News

Carter punished for betting scam

Former jockey Gary Carter has been fined £2,000 and warned off for five years following the latest corruption case to blight British racing.

The former champion apprentice, now living in Spain, was found guilty of providing information for reward, aiding and abetting a breach of the rules, associating with an excluded person, and endeavouring to mislead Jockey Club officials.

The disciplinary panel focused on Carter informing warned-off punter Christopher Coleman that eight horses he rode in the late summer of 2003 would not win, knowing Coleman and his associates would lay the horses on the betting exchanges.

A total of £483,790 was risked in relation to the races on five Betfair accounts linked to Coleman who, with his colleagues, profited to the tune of £83,121 when all eight Carter mounts were beaten.

Oct 6: There is no place in racing for jockeys who behave as Carter behaved (RP)

Oct 7: Coleman facing a ban from high street bookies (RP)

Betdaq increases commission rate

Betdaq have launched a new commission structure that will bring the site into line with rival exchange Betfair by ‘taxing’ all winning punters a basic five per cent from the start of 2006.

The betting exchange, founded by entrepreneur Dermot Desmond, was launched four years ago with a fanfare aimed at high rollers. They prided themselves on a three per cent rate but have since failed to match Betfair in the publicity stakes, along with liquidity on most markets.

The five per cent commission rate is in force for new clients, with existing customers retaining three per cent until the end of October and four per cent until the end of the year.

Sep 16: The Fly on the Wall is left baffled by the Betdaq situation (RP)

Betfair criticised over dodgy accounts

Racing Post betting industry columnist Jim Cremin criticised Betfair for allowing innocent punters to be fleeced, following reports that the betting exchange kept suspicious accounts open for the Jockey Club to monitor.

The criticism came after the betting exchange corroborated key details of a Racing Post report into a gambling ring seeking to profit from laying horses it knew would not win.

Mark Davies of Betfair admitted that the allegations published by the Racing Post in the report had given his company some PR problems with some customers expressing their concern at the thought of being hoodwinked.

Jun 30: Dubious morality of keeping open dodgy accounts (RP)

Hill steps down as Betfair chief

Stephen Hill has resigned as Chief Executive at Betfair.

It’s reported that Hill decided to pursue plans for a new venture after a recent board meeting confirmed the betting exchange has no intention to float on the stock exchange in the immediate future.

Sir Robert Horton will now take the role of Executive Chairman, while operational matters will be handled by Chief Operating Officer David Yu.

Related links:

Oct 15: Abandoned float pushes Betfair chief to quit (Telegraph)

Oct 15: Betfair chief quits as firm postpones float plan (Times)

Racing slammed over panic TV deal

Channel 4 have received over £4m from the racing industry to keep regular British horseracing on its terrestrial service in 2006, after the broadcaster threatened to end its coverage altogether.

The deal has been criticised by John Brown, former chairman of William Hill, who accused racing’s leaders of lacking a clear strategy and failing to consider the implications of their actions.

The broadcaster will receive £3m from the Tote and £1m from the Levy Board to cover 74 days of live racing and transmit The Morning Line. Betfair will contribute £150,000.

Jun 22: ‘Panic’ agreement with C4 a serious mistake – Brown (RP)

Dog track bans betting exchanges

Punters at Walthamstow dog track have been banned from using betting exchanges following continuous complaints from on-course bookmakers.

It is thought the problem particularly relates to punters using handheld devices, particularly in the Ladbrokes betting shop. However, it’s unclear how the use of PDAs and WAP-enabled mobiles will be policed.

The news comes two years after Wimbledon dog track set a precedent by banning laptop computers after similar complaints.

Betfair pays its way with £19.6m

Betfair handed over nearly £5.2m to the Levy Board and paid £14.4m in gross profits tax to the Treasury for the year ended April 30, their annual report confirmed.

The news did little to support claims from the bookmaking industry that Betfair are benefitting from an unlevel playing field in terms of levy and taxation.

Revenue increased to £107.1m, up more than 60 per cent on the previous year, with the number of monthly users of Betfair rising from 65,000 to 95,000.

Sporting Options creditors lose £1.8m

Unsecured creditors of Sporting Options will not get any of the £1.8m owed to them, administrators have confirmed.

The betting exchange collapsed last November with a ‘black hole’ in their accounts and Kevin Griffiths, founder and managing director, will lose the £1.1m he loaned the company.

Banks will lose the £285,000 owed to them, while the crown (Inland Revenue and HM Customs & Excise) will have to write off £280,000.

Packer backs Betfair Aussie bid

Betfair’s efforts to gain a licence to operate legally in Australia are being backed by the nation’s richest man and opinion Down Under is that a thumbs-up will be inevitable.

Kerry Packer is a man of unquestionable clout and his company, Packer’s Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd, have been negotiating with the Tasmanian state government on behalf of Betfair to obtain a licence there.

In effect, this would give them the rights to operate across the whole country but the move is being met by opposition in the form of Australia’s other authorities who see the betting exchange as a threat to their revenues and racing industries.

Sep 21: Betfair boost from man who brought us pyjama cricket (RP)

Former BHB chief hits out at Betfair

Peter Savill has slammed Betfair’s attempts to move into the Australian market, by accusing the betting exchange of not paying their way in the UK racing industry.

The former chairman of the British Horseracing Board made his comments in a column for the Racing Post in August, sparking a fervent response from some of the paper’s regular columnists and Mark Davies, Betfair’s Director of Communications.

Davies, who had been personally accused of “dangerous manipulation” with regards to a radio interview he gave Down Under, responded by suggesting that Savill’s argument was “founded on economics worthy of pre-school.”

Aug 13: Williams: Let’s get one thing straight – Betfair are friends of racing (RP)

Aug 18: Ashforth: Savill cuts Betfair cloth to suit his argument (RP)

Aug 19: Davies: Claims that Betfair doesn’t pay its way are unfounded (RP)

Betfair introduce virtual poker

Betting on virtual events was a concept first introduced by bookmakers in a bid to resuscitate their ailing profits following the advent of betting exchanges but now Betfair have also embraced the idea with Exchange Poker.

The new initiative is the flagship product of the Betfairgames website and offers punters the opportunity to trade on the fluctuating fortunes of four players in a hand of virtual Texas Hold ‘Em poker.

It’s believed the product, described as the “exciting new brainchild” of Betfair founder Andrew Black, will make a real impact and may herald a long line of virtual betting products for the Malta-based wing of the company.

Betfair move to settle markets quicker

Betfair have ditched their cautious approach to settling bets on British and Irish horse racing by announcing a faster settlement procedure.

The initiative, introduced on a trial basis from September 14 following feedback from their customers, could cut the time taken to settle bets from 15 minutes down to less than five minutes

Customers have been invited to offer further feedback by mailing the betting exchange at earlysettlementtrial@betfair.com.

Betfair keen to solve Saturday problems

Betfair have moved to reassure customers that problems they experienced on successive Saturdays in September will be fully investigated and treated with utmost importance.

The betting exchange was taken down for over an hour at 2pm on September 10 and again for 10 minutes as a precautionary measure on September 17, with one explanation being that the site is becoming a victim of its own success on the busiest day of the sporting week and their servers cannot cope.

Bet settlements in some markets have since been ‘staggered’ on Saturdays, meaning winning punters with limited funds in their accounts have been forced to wait for up to 50 minutes before being able to place another bet.

Slow starts on the increase

Alarming figures uncovered by the Racing Post show that the number of horses dwelling at the start of races has risen every year from 1993 to 2004 with twice as many runners now flopping out of the stalls as did 12 years ago.

The news came after the paper’s Sports Betting editor Bruce Millington proposed that the Jockey Club considers employing a stalls steward at the start of races.

It was thought the move would deter unscrupulous riders from getting away slowly so that associates can lay them on the exchanges.

Racing's SP system under threat

The traditional Starting Price system used by bookmakers to settle bets on horse racing could soon be extinct as on-course bookmakers continue to reduce over-rounds by using the exchanges to cover their liabilities.

Over the last three years, bookies’ theoretical gross profit margins have dropped by more than 30 per cent as the average over-round per runner has dropped form 2.2 per cent to around 1.5 per cent.

David Harding, Chief Executive of William Hill, has gone on record saying the present situation isn’t sustainable even with increased turnover. However, it’s unclear how the current system would be replaced and the effect any alternative is likely to have on betting shop punters.

Betfair punters pledge £6,000 for Kinane

Betfair punters rallied to the aid of Chris Kinane over the summer, donating over £6,000 to a trust fund after the trainer’s assistant suffered horrific head injuries when kicked by a horse in the paddock at Wolverhampton last April.

The betting exchange pledged £1,000 of their own money when opening up a special account for customer donations.

Kinane has recently been transferred from the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Birmingham to the city's Moseley Hall Rehabilitaion Unit after 16 operations.

Oct 20: Kinane in switch from hospital to rehab unit (RP)

Betfair blamed for drop in Irish turnover

Ireland’s on-course bookmakers announced an eight per cent drop in turnover over the first six months of 2005, blaming the influence of Betfair and digital satellite channel At The Races.

The layers are angry with Horse Racing Ireland for not doing more to stop what they regard as alarming figures, insisting that racecourses have “sold out lock, stock and barrel”.

However, HRI chief executive Brian Kavanagh disagreed, pointing to a nine per cent turnover increase for the month of June as an upturn in the situation.

Racing Post outage causes market confusion

Punters critical of the Racing Post’s ability to predict the racing markets may have cause to alter their judgement after a technical problem brought their website down on September 11.

Forecasted odds for the following day’s racing didn’t appear on the paper’s website until four hours after Betfair had opened their markets, during which time some bizarre prices were matched.

Regal Connection and Rubenstar were the pick of the bunch, both matched at 7.0 and above before the Post’s forecasted odds became available, which had them priced at 3/1 and 4/1 respectively.

Finns probe match-fixing allegations

The Finnish football authorities launched an investigation into Haka’s 8-0 win over Allianssi last July following reports of suspicious betting patterns on the match.

Allianssi’s coach Theirry Pister gave debuts to nine players, even though his team had conceded just seven goals in their previous 11 outings.

Haka were backed at no lower than 1.7 on Betfair.

Related links:

Jul 23: Finns launch bets probe (RP)

Unusual UEFA Cup betting returns

Unusual betting patterns re-surfaced in the UEFA Cup when punters flocked to back the 2-2 draw in the first round second leg match between Aris Thessalonika and Roma on September 29.

The Italians were leading 5-1 from the first leg and the 2-2 correct score for the return was backed as low as 4.1 when bookmakers suspended betting on the outcome. However, the game finished 0-0.

Last season’s competition was soured by a series of suspicious matches after Europe’s governing body introduced a new format for the tournament, which threw up a host of meaningless fixtures towards the end of the group stages.

Punters warned over bogus email threat

Punters are warned to be on their guard against bogus emails claiming to be from the ‘security department’ of Betfair or various bookmakers.

The scam, known as ‘phishing’, can take the form of an emailed message that pretends to be from the exchange but has the intention of extracting personal information that can be used to commit fraud.

A spate of incidents were reported throughout the summer and punters have been warned not to reply to any such email or follow any link contained within them.