Shy,

Of course they could offer a similar service (although the online gambling legislation could pose a few problems to true Australian companies - but TABs could get that modified easily!). The problem is that would require them to be forward thinking instead of desperatly trying to protect their large margins so it probably won't happen.

To me the logical solution would be for the three major TABs to join forces to create a single exchange which they could then "sell" under their own brands - so you would access it from the individual TAB websites (and possibly branches) but it would be a single exchange behind the scenes. This would give them the advantage of keeping costs down (by sharing them) and the punters the advantage of bigger pools. The 5% commission could then be directed to the appropriate TAB depending on where the bet was sourced from and then split with the government & racing industry.

The benefits to the racing industry could potentially be enormous with the extra turnover from overseas customers.

Of course what will probably happen is they will try to fight the exchanges instead and by the time they realise it is an inevitable evolution it will be too late and they will have missed the boat.

__________________
"Computers can do that????" - Homer Simpson

Fellas,

I don't wish to be the bearer of bad news but Please correct me if I am wrong butI think it is illegal for we punters in NSW to bet with this agency.
Each day we are bombarded by an official announcement stating in it's best draconian tone: "it is an offence to bet with overseas operators not registered in NSW." Does this apply to Betfair?
Sorry about the negativity.

Cheers.

Xanadu, I think you are referring to this from the Racetab site...
http://www.racetab.com.au/illegal/index.html

of course many things are illegal and we still do them, but obviously there is a risk involved, especially in blabbing about it on an open forum or advertising it.

those who are in favour of this sort of thing are better off spending their energies writing to the TAB's, racing industry heads and other vested interests.

see ya
Every Topic

The law only applies to NSW punters so the rest of us can take advantage of Betfair legally (at the moment!). Obviously for NSW residents there is a risk involved but to date I have not heard of a single person being prosecuted under this law and I would think it would be next to impossible for them to prove it as there is currently no way for the NSW Govt to force Betfair to hand over customer lists or their betting records. If you are concerned about the law then either stick to the TAB or Australian bookies or move to a better state/territory :grin:

PS. ET - you weren't aiming that blabbing/advertising comment at me were you? Surely you would know that Canberra is not part of NSW!
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"Computers can do that????" - Homer Simpson



[ This Message was edited by: becareful on 2003-03-05 12:21 ]

We are supposed to live in a free society and one of the cornerstones is supposed to be freedom of choice.
I say good luck to you fellas as what do we punter get from govts? - the dreaded rounding-down of divs which cost you and me over a hundred million dollars annually. No wonder people look elsewhere!

no BC,
I wasnt aiming the comments at you in Canberra.

I was just making the point generally that with everyone talking about it so much and talking about how great it is compared to the TAB's is perhaps not the wisest move.

Governments are happy to ignore things that you do quietly.
They only feel inclined to take action when people flaunt it in their faces :smile:

So IF this stuff is wonderful, eg Betfair etc, then maybe its the kind of thing one should quietly enjoy before there is a rush away from the TAB's and every State DOES legislate against it.

By the way, are you sure that its legal in every State to bet on local races via an overseas agency???

keep up the good work,
see ya
Every Topic

by the way...
it does open up ones mind as to how incredible lazy and incompetent the local TAB's are -
but I cant for the life of me imagine they would want to run Betfair style operations - they would be taking 5% commission on money that they normally get triple the commission on.

cant see it

Every Topic

ET,

Fair enough - although I doubt this forum reaches enough people to generate a "rush away from the TABs" :smile:

With regards to the 5% vs 15% commission point the main reason I would see is that it would probably generate a huge increase in turnover. For example last Saturday I only had one "normal" bet (placed with IAS) but 5 bets on Betfair - none of those would have occured on the normal TAB as I was either laying, taking advantage of the huge overs or doing a "surebet". Had I not had other commitments in the afternoon it would have been much higher still. Therefore my turnover was more than 5 times higher than it would have been without a betting exchange - 5 lots of 5% is certainly better than one lot of 15%.

Even for punters just using the exchange to place their normal bets I am pretty sure over time they would be investing significantly higher turnover on an exchange - most people do not say "I will bet $500 turnover this month" - they say "I will put $100 in the account and bet until that is gone" - if they are losing less due to the lower takeout then they will compensate by increasing their turnover.

Add to that the potential international market which makes the Aussie turnover look insignificant and maybe there is a reason to set one up? They could even brand it with a different name so that the regular TAB punters did not know it was a TAB offering and still keep their 15% from the mugs money.

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"Computers can do that????" - Homer Simpson

For those who are interested Betfair will be covering races from Adelaide tomorrow (as well as Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney metro). Also they have been covering quite a few of the midweek meetings although the turnover on these has been pretty low as you would expect.

__________________
"Computers can do that????" - Homer Simpson

Also just found out they will be covering all NRL and AFL games - with "In Match" betting on those games.

__________________
"Computers can do that????" - Homer Simpson