Ooops Betfair

[redarmi]

Good Post...I assume you are concluding this because they are predominately playing /laying the asian handicap market , and as a consequence their % over round is very small thus making it comparable/better that betfair(after commission) ?

Pinnacle do the same in the States for US sports.  They realise that if they are the best price about both teams that you will take a massive amount of volume.  This is obviously much harder to do with something like horseracing with a lot of runners but the model is still valid.  Problem is that you have to have very good traders and odds compilers or else the low margins turn into a loss very easily and most firms just employ people with, at best, limited skills.  By way of example I have an acquaintance who is the trading director of a big sportsbook nowadays.  In an earlier role he was head of trading for a big US facing online sportsbook and they put up a prop on whether the coin toss would be heads or tails 10/11 each of two and took a fair bit of money on heads so he went 4/6 heads and 11/10 tails.  When your head trader can make such fundamental mistakes as that you can't go 1.97 each of two on a football match!!!!

[gouty]

The statement from CEO states that the account had no commercial link to betfair other than being a customer.

I find this incredible. Can you believe anyone would of managed to keep a lid on this? Imagine if it was you? Just sit tight and tell no one?

Defo something fishy here. I think if it was a customer it would be all over the net by now who it is.

[FUN4FRASER]

Good Post...I assume you are concluding this because they are predominately playing /laying the asian handicap market , and as a consequence their % over round is very small thus making it comparable/better that betfair(after commission) ?

Pinnacle do the same in the States for US sports.  They realise that if they are the best price about both teams that you will take a massive amount of volume.  This is obviously much harder to do with something like horseracing with a lot of runners but the model is still valid.  Problem is that you have to have very good traders and odds compilers or else the low margins turn into a loss very easily and most firms just employ people with, at best, limited skills.  By way of example I have an acquaintance who is the trading director of a big sportsbook nowadays.  In an earlier role he was head of trading for a big US facing online sportsbook and they put up a prop on whether the coin toss would be heads or tails 10/11 each of two and took a fair bit of money on heads so he went 4/6 heads and 11/10 tails.  When your head trader can make such fundamental mistakes as that you can't go 1.97 each of two on a football match!!!!

Okay..thanks for that.

..is Tony Bloom involved / owns Pinnacle ? as I know asian handicap is his thing

[Simon Galloway]

he went 4/6 heads and 11/10 tails. 

Wonderful.

[Chompy]

I'm still with heads here coz that's where all the shrewd money has been.

[sovietsong]

I'm still with heads here coz that's where all the shrewd money has been.

[redarmi]

I'm still with heads here coz that's where all the shrewd money has been.

To be fair if he had known that the coin had been trained by Stuart Williams I would probably want to be on heads too.

[redarmi]

Okay..thanks for that.

..is Tony Bloom involved / owns Pinnacle ? as I know asian handicap is his thing

No - Tony hasn't had any formal bookmaking involvement since he sold Premierbet as far as I know he is very much a punter/position taker although that isn't to say he doesn't lay bets because I am sure he does but he doesn't look to lay both sides if that makes sense.

[Chompy]

Sigh, my bot just laid £400m at 29 tails while the coin was in the air