Comments on: Reverse engineering of a nasty BetFair rumor that made rounds on Midas Oracle and elsewhere http://www.midasoracle.org/2008/05/22/betfair-rumor/ Prediction Markets For All Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:16:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Medemi http://www.midasoracle.org/2008/05/22/betfair-rumor/#comment-19422 Medemi Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:31:50 +0000 http://www.midasoracle.org/?p=6966#comment-19422 <em>It would happen, occasionally, that one country’s laws would allow fixed-odds bookmakers —but not betting exchanges. </em> <em>BetFair would still want to operate in that country –as a bookmaker, not as a prediction exchange– to have its name out there —with the long-term goal of reverting it to a full exchange, once the laws will have been modified, later on, in the future. - </em>What the hell is that ? Did my IQ just drop 30 points ? It would happen, occasionally, that one country’s laws would allow fixed-odds bookmakers —but not betting exchanges.
BetFair would still want to operate in that country –as a bookmaker, not as a prediction exchange– to have its name out there —with the long-term goal of reverting it to a full exchange, once the laws will have been modified, later on, in the future.

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What the hell is that ? Did my IQ just drop 30 points ?

]]> By: Ed Murray http://www.midasoracle.org/2008/05/22/betfair-rumor/#comment-19416 Ed Murray Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:40:18 +0000 http://www.midasoracle.org/?p=6966#comment-19416 <em>BetFair began to hire people to provide prices and manage risk for that Internet sportsbook. - </em>I'm sorry, but this makes no sense at all.  Providing prices is one thing, but the second any bets are struck, trading is taking place on the sports concerned.  The function of the internal BF traders was to offset liabilities run up from their multiples operation, and hence the 41,000 bets which Mark Davies says that team placed.  They actually didn't spend a single minute "providing prices", bands were put up at a margin above and below the current BF trading prices on selected sports, for people to bet on as part of multiples.  Popular selections, such as backing heavy favourites woudl then ring up big liabilities, and the goal of the BF trading team is to offset that.  It currently isn't a goal to make active profits through betting using inside knowledge, which is a practise that both Sporting Options and Cantor Spreadfair both use, as does every single traditional bookmaker.  It is standard practise in the bookmaking industry, apart from, so far, Betfair. BetFair began to hire people to provide prices and manage risk for that Internet sportsbook.
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I’m sorry, but this makes no sense at all.  Providing prices is one thing, but the second any bets are struck, trading is taking place on the sports concerned.  The function of the internal BF traders was to offset liabilities run up from their multiples operation, and hence the 41,000 bets which Mark Davies says that team placed.  They actually didn’t spend a single minute “providing prices”, bands were put up at a margin above and below the current BF trading prices on selected sports, for people to bet on as part of multiples.  Popular selections, such as backing heavy favourites woudl then ring up big liabilities, and the goal of the BF trading team is to offset that.  It currently isn’t a goal to make active profits through betting using inside knowledge, which is a practise that both Sporting Options and Cantor Spreadfair both use, as does every single traditional bookmaker.  It is standard practise in the bookmaking industry, apart from, so far, Betfair.

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