Sport is made for betting

In all the posturing between Gordon Brown and David Cameron before the UK general election sometime next year, the big debate is now how are we going to pay for the mess we are in, particularly the huge government bail-out of the economy. Brown has proposed a sale of several public assets including the Tote again, the sale of which had been put on the shelf during the economic downturn. Government's £16bn sale of assets Is this what is best for the country or just the bet they can come up with to save Brown's arse as PM? As Vince Cable says in the article, "This is not a good time to sell assets." Dumping it cheaply will not serve the racing industry like it is supposed to. Here's a thought. Rather than constantly talking of selling the Tote off at a fire sale price, how about floating it? Encourage mum and dad buyers to get involved, and hopefully increase the client base as well. People who buy shares in a firm are more likely to spend money there when given a c...

The financial sections of Sunday's papers got all excited about rumours of a Betfair float again. Betfair considers £1.5bn flotation The logic is all wrong. The company has been profitable every year since it began. Its cash reserves are huge and there would be little benefit in going to market. The company does however need an exit strategy for the next maturing staff share plan in October, and if and when Andrew Black decides to step away completely from the business, which is a possibility as he has little to do with the firm apart from board activity these days. A full-scale float in either of those cases is unlikely to be required. The other option would be if major investor Softbank wanted to bail out, but that's unlikely after just a couple of years, unless they have issues elsewhere. Or perhaps a listed company would look better to American authorities if the market there was opening up.... Betfair will float eventually. They have been reporting like a floated company a...

This will please all the folks paying the premium charge... Betfair set fair for a float The odds shortened today on a flotation of Betfair after the world's largest betting exchange reported soaring revenues and profits. In stark contrast to the falling business in the High Street bookmakers as witnessed yesterday by a profit warning from William Hill, Betfair today reported revenues of £303 million in the year to the end of April, up 27% year on year and double where they were three years ago. Without seeing the annual report, I'm guessing a big chunk of those increased profits come from the casino. They certainly won't be coming from the dreadful poker application, and while the exchange continues to move forward, it is now very mature, although international volume continues to grow. Oh, and of course, there was a major football tournament (Euro 2008) last year which always helps. A float has always been on the cards, it has just been a matter of when. They will wait pa...