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
A blog about betting, trading, sport and some of the dodgy elements within them. www.sportismadeforbetting.com.
Scott
ReplyDeleteIn your article entitled "We have the tools to keep sport free of match-fixing" you used the phrase "illegal betting syndicates in South-East Asia". This is a common term seen in almost all media articles on betting in sport. Why are they referred to as "illegal"? Why not just "bbetting syndicates in South-East Asia"?
Thanks
James
hi James. Can't recall whether they were my words or an edit, but that's immaterial. Don't have a problem with illegal being attached to the Asian syndicates since betting (either locally or abroad) is breaking the law in most of those countries, but it is frustrating when illegal is applied to all betting syndicates everywhere in other publications..
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