Betfair and the notion of a global exchange

Greg Nichols, Betfair’s Managing Director of sporting affairs, has acknowledged that the company has aspirations for a global betting exchange that would include the US market.

“Ultimately, it is our ultimate objective that we would like to see the betting exchange as an opportunity worldwide,” Nichols told The Blood-Horse in a recent telephone interview from his United Kingdom office. “Not just in the U.S., where our initial foray into the U.S. is limited to pari-mutuel…we have been aggressive in trying to strike up relationships with various racing jurisdictions to bet pari-mutuel and betting exchange.”

“It’s something that will evolve…obviously, it is predicated on an alignment of the stars for that to happen,” said Nichols.

“Because we don’t take a position, because it is people effectively betting into small pools of varying amounts, we see ourselves as a more contemporary form of pari-mutuel, a more modern form of pari-mutuel.”

“This is a comment damning of me as well as anyone else involved in horse racing, and that is, innovation is not something that has been featured prominently in Thoroughbred horse racing,” Nichols said. “People like me who have a passion for horse racing are in dwindling numbers. Racing needs to take a more contemporary approach to the way it has promoted itself, to the way it presents itself as a betting option.”