Skip to main content

News of the World caught out by deluded 'Betfair millionaire'

Not sure if you had time to catch this 'article' which was linked from my news feed yesterday. News of the World claimed to interview a high-roller by the name of Elliott Short, who boasted of winning millions on Betfair. It sounded like a glory-seeking tosser making ludicrous claims, and it turns out it probably was....

The guy claimed to have been made redundant as a £22k per year city trader, then turned his hand to Betfair and was making millions. He boasted of laying the favourite, hoping the second fav would win - but if that lost, he'd also make money too. And he was winning up to £1.5 million at a time.... the Betfair market can't absorb that even in a championship race unless you drip feed it in over at least an hour.

Betfair's response:

We have been contacted by several customers in relation to an article in Sunday’s News of the World. We would like to make it clear that Betfair was not asked to comment on, or validate any aspect of, the article ahead of publication.

Although we cannot comment on the activities of any specific customer, some facts which may be relevant to some of the claims made in the article include:

the biggest winner in the relevant Britain’s Got Talent market (Susan Boyle winner - Yes/No) won less than £3,000.

No Betfair customer won £1.5 million or anything even vaguely approaching that amount betting on the Champion Hurdle.

No Betfair customer won £500,000 or anything even vaguely approaching that amount laying Monsieur Chevalier at Royal Ascot

The figures shown in the account statement screenshot in the News Of the World do not reconcile to any Betfair account.

The monies present in a Betfair account are obviously no indicator of the sums won or lost on the account.

We would encourage customers to be wary of the claims of anyone purporting to have a profitable system or strategy.

We would encourage customers to retain a healthy degree of scepticism toward any claims made in the press which are not validated by Betfair.


The News of the World is a trash newspaper, repeatedly publishing fabricated news stories, and they've been conned completely by this deluded bloke. They didn't check their facts and now they've had to pull the story from the website because it was pure fiction.

The Guardian has picked up on it as well...

Comments

  1. "We would encourage customers to be wary of the claims of anyone purporting to have a profitable system or strategy."

    Haha, I like that one! Its like their saying you cant win! Not really, but you know what I mean!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, but really it's just a warning about any form of investment promising get rich quick returns, whether it's with Betfair, Bernard Madoff or property in Bulgaria. The only way to make money is by doing the hard yards yourself. Take shortcuts and you will get stung...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bugger, was about to start laying favourites on the 'orses tomorrow. I'll cancel the Porsche in the morning.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Check out laybetting.org

    "We have partnered with Betfair.com to offer you a free £25 lay bet stake to get you started like Elliott in the exciting world of lay betting"

    Betfair may have something to say about that...

    Did you notice that Elliott Short sounds very similar to "I lay it short?"

    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

Spot-fixing - you will never, ever be able to stop it

According to this report , IPL tournaments so far have been rife with spot-fixing - that is fixing minor elements of the game - runs in a single over, number of wides bowled etc. The curious part of that article is that the Income Tax department are supposed to have found these crimes. What idiot would be stupid enough to put down 'big wad of cash handed to me by bookie' as a source of income? Backhanders for sportsmen, particularly in a celebrity- and cricket-obsessed culture like India are not rare. They could come from anything like turning up to open someone's new business (not a sponsor, but a 'friend of a friend' arrangement), to being a guest at some devoted fan's dinner party etc. The opportunities are always there, and there will always be people trying to become friends with players and their entourage - that is human nature. This form of match-fixing (and it's not really fixing a match, just a minor element of it) is very hard to prove, but also,

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...

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