Betfair not here to stay

For the foreseeable future anyway....

info@betfair.com
6:14 PM (46 minutes ago)

to me
Dear George

Thank you for your e-mail.

We are aware a number of South African banks block deposits into gambling sites. However, we have no knowledge that South African IP addresses are due to be blocked.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further enquiries.

Kind regards,

Kevin Flynn

Betfair Helpdesk

Helpdesk Tel: 0844 871 0000
Ireland Tel: 1 - 800 944 000
Australia Tel: 1300 238 324
Canada Toll Free Tel: 1-866-381-7119
Free Fax (Australia) 1- 800 507 774
International: +44 203 059 8888

Lol. I never spoke to the helpdesk. If you say so !

Month end will tell

sent you a pm Titch

Titch,I would be surprised if it is true...................however, with all due respect, I would not regard advices from the help desk to be gospel,on a decision as strategic as this.
The last fellow I spoke to on the help desk had been with the Company for less than a month!
The part that makes me sceptical of these revelations,is that Betfair is still opening new accounts,from SA, on a daily basis.
As I said on the other thread,I am now tired of debating the whole Betfair issue.I have researched the legality issue,including all the notices on the NGB site,discussions with representatives and interaction with the Reserve Bank.
In return I get assumptions and a lot of those old racing cliches.......... "they tell me............." or " I hear that..............."
I have wasted hours debating with guys who do not even know the difference between "internet gambling" and "interactive gambling" .
I quite honestly couldn't give a toss about opinions anymore and I will just base my activities on the info I have gathered and react to actual developments,as and when they occur.
This is apparently a new development but I have contingency plans so I will just await the outcome with interest.

rob faux Wrote:

---

> Titch,I would be surprised if it is
> true

It's startling to witness otherwise smart people who seem to only see what it is that they want to see, and ignore anything that contradicts their wishful view. But Rob, I applaud your rational view which probably also wonders how their can be a law that prohibits speeds faster than 120km/h but at the same time "they" sells cars which go 250.

Surprise implies the unexpected. Given your hours of research, you would be shocked rather then surprised, surely?

(Basically I'm looking for bigger odds from you to compensate for your steadfast resistance thus far.) At least you not falling for the casual at the help desk to your eternal credit. Viva Betfair!

Jack,you are one person who has consistently campaigned in the anti-betfair camp and your motives are understandable,however you have never offered one fact or modicum of evidence of illegality other than your special brand of logic,the shortcoming of which is highlighted by your constant referring to the Piggs Peak courtcase..........once and for all Jack, that relates to INTERACTIVE gambling!!!!!
But as I said,you refuse to recognise the difference......today I see you clutching at SARS straws for goodness sake.
Let me say that I have never seen the inside of a court in my life,and even my traffic fines have been restricted to parking and speeding,so it is reasonable to assume that I have always been reasonably law abiding.I do however enjoy trading,so went to quite great lengths to ensure that as far as I can ascertain ,I am not breaking any law............and nobody has yet quoted one(I asked a senior member of the Gambling Board if one existed and he answered in the negative).......why do you think that is?...........the clue is the warning in Computaform which is clearly intended to frighten off the use of Betfair.To have most effect they would have quoted every law that they could find that might apply.........and the Forex restriction is all they could come up with.As I say,if the law changes,I will change my activities accordingly but my belief is exchanges are inevitable and we will soon be using them without confusion.The gambling review report seems to share that view!
Even NHA regulations state you can back horses on exchanges,you just can't lay your own.........(Rule72.4)....why would you need a rule if the whole activity is illegal?
As I say Jack,you believe whatever you like,and I will do the same!
Insofar as this particular thread is concerned ,you are obviously convinced that it will indeed all shut down at the end of the month.......why is that? cos you want to believe it?.....do you have any info of your own? or does it just match your own wishful thinking?..........well we don't have long to see if that part is true! I reiterate...I will be surprised!

Surprise surprise buddy ()

Harris,

did you speak to our friend there?

From what I have heard from third parties what Harris says is correct.

As I said on the other thread,it may be strategic............for instance you cannot be in a country whilst they consider your residence permit,so it may be the same trade off for the licence.
It will be interesting to hear Betfair's reasoning, if it be so.
I also heard about the interacative part of the Betfair site and that certainly makes sense.
Perhaps it's BETDAQ here we come for all Saffer exchange users!

It's definitely strategic,but that doesn't change the fact that Saffers won't be able to bet there for the foreseeable future.

Wow Rob, I am definitely not anti BF at all. For the record Betfair and online poker get my vote for the greatest gambling innovations since the invention of the dice from a bone in the ankle of a goat from the mists of time!

Arguing a point has nothing to do with my preferences, and why would that matter anyway? I want as many betting avenues as possible and my personal views are let everyone do as they please...if they are right they will succeed and if they are wrong they will find out eventually. Laying a bet is the converse of playing one and for me there is no difference and I have no moral feelings or motivations whatsoever.

However, having had to deal with gambling boards, suffer the new probity forms on several occasions and read all the 100's and 1000's of rules that are constructed from the gambling act I can tell you that you are wrong. Additionally, I have a relative who is involved with the sabs compliance of software to be used for internet (not interactive) gambling, so I know exactly which actions are specifically allowed, and which are not.

But you can think what you like, I only post for the sake of conversation. I have no problem with the two camps of people on Betfair (the ostriches and the foxes...the hens are sitting on their eggs temporarily) and I will post up the way anyone can circumvent the restrictions if and when they come. BUT, I would have to say that every additional step one takes makes the "I didn't know" defense more difficult IF in the unlikely event that it ever came down to it.

I think my last word on this is verbatim section from Betfair's submission to the SA Gambling Review Commission, after which they got completely slammed.

Arguing why they are illegal, they said: "The South African legal framework presently regulates internet based gambling inconsistently, to the detriment of the customer (who cannot distinguish between what he or she can or cannot legitimately access) and of government revenues as punters seek out operators not licensed in South Africa. These inconsistencies are the result of the disconnect between provincial legislation and national legislation that has allowed some popular forms of internet based gambling, such as the Soccer 6 product, whilst not offering other popular forms of online gambling."

It goes on to make a case without mentioning that it flew a government crew over and that for a minute it was nearly all systems go until the objections came in. I realize now maybe we disagree because I say that your "not-illegal" is not equal to the same as "legal"? Finally, the only reason I mentioned the txaman is that at the end of the day, any vague laws get sorted out by txa as was Al Capone.

Seriously, if you win 100K pounds on Betfair, you will HAVE to hide it. Bookmakers would take back on Betfair in a flash if it were even remotely legal, but once you signed the forms you know you can't. You just watch as the ostriches race past like hot-rods on the N1 believing that speed cameras don't work and no one ever processes the fine anyway. Whatever.