Time magazine interview the 2 BetFair-Tradefair co-founders, and not a single time do they pronounce the magic words, “prediction markets”.
Chris F. Masse April 22nd, 2008
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We’re one of the very, very few Internet betting companies that have never taken a bet out of the U.S., and that’s because our view has always been it is illegal, which it clearly is now, and so long as it’s illegal, we’re not going to do it. That’s a long-term strategy. Clearly some people made good money out of taking bets out of the U.S. in the short term, [and] have now found themselves in trouble with the authorities. Gambling should be regulated, we’re very comfortable with that. There are things that need to be safeguarded — how you look after vulnerable people, how you make sure it’s a clean, above board business, etc. — you don’t achieve that by prohibiting business. You achieve it by regulating it. The U.S. has tried prohibition once before and it wasn’t a roaring success. And I think they’ll find the same thing here. I don’t know how long it will take, but I’m more confident than ever that the U.S. market will open up, and when it does, we will be right at the hub of it. It’s frustrating to us that people in the U.S. can’t access Betfair. But we go out of our way to make sure they can’t because the law is the law and we will always respect that.
- Entrepreneurship , Exchanges & Markets , Inventions & Innovations , People , Regulations
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