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BetButler goes bust

No shock here, another UK-facing bet brokerage has gone under. Customers have complained about withdrawal delays for over 12 months, while the UK Gambling Commission sat there and did nothing. They only appear to be interested in sustaining that overrated, self-perpetuating industry called compliance. Gotta make sure those boxes on the fancy forms are ticked!

Earlier in the year, BetButler were even allowed to take over the debts of Bodugi, the failed social gambling site of Dave Nevison, whose customers had already suffered cash flow problems - talk about a double hit!

Hat tip to BettingTools.co.uk for the article

BetButler ceases trading

Remember BetBrokers back in 2008? A very familiar tale.

BetBrokers goes broke

The concept of a bet brokerage is nothing new - in Australia there have been numerous individuals over the years doing the same thing, we call them commission agents. Either for convenience (don't have the time or energy to chase best price), anonymity (celebrity) or barred by bookmakers (not so common a decade ago), they offer a service to place bets for people. Much easier to do with on-course bookmakers in Australia are they are compelled to take a bet, unlike the corporates. Anything outside of the mainstream though becomes very difficult as it's now beancounters rather than old school bookies willing to go head-to-head against the bigger punters.

Switch that business plan to the UK and you're done before you've even started. If it couldn't work for BetBrokers several years ago, it ain't gonna swim now. You have no chance of getting big money on regularly on racing unless you lose hand over fist. The market simply isn't that deep and bookies aren't interested in handling any decent money which might be informed, regularly beats starting price, or only ever takes top price. Given that modus operandi, horse racing is always going to be the prime attraction of a bet brokerage for a punter in need of such a service. Those wanting the service will be the ones wanting to take top price regularly, otherwise they'd be happy using the likes of Star Sports who will handle the big money, but without the gimmicky offers.

For football and cricket, if you stick to the main couple of markets, there will be plenty of outlets connecting you to the vast liquidity in Asia. Beyond that, even on those sports, you will struggle - a boutique operation with limited membership might be able to crack it but a business which tries to cater for large numbers of clients simply will not work.

Now I wonder when someone will ever sort out/shut down that mob of Irish cowboys, SportsSpreads?

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