Betfair to pay out £21 million on error

Bookmakers Betfair are facing an unprecedented multi-million pay-out to punters after incredible odds of 28-1 were offered in-play on a runaway 13-8 favourite at Leopardstown.

There were bizarre scenes in the in-running betting world with a freakish amount traded on Betfair in the woodiesdiy.com Christmas Hurdle.

A total of £1,642,094 was matched at 28-1 on Voler La Vedette, who went off the 13-8 favourite on-course and won very easily.

Even more strangely, the Betfair graph showed over £21million was offered to back Colm Murphy's mare at those odds, even though she was always in contention and looked the obvious winner even before the final flight.

This meant one layer could potentially have lost £600million in only a few minutes if all of the money had been matched.

Betfair suspended the market in order to investigate, with many of the exchange's members in a state of shock on the website's forum.

Wow nice new years gift for the punters if they pay out.

Can someone please educate me on betfair, how it works, if I cn use it in SA and just simple explanations for me..

Basically I need an easier explanation dn K betfair for dummies'. Lol..

Thank you clan

sheza

when you place a bet with a bookmaker you are backing a horse to win, at that same moment you are also saying that the rest of the field will lose.

Betfair allows you to do this from either side of the "line". SO if you like a horse to win you back it , if you like a horse to lose you lay it. Because they work on commision then 2 things apply.

1: you always back horse at "better" prioces than your conventional bookmaker
2: you always lay horse at "higher" prices than your conventional bookmaker.

Betfair also allows you to "change posistion" , so you back a horse at 2/1 it shortens to even money and you can lay it back to ensure a zero risk bet, once you get more adapt to betfair you can lay it back to "green up" or ensure you profit what ever the poutcome of a race is.

The next wonderful thing about betfair is that you can bet "until the winner crosses the line" and therefore if you read races correctly you can make a living from backing high and laying lower

Well the book Betfair for dummies will not explain this one and I have no idea how these figures were "matched" and probably some computer malfunction?? Wil have to wait for the official reply after investigation but WOW, maybe someone was showing Bill Gates how to trade "in running"

Wow, thanks Easy..

That sounds great.. It really seems a good way to further ones horseracing punting to a level where u can obtain minimal risk?

sheza,

yes you can use it in sa , i am not sure about restrictions . Some say there are restrictions and some seem to say there are not.

in my experience in life

"there is NO such thing as can and can't, its should and shouldnt"

Customers betting in-play on this race will have seen that Voler La Vedette was available to back at 29 when the in-running market was suspended, and that a considerable sum was matched on the clear winner at that price.

An investigation has revealed that this was due to an obvious technical fault which allowed a customer to exceed their exposure limit.

In accordance with our terms and conditions, all in running bets on this race, both win and place, will be made void.

We fully appreciate the dissatisfaction this will cause many customers, and apologise for a very poor customer and betting experience.

Nice one Easy..

I like that..

I think, now I'm gna hook up my laptop and explore some of betfair and see what I can do

Thanks a lot mate

sheza

let me give you an example.

the next race at wolverhampton 17H50

Appeal/Priceless Art/Sand Skier are all frontrunners/handy racing horses.

Admiral Duque is a slow away lay up horse.

So for me there is going to be pace in the race.

I backed A Duque @ 15.5 (14 1/2-1) and i have also put in a bet to back him at >20/1 when they jump (this is because i believe with him languishing at the rear people will offer "over the odds" in running (during the race)

Now as soon as they jump i will also have a bet go in to LAY A Duque at 4/1 (for 70% of my stake above) and at 14/10 for 70% of my stake above.

If during the race he trades at 4/1 and 14/10 i win either way although if he wins the race i am better off.

Now if he trades at 14/10 HE MUST have traded at 4/1 but if he olnly trades at 4/1 i lose 30% of my stake.

oh ok, I see..

I think I'm getting a hang of it now.. Its a lot to do with knowing when and how to lay a bet and calculate prices?

One cannot just go mad and hit and hope?