Cooperation between BetFair and the British Horseracing Authority: IT IS WORKING.

No GravatarVia betting market expert Niall O&#8217-Connor, The Guardian:

Tom and Mark are the betting analysts in the security department at the British Horseracing Authority, and the breadth and power of the information at their disposal is remarkable. The sport in general now accepts that Betfair works closely with the regulators to fight corruption. It is still startling, though, to see it at first hand. To the analysts, individual accounts are numbers, not names, and the identities of those behind them remain Betfair&#8217-s business unless the investigators have cause for concern. Every bet placed on Betfair is logged on the system within seconds, while at any one time, around 100 &#8220-flagged&#8221- accounts will be receiving particular attention. Bets are recorded, patterns noted and, where necessary, local stewards informed of suspicious betting patterns. On the other side of the desk, another member of the department is compiling information received from the betting analysts and elsewhere, which may eventually become evidence for a BHA disciplinary panel. [&#8230-]

&#8220-When we first signed the memorandum of understanding with Betfair [which allowed the department access to the exchange&#8217-s betting information] we were sending &#8216-red alerts&#8217- to local stewards all the time,&#8221- he says, &#8220-which meant that we had deep concerns about the betting patterns on a particular horse. Now, I can hardly remember the last time we sent out a red alert. [&#8230-]

Great.

There aren&#8217-t any &#8220-memorandum of understanding&#8221- between TradeSports-InTrade and the US sporting bodies.

Previous: BetFair has an anti-fraud team whereas InTrade-TradeSports has none.

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UPDATE: Chris Hibbert comments on the lack of cooperation between TradeSports and the sports bodies (which is a fact)&#8230-

Don’t the US Sporting Bodies consider betting (other than regulated domestic bodies) to be illegal? Why would TradeSports approach them? Why would it read any missives they sent? And vice versa, why would the domestic bodies contact or welcome contact from TS?

If TS offered to provide info on suspicious activities, the American authorities would ask for a list of all Americans in their DB, and then go after anyone they received details on. This isn’t useful to TS. British authorities, OTOH, make a distinction between good customers and bad customers, and believe there are many more of the former than the latter.

UPDATE: Mike Giberson makes a counter-point&#8230-

Chris Hibbert makes a good point, but given that NFL security reportedly maintains contacts with illegal gambling operations to help the NFL detect possible corruption, presumably the NFL and other U.S. sports leagues could work out some arrangement with legal companies operating outside the United States, such as TradeSports, that wouldn’t require the companies to help the U.S. enforce its local laws.

Read the previous blog posts by Chris F. Masse:

  • Terrorism Futures
  • InTrade-TradeSports and BetFair-TradeFair should take a close look at Cantor Fitzgerald’s strategy to gain a share of the $100 billion U.S. gambling industry.
  • The secrecy-seeking Mark Davies is solely to blame for all this mess… but this vibrating BetFair spin doctor has managed to repair the PR damages quite brillantly, it shall be said.
  • A Betting Exchange = A Bookmaker —> !??
  • BetFair’s new bet matching logic + BetFair Malta’s trading on the multiples
  • Dick Cheney, the new Churchill?
  • BetFair Malta’s combo market maker (trading algorithm + human market makers) operating on the multiples

3 thoughts on “Cooperation between BetFair and the British Horseracing Authority: IT IS WORKING.

  1. Chris Hibbert said:

    “There aren’t any “memorandum of understanding” between TradeSports-InTrade and the US sporting bodies.”

    Don’t the US Sporting Bodies consider betting (other than regulated domestic bodies) to be illegal? Why would TradeSports approach them? Why would it read any missives they sent? And vice versa, why would the domestic bodies contact or welcome contact from TS?

    If TS offered to provide info on suspicious activities, the American authorities would ask for a list of all Americans in their DB, and then go after anyone they received details on. This isn’t useful to TS. British authorities, OTOH, make a distinction between good customers and bad customers, and believe there are many more of the former than the latter.

  2. Chris. F. Masse said:

    Thanks for your comment. I have added it as an addendum in the blog post.

  3. Michael Giberson said:

    Chris Hibbert makes a good point, but given that NFL security reportedly maintains contacts with illegal gambling operations to help the NFL detect possible corruption, presumably the NFL and other U.S. sports leagues could work out some arrangement with legal companies operating outside the United States, such as TradeSports, that wouldn’t require the companies to help the U.S. enforce its local laws.

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