Question asked on May 5, 2011 (United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum):
At present, the UK uses the “first past the post” system to elect MPs to the House of Commons. Should the “alternative vote” system be used instead?
Here’-s BetFair’-s prediction market on the YES side:
Tipped by Mike Robb.
BetFair chairman Ed Wray: “-Too many hurdles in the way of enterprise”-.
Wray refers to a tax incentive that he and Black used to launch Betfair after they were forced to go to friends and family for funds, having failed to raise capital from institutional investors.
“-That was very useful in terms of getting the business off the ground. Everything I see now is about cutting back on those opportunities.”-
The UK Gambling Commission is not “-coming after BetFair and Betdaq”-. They’-ll be looking at all operators. Almost all UK-based betting operators (betting exchanges and bookmakers) offer “-in-play”- betting, these days.
The UK Gambling Commission’-s approach (so far) to in-play betting is to insist that bookmakers and betting exchanges tell bettors and traders that “-live”- TV reporting of sports events is actually delayed a bit —-and that some people may be watching the action ahead of them.
Only one betting company in the UK is already compliant with this standard, and displays warnings to its customers: BetFair.