. The peculiar business model always had its doubters (big bookies close down winners, so most end up on Betfair anyway. Do you think bookies really want to take bigbets from unnamed accounts?) and in the end, those doubts won through. But perhaps it was just shabbily run. It wouldn't be the first occasion that a good idea was ruined by people not knowing how to run a business properly.

Comments

  1. I believe you are correct when you say it was shabbily run. Certain board members were pretty cueless. In an interview on the Interactive investor website, their CEO
    (the only Execiutive Director)shows a distinct lack of judgement and knowledge about the gaming business. He doesn't even seem to understand that gambling is illegal in most of the USA. He also has a history of failure on the AIM market as well. Affinity Internet Holdings, the company he promotes as being his great success on the Betbrokers website, went into administration with, apparently, a big hole in the accounts! One of their Non-exec directors is no better. Non- Exec Derek Tullett, is a septugenarian who (according to the BB website) is Chairman of New9to5.com. Is it wise for Tullett to brag about this? Not really, the company went bust sometime ago, but presumably Tullett is not aware of this because if he was, surely he would not be stupid enough to publicise his involvment when the company has gone into liquidation without filing accounts. It seems that there should be little surprise that Betbrokers failed if this is the calibre of people they had running the show. If I were a shareholder I would really want to know what sort of business they were running. For a stock to go from 15p to a fifth of a penny is a shocking performance over less than two years since admission to the markets. Surely there should be questions regarding the original valuation, as their shares only moved one way from day one. A very bad smell about this whole affair.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for your comments, but if you're a spammer, you've just wasted your time - it won't get posted.

Popular posts from this blog

It's all gone Pete Tong at Betfair!

The Christmas Hurdle from Leopardstown, a good Grade 2 race during the holiday period. But now it will go into history as the race which brought Betfair down. Over £21m at odds of 29 available on Voler La Vedette in-running - that's a potential liability of over £500m. You might think that's a bit suspicious, something's fishy, especially with the horse starting at a Betfair SP of 2.96. Well, this wasn't a horse being stopped by a jockey either - the bloody horse won! Look at what was matched at 29. Split that in half and multiply by 28 for the actual liability for the layer(s). (Matched amounts always shown as double the backers' stake, never counts the layers' risk). There's no way a Betfair client would have £600m+ in their account. Maybe £20 or even £50m from the massive syndicates who regard(ed) Betfair as safer than any bank, but not £600m. So the error has to be something technical. However, rumour has it, a helpdesk reply (not gospel, natur

lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

Dabbling with laying the field in-running at various prices today, not just one price, but several in the same race. Got several matched in the previous race at Brighton, then this race came along at Nottingham. Such a long straight at Nottingham makes punters often over-react and think the finish line is closer than it actually is. As you can see by the number of bets matched, there was plenty of volatility in this in-play market. It's rare you'll get a complete wipe-out with one horse getting matched at all levels, but it can happen, so don't give yourself too much risk...

Wimbledon preview - women

Unfortunately this year I don't have the time to write comprehensive Slam previews anymore so I'll sum this one up pretty quickly - it's all about Serena. 1 - Serena Williams. In incredible form. Since bombing out in R1 of the French Open last year, she has lost just three times - to Kerber (Cincinnati QF), to Stephens (Aus Open QF) and to Azarenka (Doha final). She has won three of the last four Wimbledon finals plus the Olympic gold last year where she dropped just 17 games in six rounds, against opponents which included four former world #1s. All that considered though, I can't have her at 1/2 (1.50) on Betfair. She just has to be opposed. I can't put a finger on who is going to beat her, but I have to side with her prospective opponents. If you want a smokey to put some small change on, try Maria Kirilenko. Her record in the Slam isn't so great but it has been improving - a best result of R4 last year beaten by finalist Radwanska 7-5 in the third, and