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
Hi Scott,
ReplyDeletenice to see your profit in the winner market. I really love biathlon, too!
Today I was not able to trade this race, but tomorrow and on Sunday I will have a look at these races again.
I have never tried the matchups before. Liquidity is not very good, isn't it?
Cheers, Loocie
Hi Loocie,
ReplyDeleteYou're right there's not much liquidity in the matchups, but that can be the best part. Put up a half decent price (say 108% like a regular bookie) and you are likely to see some action. You are in control of how much you are risking. Take a look at other bookies for an idea of prices. I only dabble in those markets for fivers and tenners so can't do much harm. Unfortunately I got interrupted just before the start of the race so I wasn't able to tidy up some positions that I could have.