1. Simplistic enough. Sounds more like a promotion trick than a real game.
2. The Sporting Exchange has outsourced the development of this game (and others) to a Swedish team.
3. The Swedish people won a “multi-year” contract. I don’t understand which partner is responsible for the creation of future games. Probably both, but it’s not clear. To get new game ideas, I would rather bid for them around the planet (just like book publishers and movie producers are looking out for good scripts) —as opposed to have a “multi-year” contract with someone, even a talented someone. (And in the case under my very nose, I can’t see any talent, here.)
4. In both Internet Explorer and Mozilla FireFox, there are usability problems, as you can see in the screen shot. This BetFair site (just like their corporate site) was not designed to be fluid. A shame.

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I was totally damn wrong, and I will tell you why. The criterion I had in mind was the quality of web journalism produced. It turned out that’s not the criterion that matters, for companies. The criterion that is important for them is whether these corporate media outlets bring in new revenues —thanks to the bombardments of highly visible registration ads.

#1. I have the highest esteem for BetFair’s David Yu.

#2. The main BetFair site and its sub-sites are near perfect —I would like the odds and the volumes displayed on a single page, somewhere, for the bloggers to pick easily essential data, if I were allowed to give a suggestion.

#3. The corporate site, BetFair Corporate, is badly designed. You need first to know that I use FireFox with Times New Roman, size 16. When I go to their corporate website, and put the cursor of my mouse on any item of the menu, the sub-menu appears one mile away from my cursor… and when I move my mouse to catch this run-amok sub-menu, it vanishes in cyberspace for the obvious reason that I have left the main menu. It drives me crazy; I’m unable to navigate the BetFair corporate website for this reason. In my previous blog post, I have a screen shot that shows very clearly that, in my FireFox rendering, the sub-menu is far away from where it should be —bad web design. I just passed my frustration to Mister Yu —my goal was to get noticed.

From the BetFair’s Help sub-website:

How do betting exchanges work?

A betting exchange is a bookie which uses technology to make sure you get a better price. It does that by reducing its risk, which means it doesn’t have to build in extra margin as a safety cushion. The effect is that punters bet on the price they want, and not the price they’re told they can have.

Imagine two friends having a bet while watching a football match; an impartial observer holding the money while the game is played. A betting exchange works in the same way: our members bet against each other, and Betfair hold the stakes until the bet is settled.

What are the benefits of a betting exchange account?

Unlike traditional bookmakers, who employ people to compile the odds that they offer, Betfair don’t set odds, or bet in any event. We simply set up a market for our members to bet against each other. This means three main benefits for members:

- On average 20% better odds
If you want to back a selection, the odds are likely to be better than a traditional bookmaker, because individuals are betting on their opinion rather than building a margin into their price as a bookmaker does.

- Back or Lay
On a betting exchange you can back your selection to win in the “traditional” manner. Alternatively you can take the other side of the market and back a selection not to win (or “lay”), by offering odds to other members. The ability to back or lay a selection provides the added benefit of allowing you to “trade” a position and lay your bet back if it looks the likely winner, to guarantee yourself a profit.

- Bet in-play
Because there so many members around the world asking for and accepting odds while an event is “in-play”, you can back or lay right up to the final whistle of a football match or up to the last second of a horse race.

How do betting exchanges make money?

Betfair take a small commission from people who win on a market. If you lose on a market you pay no commission. For a greater explanation of our commission structure, how it works and how much you pay, see here

Why Betfair?

Betfair is by some way the world’s largest betting exchange and, with over 100,000 members betting each month from all over the world, there are members waiting to match your bet 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Who are Betfair?

Betfair was launched in June 2000 by co-founders Andrew Black and Edward Wray. Generally regarded as one of Britain’s most successful and innovative companies, Betfair now employ over 600 people and have won a host of awards since our launch, including the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise. You can find out more about the company, its performance and results at our corporate site:

www.betfaircorporate.com