Archive for category News
(N)Ice
Posted by Peter Webb in News on February 1st, 2012
Spent a lot of last week doing the industry rounds at a couple of trade shows, one of them was ‘ICE’.
I mentioned last year that my interest was raised when speaking to the non betting exchange part of the industry. It seems that the knowledge, research and ability I have acquired over the many years I have been doing this, is in demand from other parts of the industry; so last week was a check point on that progress.
It shows you how vibrant a market can be when there is decent competition between people in an industry. The show was packed full and it was obvious that a lot of money had been spent on the stands, promotions not to mention the parties in evenings! Betting exchanges were notable for their complete absence.
Being primarily stuck in the exchange related world, its quite refreshing but also surprising at how vibrant these events are, as they show you how much money is around in the ‘conventional’ betting industry. You also realise that its the casino’s and related ‘casual gambling’ part of the industry is huge. It makes you wonder why exchanges haven’t worked harder to exploit this area by improving their technological reach. They could achieve this at realtively low cost and risk if they really wanted. They could also reach into other non sports markets, if they really wanted. I think that perhaps they are too precious about what they do or have been sidetracked on what their core proposition is. I feel that while they are looking out the front door, the back door is also open.
Anyhow, an interesting week and plenty of food for thought.
I lost £288k in one night spread-betting
Posted by Peter Webb in Football / Soccer, News on January 21st, 2012
On the ‘mad bomber’ thread on the forum there has been some jocular suggestions about who could be the person being such erratic and irregular betting activity. Some have joked it could be a wealthy footballer, after reading this story suddenly that doesn’t look so far fetched!
“FORMER LIVERPOOL AND Manchester City midfielder Dietmar Hamann has revealed how he slipped into problems with drinking and gambling during his final season at Eastlands.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport
Betfair exits South Africa
Posted by Peter Webb in Betfair, News on January 19th, 2012
With regulatory tangles ongoing in many territories Betfair has hit another bump in South Africa. This is a real shame as South Africa is on the same time zone as the UK. Betfair has already sent out emails to affected customers. Here is an extract of the key elements of the email: -
“We’re writing to inform you that following the recent ruling by the South African Supreme Court of Appeal, Betfair has decided that as of 00:01 GMT on February 14th 2012, its website and all associated products will no longer be accessible in South Africa, or to South African residents.
As of the above time, all existing accounts will be suspended, therefore we ask that you ensure that all funds are withdrawn from your account before then. If your account is currently suspended the issues relating to that suspension must be resolved before any withdrawals can be made”
It’s another to add to the long list of complex, messy, regulatory, most likely protectionist, issues. Currently the number of territories where it’s OK to use Betfair is in the minority and the list is getting smaller. While the US is looking more positive recently, it’s likely that will only be a beachhead in a much longer battle. Till then other territories, even in Europe, are proving a prickly problem. It seems the anti-exchange proponents are currently winning their argument.
Ultimately I believe that the will of people will decided the very long term outcome of these sorts of things and it’s difficult to go against the value proposition that exchanges offer over traditional gambling. So if you want to benefit from that, move to the UK!
Ladbrokes in talks with Betdaq
Posted by Peter Webb in Betdaq, News on January 9th, 2012
Not as dramatic as it first seems when you read the headline, but interesting nonetheless: -
For the full story click on the following URL: -
If you fancy giving Betdaq a try download BetDaqAngel. It’s top notch trading software for Betdaq and it’s free. It received a major upgrade last year. Lots of clever features including an Excel link that allows you to trade multiple markets simultaneously from a spreadsheet.
Losers needed!
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel, News on January 6th, 2012
Over the years I’ve studied the markets and a number of strategies, but all of these have been focused on winning.
Late last year I turned my attention to why people lose, the psychology behind that, but also what fundamental flaws they have with their approaches in the market.
If you mess around at random you should, over long periods, break even less the spread or commission that you pay to the service provider. However, when I look at a lot of people that lose money, they seem to constantly exceed that.
So if you have an approach, preferably a systematic approach, that constantly loses money. I’m quite interested in hearing about it. Football is a nice sport for this as it contains only a few variables and can be pigeon holed into something simple. Back before the off, lay off if this happens, sort of thing. You don’t need to go public if you don’t want to, or if you want to suggest something I am sure people wont attribute that to yourself. But good suggestions are invited, however sourced. I’ve seen some real bum systems over the years so I imagine there must be some decent suggestions out there.
I’ve put a thread on the forum, which is a little off at a tangent at the moment. But I’m happy to look at any suggestions or approaches. I’m interested in not only what you did but why. I can’t promise to respond or comment on anything immediately, just trying to see some commonalities across losing approaches. The idea is to identify the most common errors and come up with some useful ways of avoiding them!
Hello 2012
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel, News on January 1st, 2012
Greetings to the year 2012, or if you are Assyrian the year 6762 or if you are 2556 in Buddism or…, well you catch my drift.
2012 is going to be a very busy year on the sports front, if the Mayan apocalypse doesn’t mature, so I look forward to what should be a very interesting year. I spent a lot of the second half of last year looking at new things so I look forward to doing some of that in 2012.
Happy new year!
Farewell 2011
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel, News on December 31st, 2011
No time to summarise the year on this post, hopefully I’ll get the chance in the new year. But just wanted to say goodbye 2011 and thanks for everybody’s support and custom through out the year. It turned out to be a really interesting year, right to the final days!
I managed to bag a four figure race yesterday and did well on the darts in the evening so it’s likely to be a nice sign off for the year.
Here’s looking ahead to what is going to be a fascinating 2012.
Merry Christmas from the Bet Angel team
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel, News on December 24th, 2011
Signing off..
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel, News on December 23rd, 2011
Right, it’s time to do some last minute stuff for Christmas. A full house tomorrow means we have lots of food to prepare and I’m looking forward to doing anything but sports related stuff for a few days.
I had a reasonable day yesterday, which was a nice way to start the break for Christmas. I’ll be back at my desk on boxing day!
Shortest day of the year
Posted by Peter Webb in News on December 22nd, 2011
Today marks that critical point in the northern hemisphere where the sun rises above the horizon for the shortest time. From here it gets better and better, SAD sufferers can look forward to better times.
We still have a lot of winter to go and we haven’t plumbed it’s depths from a sporting perspective, but I welcome this turning point in the year as we can start looking forward to longer days. Aside from disruption to sporting schedules, of which we have had little this year, shorter days mess up my schedule something rotten.
In the summer I can practically get a full days work in before the any sports starts. In winter I have barely woken up before I need to get my brain into gear. One positive effect is I get more time down the Gym, but no sooner am I at the Gym than the footy starts. It also limits the type of events I can run in the office. No point in dragging people in from miles around only to give them a couple of hours of my time.
So today I celebrate, ahead of Christmas, with the knowledge that I can look to more fulfilling days ahead.
Image courtesy of Astronomy picture of the day http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap071222.html
What are the odds?
Posted by Peter Webb in Betfair, News on December 21st, 2011
A bit of a laugh ahead of the Christmas break. Vote now!
Back when I joined Betfair, nearly 12 years ago now. They sent me a nice diary for my patronage. I didn’t generate much commission for them back then and didn’t write articles, design software for use on Betfair or anything like that. The following year I also received a small gift, and so it continued. Calendars, playing cards and the odd email with seasonal greetings.
About four or five years ago (I can’t remember exactly when) this stopped abruptly and since then, not even an email to wish me a Merry Christmas.
So this year, as I have done in all prior years, I rolled up my sleeve and sent all my key contacts a personal greeting card. I extended this gesture to the board of Betfair as well.
So the poll this week will be a seasonal… “How many Xmas cards will Peter get from Betfair?” – Vote now!
I’m putting this post up to give Betfair a fair chance to send me a card. I know you can afford it this year for sure and while I am grateful for the opportunity that Betfair presents to us all, I’m sure it’s not beyond your capacity to show some seasonal goodwill. I’ll update everybody on the result in the new year.
In meantime I’ll just read through this bulging sack of greetings from other companies and people.
P.S. A funny footnote to this post. I was searching for “mail man sack” and up popped a load of images of Blackburn manager Steve Kean. 
Betfair profits up on flat growth
Posted by Peter Webb in Betfair, News on December 14th, 2011
See the full press announcement here: -
At first glance revenue (comissions) have declined, but so has the cost of sales, producing an increase in the bottom line. Admin expenses have also fallen adding to the bottom line.
I’ll have a proper read of the full statement when I get into the office. Betfair shares are up a bit in early trading this morning.
If you want an update of content of the conference call, I’ll be tweeting updates: -
http://www.twitter.com/betangel/
Betfair results due out tomorrow
Posted by Peter Webb in Betfair, News on December 13th, 2011
If you can get up early tomorrow morning you will be able to see Betfair’s H1-12 results. The first since the introduction of the most recent premium charge announcement and various other factors. It will be interesting to see what impact all the news coming out of Hammersmith this year has had on the underlying business. It feels to me like growth has slowed, but that they will be able to boost the bottom line thanks to their very aggressive implementation of price increases.
But let’s not pre-judge things, I’ll be up early to see the news. I’m on the RNS service so I will get the results the instant they are announced and I’ll post them up for everybody. If you are interesting in tuning into the formal announcement webcast you can register on their investor relations web site: -
http://corporate.betfair.com/investor-relations.aspx
Big week ahead
Posted by Peter Webb in Horse Racing, News on December 5th, 2011
You may read this headline and wonder what on earth I am on about as there isn’t anything amazing happening this week. OK a few high profile things like the Champions League football, but generally just bits and bobs as we descend headlong into the winter.
This time last year however, we were well in the grip of an incredibly cold spell and it pretty much wiped out all the sports action. So this year we are assured of a really good week. Well, at least in comparison to last year anyhow! That’s why I have a big week ahead.
Even this obscure reference to the weather reveals something about the way markets work. When we have a cold winter people anticipate another cold winter the following year. Judging by the number of snow shovels being sold at my local Tesco’s people are making the same mistake this year. Last year was a 30 year odd exception and just because it was bad last year doesn’t mean it will happen this year. Yes there is a demonstrable chance it will, but it is most likely that it wont.
In all markets I watch, there is a common propensity for people to look at the most recent history and start projecting that forward. This often results in demand overshooting in either direction. Identify this overshoot, have the mindset to swim against the crowd and its possible to profit from this behaviour. It’s work wonderfully well for me over the years.
Go short snow shovels!
It’s jungle out there
Posted by Peter Webb in News on December 2nd, 2011
Another week and another amazing betting system drops into my inbox.
Each one is similar to the last, as for only a few quid, limited to just a few people; you can have a system that requires little work yet prints money. Sounds fantastic, but as we all know it’s just not true. Why sell something for a fraction of the profit it allegedly generates? Just doesn’t make any sense.
In the past I have noticed that most of these systems are simply ebooks or manuals of one sort or another, but increasingly you are now seeing software being touted with these systems.
When you receive these new mailers it’s difficult to believe any of the claims. But furthermore, when you dig deeper, you often find the individuals involved have done their best to hide their identities. Doing a ‘who is’ on the domain reveals nothing. Asking, enquiring or trying to dig for a contact equally draws up a blank. So, my point….
There has been a lot of talk and incidences where betting accounts are being actively de-frauded. We were all alarmed to learn that Betfair will not refund in these cases as they are not taking counter party risk, yet. Therefore, could you realistically use software where you can’t see it has been approved by an exchange, has no track record and you can’t even find out who made it? Coupled with extravagant claims, it’s not really worth the risk is it?
I know most readers of the blog will not be in the group of people that could be suckered by these things, but if you know somebody that could be drawn in. Give them a gentle reminder and save a lot of possible heartache. At best we may move to a situation when everybody understands the risks involved and maybe get some formal involvement from the exchanges themselves.
Given the risks, he is probably a better bet.
Why big companies die
Posted by Peter Webb in General, News on November 20th, 2011
I read this article this morning in Forbes and it absolutely resonates with my former experience in the corporate world. When companies sell their soul to a spreadsheet the long term result is nearly always bad, but if they have strong competitiveness you may not notice at first. But companies that remain true to their core and focus on what made them great in the first place usually prosper and retain the drive to succeed for long periods of time. OK it’s a little more complex than this and other elements of depth should be added, but an interesting piece: -
Major new release of Bet Angel
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel, News on November 18th, 2011
We are delighted to announce a new version of Bet Angel!
This morning we have released a new beta version, 1.30, which includes a brand new feature.
The new feature focuses on automating your betting or trading activity and builds on the work we have done with Guardian and the Excel spreadsheet link. In fact you can use this new feature along side any activity in your core market and / or any activity you have in a spreadsheet.
The new automation feature in Guardian allows to supplement or automate your activity by creating rules and applying them to specific markets or all of your activity. You can simply click on a market and then use a simple to understand interface to construct the automation you want to apply to that market. Once applied, Guardian will sit in the background while you get on with other activity and get busy applying the instructions you have given it. You don’t even need Guardian open on your desktop or server.
You can apply as many different rules to as many different markets as you wish in Guardian, all at the same time. Bet Angel will cycle through all these markets and apply your automation to them all. This mean you could be trading a horse racing while Guardian and the automation tool will be automatically applying or managing bets, entering markets, exiting, greening up etc. all in the background on different markets and sports.
For more information click here, or to view some videos click here.
