by Renee Israel
Betfair, the leading online sports book group, has issued an apology for the
recent controversial events which took place during the Christmas Hurdle race at
Leopardstown.
In a "full and final statement" issued on Friday, Betfair offered a partial
explanation of the events as they occurred last Wednesday, and why it decided to
void over 200 bets and avoid a potential payout of £23 million.
The Betfair betting controversy occurred when a bet appeared during
the early stages of the race, offering odds of 28-1 that the second favourite,
Voler La Vedette, would win the race.
Around 200 Betfair clients placed bets with these odds, their wagers
totalling over £800,000.
However, the moment that Voler La Vedette crossed the finishing line in first
place, Betfair voided the bets "due to an obvious technical fault which allowed
a customers to exceed their exposure limit" and returned stake money only.
As part of their explanation, Betfair said that the bets were declared void
due to a wager being placed by a bot (automated betting programme) which had
developed a fault, "causing it to try and place a very large number of bets on
the exchange."
"These bets were large in size and mispriced," said the acting chief
executive officer for Betfair, Stephen Morana. "As Betfair customers know, the
Betfair system is designed to prevent customers betting unless they have the
funds to cover their maximum liability."
"In this case the customer had less than £1,000 in their account so none of
these bets should have been accepted," said Morana. "However, due to a technical
glitch within the core exchange database one of the bets evaded the prevention
system and was shown on the site. This was an issue that was triggered because
of a unique sequence of events that had never happened before."
Betfair Customers Considering Legal Action
Following the event, online gambling forums were buzzing with
speculation and theories. Some of those commenting, including punters among the
200 who had seen their bets voided, said that they felt robbed out of their
winnings and were even considering taking legal action against Betfair.
However, Betfair has argued that voiding bets due to an obvious
technical error is "in accordance with our terms and conditions".
Gambling analysts believe that Betfair's "full and final
statement" did little to answer the obvious questions surrounding the
controversy.
As Greg Wood of The Guardian wrote: "If it [Betfair]
truly has confidence that its systems are robust, and that Wednesday's events
can never happen again, why not be more forthcoming about the detail of how it
managed to get this one bet so horribly wrong? The question that some customers
of the exchange will be asking themselves now is: Why should I trust Betfair, if
Betfair does not trust me?"
