I Predict a U-Turn on the Betfair Premium Charges

This is probably the biggest story about Betting Exchanges since their inception 8 years ago. I do have to sympathise with the 0.5% (who do they think they are kidding) of Betfair customers that are to be hit with retrospective charges on the profits they have earned over the past 60 weeks.

Of course Betfair will either water down or drop these outrageous charges over the next few days. The accountants may well have a say but to let them ruin what has been a brilliant business with an act of total greed would be sheer folly.

It is great to see so many new people jumping aboard the Betdaq Exchange. I have often spoken about the need for realistic competition in these markets and now we are going to see it. Liquidity has been improving over the past few months but is now set to reach levels that no amount of advertising by the Board of Directors at Betdaq would have been able to attain.

Betdaq will give, to anybody opening a new account, a fixed 2% commission until the end of this year. From January you will then enjoy the much fairer commission scale of between 2 and 5% depending on your level of turnover. There will be no Premium Charges.

The whole ethos of a Betting Exchange is to provide a piece of software and technology that allows people to match wagers with each other, in the same way as the Stock Market allows individuals, traders and companies to match share sales and purchases. 

It is accepted practise that the bigger the trade and the higher the turnover the lower the commission rate should be. This is essentially because the exchange platform is there right from the start but as the exchange grows you get greater efficiency due to economies of scale. It is therefore quite right that the more liquidity you provide the lower you should be charged.

To alienate many of the longer term traders, by penalising them for being good at their job,  is surely flying in the face of the whole principle of Betting Exchanges.

On Betfairs own forum tonight there has been a thread by, CLYDEBANK29, that highlights the case where he may well now be paying four times as much commission on a wager struck under the old terms and conditions. Some relevant parts of the said T&C's have also been pasted on to the thread with the most relevant part being: Any bets matched prior to the time of amendment and notification of the changed terms and conditions will be subject to the pre-existing Terms and Conditions.

It would be interesting to hear the views of Warren Buffet or George Soros if their preferred Stock Market was to say to them ' Thank you for your business over the past 60 weeks, but we have decided to charge you between 4 and 10 times the amount of commission that we have already charged you as a Premium Charge because your account costs us more to operate than our smaller customers accounts'.

 

Comments

[Sylvia]

Its a good job Betdaq is still in business or we would all be up the creek.

[carolyn]

I spoke to the PURPLE last week

They are offering a 2% fixed rate until the 31st December 08

Simply email notaxes@betdaq.com and they will do the rest

They tell me they are working on software and are giving a version out free at the end of this month by all accounts?

They tell me Gruss and Bet Angel are already on the case.

Fantastic video on You Tube type in Betfair Premium Charges – Priceless

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h33F6ShhoTQ

[The Sports Trader]

Thanks for the comments Sylvia and Carolyn. I have seen the Fagan clip and will put it on the front page tomorrow.

Ray

[Sylvia]

My Betdaq account is set at 2% and is ready to go. Could be doomsday for Betfair on Monday, I can still see a big u turn but the damage is done and nobody trusts them.

Sylvia xxxxxxxxxx

[Brian]

An good response to Betdaq's 'ghost' video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-Q_kyCjbXg

[ian long]

are there any trading platforms out there like bet angel to trade the markets on betdaq ? If not, how do you do it ?

[The Sports Trader]

Hi Ian,

I do not use a trading platform, just the standard site. I know many people think it is impossible to trade without these tools but I have just got used to the site the way it is.

I know that Bet Angel and Gruss are looking at introducing tools to use with Betdaq and I will try them out to see if they make a difference for me.

Good Luck with your trading.

Ray

[ian long]

thanks Ray,
your response was greatly appreciated.
all the best
ian

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[Penny Stocks]

That's excellent youtube video.

[Basketball Betting]

Nice post. Really I liked it.

Thanks...

[Manchester United]

Well written article, and I agree entirely. Thank you for your fresh point of view. Keep up the good work.