Wednesday 16th May 2007

The Sports Trader has had a decent day although I had to be away from between 5:00 and 9:00 so I missed quite a lot of today's sporting action. I attended a talk about financial trading, not that I want to get into that type of trading, but I thought I may just pick up some tips that could help with my sports trading. Well I didn't learn anything that could help me but I did interest quite a lot of people in sports trading so my evening wasn't a complete waste of time. I had an interesting drive into Glasgow as there was a bit of a football match being played at Hampden Park which is directly between my house and Glasgow City centre. I ended up trading on 7 horse races and 2 football matches.

My first race trade was in the 14:25 at Exeter which resulted in a small profit. Next was the 14:35 at Fontwell where I backed Dusky Warbler for £25 @ 1.98 to give me a profit of £25.

In the 14:45 at York I backed Passage of Time for £299 @ 1.83 before laying off £64 @ 1.63 and £235 @ 1.49 to result in a profit of £97.

My next trade was in the 15:40 at Fontwell where I laid Johnstone's Swallow for £18 @ 6.60 and later a further £3 @ 60.00 to result in a profit of £21. I followed this with another small winning trade.

In the 16:15 at Fontwell I laid Fleetwood Forest for £126 @ 3.60 before backing back £5 @ 3.57, £100 @ 4.06 and £5 @ 6.00. Next I laid for a further £20 @ 5.00 and backed back £1 @ 25.00 to result in a profit of £29. This was one of those occasions that I laid a horse before the off, as the favourite had been withdrawn making Fleetwood Forest the new favourite. In situations like this the price laid at is reduced substantially and usually allows you to back back at a profit as happened here.

My last race trade of the day was next and this resulted in a small profit so my race trading had finished with a profit of £174.

After I got back from my meeting I traded on the match result of the West Brom v Wolves football match. I started with a back of the draw for £48 @ 2.23 and soon after West Brom scored so I started backing them for £414 @ 1.34 and £294 @ 1.33. I then laid for £255 @ 1.24, £192 @ 1.23 and £200 @ 1.20, to result in a profit of £43.

I just caught the last few minutes of the UEFA Cup Final and started trading in extra time by backing the draw for £47 @ 2.36 which I laid off @ 2.24 to give me a profit of £6. During the penalty shoot out I managed to give back the £6 so I finished this game all square.

My day had therefore finished with a profit of £217.

Comments

[Jen Hood]

Ray,
What do you think of the story on page 17 of the Racing Post today? Do you think your Betdaq trading days could be nearly over?

[Ray]

Hi Jen,

I don't get the post but I assume you are refering to the Betdaq/Betfair speculation.

I don't think this will happen as Betdaq have had a great year with turnover and profitability both increasing. Having said that the owner of Betdaq, Dermot Desmond, is a business man and if someone bid significantly more than his valuation then no doubt he would consider a sale, as any business man would. He doesn't need the money as he has just pocketed £650 Million with the sale of London city Airport. (Perhaps it is Desmond trying to buy Betfair!)

Ray

[Tom]

What is in the Racing Post on page 17? Can you tell me in a few words?
The owner of Betdaq would like to sell the company??

[Ray]

Hi Tom, I am not sure if this the article that Jen is refering to but if it is the full article is below:
Betfair and Betdaq move to extinguish rumours of takeover

by Paul Eacott
.

REPORTS that Betfair are looking to strengthen their dominance of the exchange market by buying Irish-based rival Betdaq were dismissed by both sides on Wednesday.

Speculation that Betfair are about to snap up the Dermot Desmond-owned Betdaq had been denied in recent days, but rumours were further fuelled by a report in the Irish Independent on Tuesday which suggested that Betfair executives travelled to Dublin on Friday for talks.

Despite this, both Betfair and Betdaq insisted that no deal was imminent.

Betfair's senior press officer, Tony Calvin said: “In response to a query earlier in the week, we went on the record as saying we categorically deny that we intend buying Betdaq and that comment and situation still applies.”

Betdaq, meanwhile, acknowledged the stories about a possible takeover bid from Betfair, but refused to make further comment.

Spokesman Russ Wiseman said: “We are aware that there has been speculation surrounding Betdaq, but we can only assume that this has been fuelled by our very visible growth and strong recent performance.

“There are clearly exciting times ahead for Betdaq and we have absolutely no comment to make on speculation of this kind and absolutely nothing to add to the statement issued by Betfair.” Tuesday's story was not the first time that a possible sale of Betdaq has been mooted in recent months.

The Irish Independent also carried a report in November suggesting that Ladbrokes were in negotiations to purchase part or all of Desmond's betting empire, which includes not only Betdaq, but also two shops operating under the Chronicle Bookmakers banner, a number of high-profile betting pitches and a casino on Dublin's Grafton Street.

The newest player in the exchange market, World Betting Exchange, have issued a "hugely positive" progress report as after nearly six months of trading.

WBX claim to have matched over £50 million in bets with liquidity “significant enough to offer a genuine alternative to the established exchanges” in strong markets such as football and horseracing now, according to chief executive Malcolm Gray.

WBX have been encouraged by a steady week-by-week growth, with each week of trading generating more business than the one that preceded it.

In a statement the company said that the week ended April 30 featured £6.3 million in bets matched - a record week's trading for WBX.