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
A blog about betting, trading, sport and some of the dodgy elements within them. www.sportismadeforbetting.com.
Hi Scott
ReplyDeleteBeen reading your column for a few months now. You seem to be a man with access to a lot of information and realise you might be able to help me understand the logic behind the banning of in play sport in Australia and how is Horse racing not a sport.
I've been trading tennis full time for while now and for family reasons have to move to Australia. As I'm not able to trade in play I wonder if I could have them up for restraint of trade ;)
Thanks
Derek
Hi Derek,
ReplyDeleteAustralian state govts are addicted to poker (fruit/slot) machines more than any punter, they are everywhere, with the exception of WA. The states have sold off all their assets and now survive too heavily on revenue from speed cameras and those evil poker machines. The anti-gambling lobby holds enough power in the media (and thus with govts) that the govt had to do something to stop the sharp increase in problem gambling that comes with those pointless one-armed bandits. But, if they banned them, it would screw every state govt and close down a lot of pubs, which also rely on them. So the govt decided to make a big song and dance about shutting down betting in-running before it had effectively started, because it 'might' become the crack cocaine of gambling, allowing punters to bet on crazy things, like next goal, next game won etc, and quickly blow their cash. At the time, the TABs, which held the power (and mostly still do) for sports betting weren't technologically capable of offering such a service anyway, so it didn't cost the govts anything to ban it. The hypocrisy of still being able to place the same bets via a voice call over the very same phone line didn't seem to concern anyone.
There's a review of that legislation currently underway, every company is calling for it, the reports commissioned have called for it... so thus the govt will probably ignore it like everything else that they can't see votes in.
It really is a ridiculous piece of legislation and one reason why I'm quite happy living in the UK. Of course, it only affects betting firms licensed within Australia, so if you choose to bet with Bet365, Betdaq, Hills etc, they won't stop you...
Thanks for that Scott.
ReplyDeleteInteresting the effect on the market if it was legal to gamble in Australia and USA.
Was at a Betfair seminar in Brisbane earlier this year and the general consensus there was that there was a significant number of people 'in play' betting in those countries by various other means. Obviously difficult to put a number on it.
Enjoy your blog.
Derek