From what I understand about thus argument is that the Betfair system is quite transparent in its transactions (as reported in various media reports). Surely their transparency is at least on a par with the various TABs in this country. However, regardless of vigilance on the part of all these agencies, corruption on some level will occasionally occur (it has in the past and probably will in the future). Therefore, to my mind the argument that the betting exchanges will cause an increase in corruption is an unconvincing one and belies what might be the real cause of the current agencies concerns.

The TABs’ positions, it seems to me, is part of plain old politicking in an attempt to stop a competitor entering the market and reducing their share. But that is a feature of all competitive industries in that the wealth is spread further and the monopolies lose some power in setting the course of business practice in their field. That is quite understandably hard to give up. However, as seen in many other industries, competition is healthy; the old monopolies evolve their business practices to be more competitive and the end user (in this case the punters) should be better off. The sooner the State and Federal governments, and the TAB agencies realise this and let Betfair and the like to enter under careful monitoring, the better for all those that are involved...conciliation is the key to ending this issue.

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may the horse be with you

Seeker