Comments on Sport is made for betting: the verdict - never going to be anything other tha...

thanks George. Memory going in my old age - obviou...

2011-12-29T13:46:55.579Z

thanks George. Memory going in my old age - obviously shows how little I was using Betfair in March for whatever reason.

Those commission-free markets were because of the ...

2011-12-29T13:44:11.941Z

Those commission-free markets were because of the ballsup when the site went down completely for over five hours at around 2:30 pm on Saturday 12th March.

cheers George for that info. I'll rephrase it ...

2011-12-29T13:25:35.753Z

cheers George for that info. I'll rephrase it then - when was the last time they offered it as compensation for their ballsups rather than as a marketing ploy?

cheers Aaron - not sure the Dublin move had anythi...

2011-12-29T13:22:58.006Z

cheers Aaron - not sure the Dublin move had anything to do with getting away from customers, purely about reducing tax paid, and getting away from Julie Cooper! :)

jimmyfh - as Betfair ties up your risk and profit ...

2011-12-29T13:22:08.013Z

jimmyfh - as Betfair ties up your risk and profit until a market is settled, this does make a big difference to punters/traders. I dare say less than half the people on a racing market would have a one-bet position. It's not as simple as a person having a staking plan just backing individual horses throughout the day with a bookie.

Very good article. Ditto the BetAngel post. One t...

2011-12-29T13:20:05.266Z

Very good article. Ditto the BetAngel post.

One thing: "When was the last time you can recall a commission-free market?"
I think it was in March:
https://promotions.betfair.com/refund-offer
Cheltenham Festival: Arkle Chase (2.05pm), Win and Place Markets, (Ante post bets do not count).
Champions League: Bayern Munich vs. Inter Milan, All Markets
Champions League: Man Utd vs. Marseille, All Markets
Cheltenham Festival: National Hunt Challenge (1.30pm), Win and Place Markets, (Ante post bets do not count).
Cheltenham Festival: Jewson Novices Chase (1.30pm), Win and Place Markets, (Ante post bets do not count).
Cheltenham Festival: Triumph Hurdle (1.30pm), Win and Place Markets, (Ante post bets do not count).
Premier League: Man Utd vs. Bolton: All Markets
Cricket World Cup: Australia vs. Pakistan: All Markets
Rugby 6 Nations: Ireland vs. England: All Markets

To unknown, under 13. Miscellaneous (point 3) it s...

2011-12-29T13:13:00.947Z

To unknown, under 13. Miscellaneous (point 3) it says: "Betfair reserves the right to correct any obvious errors and shall take all reasonable steps to ensure markets are administered with integrity and transparency". Think this will cover them against any legal battle.

I, like yourself Scott, am a former Betfair employee. Not quite to your heights as only worked in Telephone Betting. Joined in 2009 and was very excited at the time. Then the decision to move from Stevenage to Dublin - this was the time to get out. It felt to me that they were trying to get as far away from their customers as possible. There are probably many customers in Ireland, but surely their UK customers make up the vast majority, so why move out of UK? Great article and insight as ever, many thanks, Aaron

what difference does it it really make to the punt...

2011-12-29T12:35:41.852Z

what difference does it it really make to the punter if the decision to void takes 3 hours or 30 minutes?

since when has Uganda's GDP been that much? :)...

2011-12-29T11:52:02.729Z

since when has Uganda's GDP been that much? :)

Agree Dickie IF the amount was manually entered - that's not been confirmed. However, if the guy was a typical punter with assets well under £1m, is there any value in chasing that for a payout of <5p in the pound (against £23m). Take out legal fees and there will be nothing to share out.

I think it must have been an attempt at fraud, sur...

2011-12-29T11:46:42.976Z

I think it must have been an attempt at fraud,
surely the instinct when you put up Ugandas GDP as a lay is to cancel it, so if you did not cancel it, you clearly intended to place it. Hence it should be voided with the winners being compensated with any assets of the layer that BF can get to, although I suspect it was planned with very little in an account.

someone will be there/be on call John during the h...

2011-12-29T11:30:04.322Z

someone will be there/be on call John during the holidays, but this isn't a normal situation - needed more than just the manager on duty to make the call.

Very objective piece here Scott. Just wish Betfai...

2011-12-29T11:00:34.458Z

Very objective piece here Scott.

Just wish Betfair would void my bets when I get the decimal point wrong or back when I meant to lay.

Also if nobody is there to make key decisions during holiday time should they be operating? The stock market does not operate at holiday time.

Unknown - agree, I couldn't find anything spec...

2011-12-29T10:30:18.322Z

Unknown - agree, I couldn't find anything specific which covered this occurrence, but am fairly certain they'll be able to get away with it under a more general clause. Tried reading through them and promptly fell asleep....

The punter would argue 'integrity' means honouring all bets. The lawyer would argue that 'integrity' means the exchange functions as it should, and obviously here it hasn't. One tiny error has created absolute chaos...

As much as I agree with the broad thrust of your a...

2011-12-29T10:22:00.756Z

As much as I agree with the broad thrust of your article, I am not really sure which Ts and Cs allow them to do this. I think the nearest I can find is this...

"In the interests of maintaining integrity and fairness in the Markets we may, at our sole and absolute discretion, decide to suspend betting on a Market earlier than anticipated by our Rules and Regulations and/or void certain bets or a Market in its entirety."

However, is this "in the interests of maintaining integrity and fairness"? I think it is at least arguable.

Interestingly, the word "technical" is not mentioned in the Ts and Cs and only once mentioned in a different context in the rules and regs. There is no specific provision for technical failures.

very well said Mr Cricket Betting. Breon Corcoran ...

2011-12-29T09:48:56.644Z

very well said Mr Cricket Betting. Breon Corcoran will be the new CEO, but he's not due to start until August (long gardening leave period before he comes across from Paddy Power). David Yu leaves the post this week, so it's up to chief beancounter (CFO) Steve Morana to run the ship until Corcoran arrives.

One thing's for sure - the highs and lows of Betfair will become a case study for MBA students soon enough.

Great piece Scott, I'm not going to get into t...

2011-12-29T03:04:01.763Z

Great piece Scott, I'm not going to get into the in's and out's of what happened, it's a bit too technical for me, but I get the gist of what happened and what you are saying.

What I would like to add to is what your last paragraph said, Betfair seem to me to need to go back to basics, do what worked for them in the first place again.

I think I noticed recently that (correct me if I'm wrong) a new Chief Exec (or whatever the role) by the name of Corbett has been appointed by the company?

I did hope at the time that his remit would be to rebuild the companies reputation by
going back to giving the punter a viable alternative (as you rightly said in your piece) to the bookie, making them an attractive company again by their actions, not by spin.

It's almost a given that the site will experience problems on a Saturday afternoon in some capacity, it's not too much to ask for this to be sorted, or for some kind of compensation for customers in the event off.... instead of the vain tweet on twitter we usually get.

I understand the stock market thing and how important that is, but the point is (and I'm not needed to point this out) that without any customers the share price will only head one way anyway.

As it will if they look after the customers, the share price ultimately is a reflection of how the company performs, if a viable alternative to Betfair enters the market (who knows, it may already be there), then the share price will only head one way on current form.

So my message to Betfair is "lets start looking after the average punter again", it's not too much to ask and if you don't, us punters will start to vote with our feet.

notice you mention 2005 the old days, that was the...

2011-12-29T02:32:20.762Z

notice you mention 2005 the old days, that was the year my son was born and I got sent a Betfair baby romper suit! I used to recommend them to anyone that I knew that gambled due to the product and customer service.....how times change! If that horse had ended up losing its 1.01 for me they would not of refunded stakes. Exchange with no gimmicks needed please.