Betfair in the news again, and not in a good way.

[maxd]

"Betfair falls short in new attempt to end unease over voided bets .. Rogue bets were laid by a 'bot'"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011...rt-voided-bets

... All in-running bets on Wednesday's race were declared void as a result of the rogue bet, which appeared to offer Betfair's clients a chance to back Voler La Vedette, the 13-8 second-favourite, at odds of 28-1, to a maximum of just over £21m. ...

As many as 200 Betfair clients are believed to have placed bets totalling just over £800,000 on Voler La Vedette, with a theoretical return of about £23m. Instead they simply received their stake money back when Betfair voided the in-running betting due to "an obvious technical fault which allowed a customer to exceed their exposure limit".

Friday's statement, described as an apology and explanation to Betfair customers from Stephen Morana Betfair's acting chief executive officer, said that the bet had been placed by an automated betting programme – or "bot" – via the site's Application Programming Interface (API), which is designed specifically to work with betting software. (more)

See also:

• Betfair customers may consider legal action on voided £23m winnings: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011...tion-race-void
• Betfair would have voided bets if Voler La Vedette had not won: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011...ler-la-vedette
• Betfair's £23m betting liability was caused by small-scale customer: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011...ility-customer
• Betfair may lose out by not explaining how £600m lay bet was accepted: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog...r-600m-lay-bet

[jetset]

And Casinomeister News.

[maxd]

Quite so!: BETFAIR VOIDS IN-RUNNING BETS.

[pokeraddict]

All sportsbooks have a clause that allows them to void obvious bad lines. If Betfair were a legitimate operation this would probably not grab as many headlines. Their habit of stealing money from players is what makes this newsworthy. Nobody trusts that this was an honest mistake. My question is, why are people still playing at Betfair? These 200 bettors really have nobody to blame but themselves. I doubt there are too many people out there that do not know how shady Betfair has become.

[maxd]

All sportsbooks have a clause that allows them to void obvious bad lines.

Seems to me there's more than just a cancelled bet at issue here. Between the betting bots and the massive bet cancellation my guess is that would have been newsworthy no matter where it had happened.

[jetset]

Betfair have said they have no problem with an investigation by the UK Gambling Commission, and if ever there was a case that indicated this was necessary, this is it.

Given the recent decline in the company's way of doing things, and the magnitude of the current debacle, I would expect the Commission to show some interest once everyone returns from the holidays.

I wonder if that will come about?

[threescatters]

Betfair have said they have no problem with an investigation by the UK Gambling Commission, and if ever there was a case that indicated this was necessary, this is it.

Given the recent decline in the company's way of doing things, and the magnitude of the current debacle, I would expect the Commission to show some interest once everyone returns from the holidays.

I wonder if that will come about?

Betfair thieved directly from UK customers sportsbook wallets after the happy hour fiasco, which at the time fell under the UK Gambling Commissions juristicion. They washed their hands of it completely then. Since then, betfairs sports section has left that regulator. I would expect nothing to come of anything from the UK Gambling Commission with regards to betfair.

[jetset]

Betfair thieved directly from UK customers sportsbook wallets after the happy hour fiasco, which at the time fell under the UK Gambling Commissions juristicion. They washed their hands of it completely then. Since then, betfairs sports section has left that regulator. I would expect nothing to come of anything from the UK Gambling Commission with regards to betfair.

Do you have a reference link for that information?

[vinylweatherman]

All sportsbooks have a clause that allows them to void obvious bad lines. If Betfair were a legitimate operation this would probably not grab as many headlines. Their habit of stealing money from players is what makes this newsworthy. Nobody trusts that this was an honest mistake. My question is, why are people still playing at Betfair? These 200 bettors really have nobody to blame but themselves. I doubt there are too many people out there that do not know how shady Betfair has become.

This normally happens after an event is thought to have been rigged. Normally, (in the UK), the jockey club and/or racetrack stewards will suspend the result pending a "stewards enquiry" where something went wrong in the race itself, or the jockey club will investigate later on if concern is raised that the result had been fixed in advance, and big bets placed on this outcome.

This case was neither of these, the race went fine, and the result stood. It is purely Betfair that had this issue, and blaming the whole thing on "bots", as well as admitting it wasn't one of their "house bots", but that of a small time customer, is what seems to be the worry. What if the horse had LOST in the end, this small time customer would have won a fortune, and who knows if Betfair would have noticed given that THEY were not facing a huge liabilty.

The revelation that it operates these house bots shows that Betfair do NOT merely operate an exchange, but actually take part in the action themselves.


Their exchange is similar to the London Stock exchange, and winners here are almost worshipped, and do NOT suddenly face 60% sales commission from their brokers just because they consistently beat the index. There is no need, the brokers STILL make their money from the volume of transactions, so would NOT want to drive successful traders to a different exchange, or encourage them to hold shares for longer between trades.

Betfair should be the same, the more bets matched, the more money they make. It shouldn't matter what the outcome is, and by having "pros" and bookies use the site they benefit from a boost in liquidity, which means that those who want to place a particular bet are more likely to find a match for it.

The current impression is of a site that HATES winners, whether this is from sports or in the casino. Even though unaffected, the average joe realises that if they actually achieve the dream of beating the exchange, they too will be made to suffer via arbitrary hikes in charges and even retrospective confiscation of funds.

I expect some of those bettors screwed out of a big win through some barely credible excuse will look again at whether Betfair is the ONLY place that can satisfy their needs.

Those city investors that bought heavily in the flotation must be pretty annoyed, as they too have been screwed by a string of management "accidents" that have dragged the share price right down.

[DiamondGeezer]

Betfair have said they have no problem with an investigation by the UK Gambling Commission, and if ever there was a case that indicated this was necessary, this is it.

Given the recent decline in the company's way of doing things, and the magnitude of the current debacle, I would expect the Commission to show some interest once everyone returns from the holidays.

I wonder if that will come about?

In the Racing Post on Saturday the UK Gambling Commission said they were unable to investigate as Betfair is registered in Gibralter. There is simply nothing they can do as Betfair do not trade (legally speaking) in the UK. I think the Betfair statement needs to be interpreted in the context of this.