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Betfair is a British gambling company which operates the world's largest online betting exchange. Its product offering also includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. Founded in 2000, the business is split into two divisions, UK and International. UK operations are conducted from its headquarters in
Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London ...
in
Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness Greatness is a concept of a state of superiority affecting a person or object in a particular place or area. Greatness can also be attributed to individuals who possess a natural ability to be better than al ...
, while its International business operates from its overseas hubs in
Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
and
Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territori ...
,
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...
. In February 2016, Betfair merged with Paddy Power to create
Flutter Entertainment Flutter Entertainment plc (formerly Paddy Power Betfair plc) is an Irish gambling holding company created by the merger of Paddy Power and Betfair, and the later acquisition of The Stars Group. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and i ...
.


History

The company was founded in June 2000, by Andrew Black and Edward Wray. Softbank purchased 23% of Betfair in early April 2006, valuing the company at £1.5 billion. In December 2006, Betfair completed the purchase of the horseracing publishing company Timeform (which traded under the name Portway Press Ltd). Betfair was the first betting company to sponsor an English football team, featuring on the kit of
Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...
in the 2002–03 season before the Gambling Act 2005 permitted the industry to advertise on television and radio. In March 2007, Betfair launched its own Betfair Radio service, available via its website, on the telephone and elsewhere. This has now become Timeform Radio, broadcasting horse racing commentary and results. On 27 January 2009, Betfair announced the purchase of the
TVG Network FanDuel TV is an American List of sports television channels, sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television, satellite television network owned by FanDuel, FanDuel Group, the U.S. subsidiary of Irish bookmaker Flutter Entertainment. Fo ...
in the United States from Macrovision US$50 million as part of Macrovision's dissolving of
TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corporat ...
's assets. In November 2009, Betfair announced a deal with the New York Racing Association that allows Betfair's customers to start wagering immediately on Aqueduct's thoroughbreeding races. Betfair floated on the
London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
with a stock symbol of BET on 22 October 2010 at £13, valuing the company at £1.4bn ($2.2bn). In March 2011, the company moved some of its operations to
Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = "Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gibr ...
to reduce the amount they paid in tax. In May 2012, Betfair launched a Sportsbook ( fixed-odds betting) service to compete with traditional bookmakers. In August 2014, Net Entertainment NE AB entered into a partnership with Betfair to expand its reach into the market in the United Kingdom. It was announced in September 2015 that Paddy Power and Betfair had agreed terms for a merger. The transaction was structured as an acquisition of Betfair by Paddy Power and the enlarged entity, named Paddy Power Betfair, is based in Dublin. The merger was completed on 2 February 2016.


Operations

As of 2013, Betfair had over 4 million customers (1.1 million active customers) and a turnover in excess of £50 million a week.O'Hare, Sean
"Betfair moves operations to Gibraltar"
. ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...
''. 9 March 2011. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
The company employed 1,800 people worldwide. Betfair claims on average 20 per cent better odds than those offered by a traditional bookmaker. Betfair charges a commission on all winning bets, the market base rate is set at between 5 and 7 percent of the net winnings for most markets, depending on the country you reside, although according to how much a client wagers on the site, it is possible to reduce the base rate by as much as 60%. However, if a bettor on the website is efficiently profitable Betfair will require them to pay at least 20% and up to 60% of gross profits in total charges after they have participated in 250 markets. These charges are non-refundable if the bettor's account subsequently goes or reverts to an unprofitable status. . In late autumn of 2005, Betfair finalised a deal that began in early summer, to purchase the online poker site ''PokerChamps.com'', which the company will integrate into its network, replacing a poker arm that previously used gaming technology
software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consist ...
from CryptoLogic Inc. In a press release, the company's then poker head, Ben Fried, stated: "Having our own poker software puts us in command of our own destiny. It means we can react quickly to customer feedback and continue to develop an innovative, community focused product. We are confident that we are laying the foundations of a market leading poker room". Cash 4 Clubs is a sports funding scheme set up and funded by Betfair. The scheme provides sports grants to local community sports clubs.


Overseas business

Betfair owns subsidiaries in the United States. The main company is
TVG Network FanDuel TV is an American List of sports television channels, sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television, satellite television network owned by FanDuel, FanDuel Group, the U.S. subsidiary of Irish bookmaker Flutter Entertainment. Fo ...
, which is dedicated to horse racing, broadcasting live races as well as race analysis, interviews, handicapping tips and features. It was acquired in 2009 for $50m. Betfair also has a subsidiary called BetfairCasino.com which is a
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...
licensed provider of online gaming products. In February 2014, Betfair were granted two online gambling licenses by the State Gambling Commission of
Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
. On 7 April 2014, Betfair launched its betfair exchange in Italy. In May 2016, it launched a betting exchange in New Jersey, United States. In March 2018, Betfair successfully trialled an auto-cash out feature with its live betting customers in the UK and Ireland. The features allow players to lock in their chosen profit. In April 2021, Betfair successfully relaunched as Stardust Casino in New Jersey, 15 years after the closure of the famous Las Vegas-based
Stardust Resort and Casino The Stardust Resort and Casino was a casino resort located on along the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. The Stardust was conceived by Tony Cornero, and construction began in 1954. Cornero died in 1955, and the project was taken over by h ...
. In December 2021, Betfair announced the launch of their online casino overseas. Although already established within the online sports betting industry, the company launched its online casino available online to consumers residing in the UK, New Jersey, Argentina, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Iceland, Ireland and select states in the US.


Australia

In November 2005 the Tasmanian government announced a deal to license
Betfair Australia Betfair Australia is the Australian operation of the web betting exchange, Betfair. Established in 2005, Betfair Australia operates Australia's only betting exchange under a Tasmanian Gaming Licence. Since August 2014 Betfair Australia has been ...
in the state. It was the second licence awarded to Betfair outside the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
, the first being in
Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
with subsequent licences following in Austria and Germany, and Tasmania now receives substantial tax revenues. However it infuriated the established monopolistic totalisators and bookmakers (due to loss of revenue) and governments (due to loss of taxes) in the other
Australian state The states and territories are federated administrative divisions in Australia, ruled by regional governments that constitute the second level of governance between the federal government and local governments. States are self-governing ...
s. A ban on the use of betting exchanges took effect in Western Australia on 29 January 2007, with Betfair successfully claiming this new law violated the
Constitution of Australia The Constitution of Australia (or Australian Constitution) is a constitutional document that is supreme law in Australia. It establishes Australia as a federation under a constitutional monarchy and outlines the structure and powers of the A ...
. In a unanimous verdict by the
High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established following passage of the '' Judiciary Act 1903''. ...
on 27 March 2008, the two provisions of the legislation, purporting to ban Western Australians from using a betting exchange and prohibiting an unauthorised business from using Western Australian race lists, were declared invalid as they applied to Betfair. The provisions were characterised as imposing a burden on interstate trade that was protectionist in nature and therefore contravened section 92 of the constitution. The Court decision suggests, but leaves open, that a more narrowly drafted ban may have been allowed (e.g., banning people in Western Australia from laying "lose bets" on events held in Western Australia).. In the 2012 High Court case of ''Betfair Pty Limited v Racing New South Wales'', Betfair's appeal, against a newly enacted fee to access New South Welsh vital race field information, was rejected.. The Court held that the relevant law would have no discriminatory or protectionist effect on interstate trade, thereby complying with section 92 of the Constitution of Australia, and that Betfair had not proven that the fee would cause significant economic damage (not to the extent of the appellants in '' Castlemaine Tooheys Ltd v South Australia''.). In August 2014, Betfair completed the sale of their 50% stake in Betfair Australia to venture partner
Crown Resorts Crown Resorts Limited is Australia's largest gaming and entertainment group that owns and operates two of Australia's leading gambling and entertainment complexes, Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth. It was listed on the Australian Securities E ...
, one of Australia's largest gaming and entertainment groups.


Chief executive officers

In October 2005, chief executive Stephen Hill announced his resignation when the board decided not to proceed with plans for a
stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange, ...
flotation, the investors holding out for a higher valuation. In January 2006, Chief Technology Officer
David Yu David Yu (born 6 November 1967) is the former chief executive officer of Internet betting exchange Betfair and a tech investor. Education and early career Yu studied computer science at UC Berkeley and Stanford. He moved to London from California i ...
was appointed Chief executive of Betfair. In December 2011, after overseeing the company's 2010
Initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...
Yu resigned his position. Breon Corcoran, who was formerly employed by Paddy Power, was appointed in August 2012.


Sponsorship

Betfair has sponsored many sporting events, teams and organisations, including
Barcelona F.C. Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...
and
Conmebol The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Surina ...
– South American football's governing body.


Controversies


Illegal dividends

In its 2014 annual report, the betting firm admitted that its final dividend in 2011 and the interim and final dividends for 2012 and 2013 were paid erroneously because, by law, the "company did not have sufficient distributable reserves to make those distributions and so they should not have been paid by the company to its shareholders". Betfair also admitted that the purchase of 6.5 million shares in April 2012 was executed when the "company did not have sufficient distributable reserves".


Data theft

In September 2011, Betfair admitted that it had concealed the theft of confidential customer data from the company's 2010 share prospectus. The theft included the payment card details of most of its customers, "3.15m account usernames with encrypted security questions", "2.9m usernames with one or more addresses" and "89,744 account usernames with bank account details". The company further stated that it had informed the Serious Organised Crime Agency of the incident which happened on 14 March 2010 but was not discovered by Betfair data security until 20 May that year.


In play betting concerns

Betfair offer in play betting on a variety of horseracing events. There has been some controversy over alleged
broadcast delay In radio and television, broadcast delay is an intentional delay when broadcasting live material, technically referred to as a deferred live. Such a delay may be to prevent mistakes or unacceptable content from being broadcast. Longer delays las ...
s of up to five seconds. Among the bettors on Betfair's exchange are companies that place high-speed automated bets using predictive models. Some of these companies use courtsiding data transmitted directly from agents located at the event, giving them an edge over recreational punters who do not receive the latest scores as quickly. The practice drew widespread scrutiny after one such agent, working for a company established by former Betfair employees, was arrested at the 2014 Australian Open; charges were later dropped.


Advertising

In September 2009, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned Betfair from running two billboard adverts which claimed that their Starting Price (SP) offered 40% better returns, on average than the industry SP. The ASA found that only 10% of the bets used by Betfair in their calculations yielded at least 40% better returns than the industry SP. In February 2011, the ASA banned another Betfair advert, that stated "On Betfair, you cut out the middle man, which means you could win bigger". The regulator said that the description "cutting out the middleman" was ambiguous and misleading, because the site takes a commission fee on winnings, which could be perceived as a middleman role.


Premium charge

In September 2008, Betfair introduced a "Premium Charge" for wagerers whose winnings are particularly high compared to the amount of commission they pay. Specifically, members whose commission charges amount to less than 20% of their gross profits, and have placed bets in at least 250 markets, are required to pay the additional charge to make up the difference. Though Betfair stated that the charge would only affect less than 0.5% of its members, it attracted criticism on its member forum and from the broader exchange betting community. According to ''The Guardian'', the charge significantly changed the relationship between Betfair and its customers, as Betfair can no longer claim to be a neutral betting exchange "where winners are welcome" (its mantra for many years). In June 2011 Betfair raised its Premium Charge to 60% for some customers, a move which was met by outrage.


Sports integrity

Betfair has noted that they have signed numerous information sharing agreements with governing bodies around the world, with whom they cooperate on matters if the latter suspects corruption to have taken place. Betfair has agreements with some thirty sports bodies, such as the Lawn Tennis Association and the British Horseracing Association, and has been instrumental in several high-profile investigations into suspicious betting. In June 2010, high-profile racehorse owner and professional gambler Harry Findlay was banned by the British Horseracing Authority for using Betfair to bet against his own horse, Gullible Gordon. At the disciplinary hearing into Findlay's betting against Gullible Gordon, it was revealed that Findlay had been in financial difficulty and that Betfair had allowed him to use the account of a friend, racehorse owner Eammon Wilmott. In a further twist, the bets were actually made by Findlay "associate" Glenn Gill. Betfair themselves condemned the punishing of Findlay, saying the punishment was not "proportionate or consistent with similar offences in the past." Findlay had previously called himself "a walking advert for Betfair."


Winning bets voided

In August 2007, Betfair took the unprecedented step of voiding all bets following a tennis match between Martin Arguello and Nikolay Davydenko because of suspicious betting patterns. In December 2011, Betfair voided all in running bets on a race at
Leopardstown Leopardstown () is a suburb of Dublin in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, within the traditional County Dublin, Ireland. Located at the foot of the Dublin Mountains, it is a residential suburb with institutional lands and a large racecourse. It is di ...
after an automated customer reportedly laid the winning horse Voler La Vedette at odds of 28–1, even as the mare crossed the finish line. The controversy was described as "devastating" by Betfair CEO Stephen Morana, and it affected at least 200 customers who were refused more than £23M in winnings. Some of these customers are believed to be pursuing their case with the independent adjudication body IBAS, as Betfair no longer falls under the jurisdiction of the Gambling Commission since its move to
Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = "Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gibr ...
in 2011. In September 2011 Betfair refused to honour winning bets made by their customers on The Tote Jackpot bet at
Newmarket Racecourse Newmarket Racecourse is a British Thoroughbred horse racing venue in Newmarket, Suffolk, Newmarket, Suffolk, comprising two individual racecourses: the Rowley Mile and the July Course. Newmarket is often referred to as the headquarters of ...
. Although funds were removed from customer accounts before the bets had won, the company claimed that due to "technical issues in transmitting bets into the Tote pools in the last 10 minutes before the pool closed", they would not pay any winnings. Reportedly some small gamblers were deprived of wins of up to £16,000 apiece.


References


External links

*
LinkedIn Page
{{Crown Limited Online gambling companies of the United Kingdom Betting exchanges Online poker companies Online gambling companies of Ireland Hotel and leisure companies based in London 2000 establishments in the United Kingdom Gambling companies established in 2000 Internet properties established in 2000 2010 initial public offerings 2016 mergers and acquisitions