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Welcome to the News desk.
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Betfair customers may consider legal action on voided £23m
winnings |
29/12/2011 |
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Greg Wood |
Betting
exchange voids bets due to 'technical fault' £1.6m was matched
on Voler La Vedette at 28-1
The
Betfair betting exchange was forced to void millions of pounds in bets on one
of its "in-running" markets on Wednesday, following an unprecedented series of
events that appeared to leave a sole Betfair client with a liability of nearly
£23m and about 100 customers of the exchange briefly celebrating an
unexpected Christmas bonus.
Betting on races as they are taking place
has become increasingly popular on Betfair in recent years and frequently sees
horses backed at the minimum price of 1.01 (equivalent to odds of 1-100) when
apparently sure of victory, only to be overhauled in the final strides.
The in-running betting activity on Wednesday's Christmas Hurdle at
Leopardstown, however, was more extraordinary than anything in the exchange's
11-year history. Voler La Vedette, the second-favourite for the race, was going
easily from the start and appeared the likely winner from a long way out. She
duly came home several lengths clear of Mourad, the favourite, but the
in-running betting patterns bore no relation to her easy path to victory.
With less than half of the race's three miles completed it suddenly
became possible to back Voler La Vedette at a price of 29 (equivalent to odds
of 28-1), even though her starting price was 13-8 and she was travelling
smoothly. What was even more remarkable than the price on offer was the amount
of money nearly £21.5m that someone was apparently willing
to accept at 29, with a potential loss of nearly £600m.
In all approximately £800,000 was staked on
Voler La Vedette at 29 as she made her way to victory, implying a payout to her
backers of about £23m. However, while an "in-running" market would
normally be settled within a few minutes, the apparent winners were not paid
out as Betfair investigated the bizarre circumstances.
Nearly three
hours later Betfair issued a statement which said that the entire in-running
market on the Christmas Hurdle had been declared void because of "an obvious
technical fault which allowed a customer to exceed their exposure limit", and
that "in accordance with our terms and conditions, all in-running bets on this
race, both win and place, will be made void".
The statement, issued by
Betfair Customer Service, added that "we fully appreciate the dissatisfaction
this will cause many customers, and apologise for a very poor customer and
betting experience".
The popular "Forum" section of the Betfair website
was alight with speculation throughout Wednesday afternoon, with some customers
of the exchange insisting they felt they had been robbed of thousands of pounds
in "winnings" and would consider taking legal action against Betfair as a
result.
Other Forum users pointed out that mistakes such as
inputting the wrong odds, missing a decimal point or clicking "back" instead of
"lay" are relatively common on Betfair, particularly in the frenetic
in-running markets, but that those who make them do not expect to see markets
voided, or their losses returned, as a result.
Later on Wednesday
evening Betfair issued a further statement that said: "In response to a number
of customer questions on this matter, we would like to clarify that the account
in question has no commercial relationship with Betfair other than being a
customer." The exchange is also conducting an internal investigation into the
precise cause of Wednesday's events.
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