Sport is made for betting

Once upon a time, Betfair's best marketing line was 'Winners Are Welcome'. Not any more. In a desperate move to show the shaer market they have more options to increase their revenues, Betfair's biggest winners will be hit with an even higher Premium Charge rate. For full details, read here - Betfair Premium Charge Hike details Realistically, how many people will it affect? A very small number. You've got to have done very well to win £250k after commission over the years. But what will it do to liquidity? Well, the people it will hurt are the elite level traders such as Mr Bet Angel. Peter Webb and the best of his genre. Traders lose infrequently, so thus are destined to pay less commission than your average winning punter. The big liquidity providers who market-make across the board will be hit - 40% commission on your gross profits is a stiff ask, you'd need some heavy losses mixed in there to sweeten them up. This comes on top of their less-publicised...

From the tail of a Guardian article discussing the substantial fall in Betfair shares today: The slump in Betfair shares is another awkward issue for Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank which arranged the gambling company's float. It touted Betfair as a high growth investment at £13.00 in October but shareholders have now lost about a quarter of their investments. The investment bank's name was also on the ticket of this year's flotations of online grocer Ocado whose shares are down 12% and technology group Promethean World where the stock has fallen by 70%. The bank insists that it has a better record on flotations than rivals. A sample of three probably isn't a fair assessment but considering they are blamed by some as being a significant cause of the global recession, it's not doing their reputation any favours. But it cuts staff bonuses by £5k (of an average £500k), then I doubt anyone inside will care a great deal....