BETFAIR - ONE YEAR TO THE DAY SINCE IT WAS SUPENDED

Yes it was on the 14th of Feb last year that our accounts were suspended.

1-Not much has happened since in terms of any movement by any party to have Betfair re-instated in South Africa. Well at least that is what I know.

2-Betdaq offered temporary relief, but in December, they too suspended all South African accounts.

3-I have not yet withdrawn my money from both my Betfair accounts in the hope that there will be an about turn.

4-I have asked my relatives in Europe to operate my Betfair account according to my instructions but the account is suspended - meaning that I cannot operate from next door to Betfairs office even if I was to be there.

5-I tried to place telebets with Betfair - Did you guys know there was(is) such a thing??? My account was suspended they told me.

6- But as the saying goes, "You cannot keep a good man down".

7-So what is the alternative???

8-It appears that the only way to play Betfair from South Africa, (the same applies to the USA and Italy and there may be other banned countries as well), is to have a proxie overseas, with all the disadvantages that that will bring because you will be playing on/with HIS account.

9-If however you have parents/relatives/friends overseas, you go there regularly, and by now you have a bank account overseas and you ask your bankers to post your bank statements to your parents/relatives/friends address, you should be able to play Betfair from South Africa. Betfair will request from you details about your overseas bank and proof that you live overseas by you having to send them a copy of a posted bank statement or some other utility account such as water & lights account etc.

10-You will then have to open an Betfair account overseas and from overseas as you cannot get into Betfair from South Africa. Some time after you have opened your account, Betfair will request proof of your bankers (you are now depositing and withdrawing by bank transfer not Credit Card, unless your overseas bankers grant you a Credit Card) as well as proof of residence or address, which is why you need your bankers to post your bank statements to your connections overseas, who will deligently have to repost to you your incoming mail overseas. Of course you can manage your deposits and withdrawls into and from Betfair by internet Banking here at home.

11-The above having been acomplished, you now have to look for a proxie server overseas, (it was discussed on here at length in the days that followed Betfair's closure) and it is called a VPN connection for which you pay a monthly nominal fee. This connection enables you to connect to Betfair's server without your IP address reflecting a South African identity but a overseas address.

12-My late bookmaker, Mr Mike O'Connor, may the good Lord bless his soul, spearheaded the campaing to have Betfair banned in this country, (No I did not murder Mike for the misery he brought me) and succeeded together with other bookies.

13-Has anyone on here ever eavesdropped behind a bookie's counter to see where they getting betting cover from??? I say this because edging your bets at 7/1 about Indian Striker last night was way too tempting not to defy any laws...Are they still on Betfair??? - I would be most curious to know.

14-Although the reason that drove me to write these few lines is to comemorate my redemption from the evils of Betfair, it was most thought provoking working around the sentence I was imposed and far from me any thoughts about digressing from the beaten path to my local Bookmaker.

WBX.com (World Betting Exchange) now include SA racing in their platform and happily accept SA accounts/IP addresses.
Liquidity is still low but will no doubt pick up as more Saffers start to use it .

Make sure you fund it legally to avoid aggravation,but the good news is that forex limits and rules are now much more relaxed and your bank will arrange an off-shore account with very little fuss and in a flash and a blur.

(Betfair banned themselves(as they did in the US and Australia) to try to get licenced and it worked in Australia and it appears that they are about to be licenced in at least some of the states.of the USA)
Saftote will live to regret not extending their own licence to a fixed-price product as, with globalisation and the internet,betting exchanges(or fixed-price totes)are inevitable.........not if..... just when
The irony is that the gambling commision bracketed them both as "person to person" gambling................................ and I can't imagine a better revenge/negoiating tool with which to re-negotiate the open bet with the bookmakers.

Thanks for your participation, somehow I dont exactly get the meaning of what I copied from your last paragraph. Please explain in more detail...


"The irony is that the gambling commision bracketed them both as "person to person" gambling................................ and I can't imagine a better revenge/negoiating tool with which to re-negotiate the open bet with the bookmakers."

I have argued before that the shortcoming of the tote,historically, is that larger punters like a fixed price and that a betting exchange was in fact a fixed price tote and would bridge the gap ...........some disagreed but the gambling commision confirmed my contention by bracketing both as "person to person" gambling.
As you state,bookmakers obviously feel most threatened by a licenced betting exchange,and were therefore the main opponents......so imagine if Saftote owned the platform.Bookmakers may well be prepared to compromise on the open bet in order to gain access and participate on the exchange floor?????
I think Saftote should take ownership and facilitate a model that is inevitable,rather than to one day add it to their list of excuses!

Checked WBX but no odds on SA Racing

The day Betfair pulled out of SA was the death of my profitable gambling career. To this day I wonder why i did not just leave the country. Laying bets at low prices on the betting was such a no brainer way to make money

WBX liquidity is laughable not to mention the ridiculous 10 second time delay on tennis matches which is my forte.

South African betting website interface are woefully designed and certainly not suitable for in-play. What prevents from designing a website like bet365. Lack of IT professionals? Why isnt anyone exploiting this gap in the market

JTL Wrote:

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> Checked WBX but no odds on SA Racing

Market now open (remember it was 6:19 am in the UK when you posted)..............lol

As I say the market is slow and will need time to attract Saffers interest!

Just checked the first Vaal Sand and appears that there is enough liquidity on WBX to start taking them seriously... When Betfair first offered SA Racing they were about the same, actually even less than WBX. It is a matter of time before they start showing bigger and bigger pools. If you like footie, they offered similar odds to Betfair on last nights big match and there was enough available to make a tidy sum. Pity there is no place pool for those like me that enjoy to play place bets, but it will come.

I think the local bookies are fighting a losing battle - Exchanges are the way to go. It is the same with your woman... If she wants the bloke down the road, she will have him - sooner or later. You cant keep smothering something for ever.

The second Vaal race today had excellent liquitity -- over $A52,000 matched (about R360,000)
The amounts matched vary a lot.
WE get no inside info here in Australia on the S Af races, but I would say that most of the money bet on Betair would come from UK?Ire and here.
I do 100% of my betting on Betfair, and would give it away if Betfair closed in Aus.
They are facing challenges here, mainly that their profitability does not match some of the corporate bookies, and their advertising has slipped.

Thanks Rob

I don't agree that exchanges are the way forward, I think they may well be a dying breed. They are now effectively run by bookies or by individuals with no lose computer systems. It can be extremely difficult finding value. Prices often hover around the same price as bookies, sometimes a little more, sometimes less, especially when taking into account the 5% hit on winnings. If you try to ask for a price it is almost always undercut by the next price down within a few moments and the same the other way if offering a price. The fact that you are taking the price on BF etc rather than having best price guaranteed makes B365 a much better option for UK punters on SA racing imho. A year ago it was different but now I find Betfair extremely frustrating and on occasion aggravating. If you are doing football bets like correct score it is not a lot different, the BF price is often similar to the best offered by bookies, sometimes better, sometimes worse. Simply check Oddschecker, there is usually not a vast difference. It may be that these exchanges need more competition now from those with the money that can compete but that imo would just be bookies competing against each other. Betdaq have just sold out to Ladbrokes.

Guys have been there done it and got the T shirt and have said on many occasions that betfair is a brilliant concept, but trust me it is not a license to print money.
It is rather addictive but if you have been using betfair and making a constant profit , well done. (tu)

Now if more than 4% reply, you could be telling scotia "pork pies"

Good punting!