Skip to main content

Andrew Black steps down from Betfair board

On the day Betfair officially announced their intention to list on the London Stock Exchange, one of the two original founders of the firm, and the one responsible for the idea, Andrew Black, has resigned from the board of Betfair. He made it public on Facebook.

This doesn't come as a surprise at all, 'Bert' had admitted some time ago that he was advised to step away from Betfair totally, otherwise he'd forever be getting frustrated with its direction now that he was no longer involved in the firm on a day-to-day basis. Now he can just sit back and enjoy what it has done to his bank balance.

Well done Bert.

Comments

  1. Hi Scott,

    Why does Betfair have to be listed on the Stock Exchage? Surely this cash rich business does not need financing over the long-term or is it for the reason of wanting to more recognised/accepted in the business world. Will commissions be increased as a result for the cost of Betfair being on the LSE?

    I've started my own blog yesterday. It would be good to include it on your blog roll as I'm committed to posting stuff until Xmas.

    I've linked your informative blog to mine

    Thanks

    The Last Chance Trader
    http://lastchancetrading.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Companies have numerous reasons for going public, Betfair's is certainly not raising capital for expansion. Their minority shareholders (mostly staff) have been promised an exit point for years, and being listed on a major stock exchange holds big credibility when lobbying governments in territories reluctant to consider legalised gambling. Betfair can't squeeze much more out of the legalised markets, the big growth prospects are in those yet to permit online betting - USA, China, India etc. The added responsibility of being a listed company where the directors must act in the best interests of their shareholders, rather than deal without conscience, is a big deal for a foreign firm lobbying politicians who don't really understand the industry they have to negotiate with.

    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,

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...