Category: Betfair
Original Betfair investor cashes out
News today that Balderton Capital ‘cashed out’ it’s remaining investment in Betfair.
An RNS notice appeared today showing that Balderton had sold 4,227,170 shares bringing their holding from 4.04% to 0%.
The significance of this is that Balderton were one of the original investors. To quote their website: –
“Balderton’s original investment in Betfair was made in 2000 and it remains one of the largest institutional shareholders post the listing. The partners have been actively involved in the development …
Betfair reaffirm the importance of their exchange
You may remember our campaign a little while ago where we encouraged everybody to provide some feedback to Betfair, you can read the original post by clicking here.
Well it seems they are listening as they posted a full response this morning and re-opened the thread again. I’ve extracted some of the response here to highlight some key elements in it: –
Thanks to everyone who voted, your opinion counts and we recognise that introduction of the Sportsbook may …
Bert sells more Betfair shares
With Betfair shares now approaching £10.55, seemingly a bit ahead of current events. Andrew Black, founder of Betfair, sold another tranche of shares yesterday. The sale amounted to 600k of shares somewhere over £6m in total. This sales leaves Bert with just over 4m shares down from 10.5m back on 14th November 2011. So Bert has reduced his holding by over 60% in less than two years.
Shares hit a low of £6.50 this year before running up on a …
Betfair change home page (again)
Thanks to a machine I use that doesn’t allow cookies I was able to see that Betfair have changed their home page again.
I don’t know whether this was in response to the campaign I kicked off recently, I doubt that alone was responsible, but at least I was able to make your voices heard.
Anyhow the exchange now sits alongside the sports book. For those that are cookied up you can see the changes on the following link: …
Betfair re-invigorate Tradefair platform
Visting the Tradefair site this morning I noticed at announcement on the home page: –
“We are excited to announce that we are now partnering with GFT Global Markets UK Ltd (GFT Markets) to bring you a new service with enhanced tools, features and first class customer service that we believe will make your trading experience even better. Switch by no later than the 12th December 2013, as your existing Tradefair service will become inactive for new trades from that …
Betfair paint a confusing picture
It’s the Betfair AGM today, I wont be going this year as I have sold my shares. But I know somebody who is, so I’ll let you know if anything interesting comes out of it. In line with this an interim management statement was issued this morning.
Generally the tone was bullish despite reporting a decline in revenue. Revenue was down 13% year on year but underlying earnings were up. Betfair wrote off a lot of expenses in the last …
Your vote is needed now
I’m repeating this post as we head towards the 1000 vote mark, well done everybody so far! Plenty more to go!
I logged onto Betfair the other morning and saw a graphic saying ‘Have your say’. I clicked on it and it linked to an area I hadn’t seen before asking opinions on various aspects of Betfair.
One enterprising soul had put forward the suggestion: –
“Make the exchange the homepage and not the sportsbook”
I think that’s a …
Is Betfair no longer the arbiter of true value?
Big headline, what does it mean?
OK, for years the exchange mechanism has provided a very useful pricing mechanism. An careful aggregation of demand between people competing on a level playing field and it has provided a beautiful insight into the way free markets can work to mysteriously, accurately, price an event – in this case the prediction that something will win a sports event.
But we have been watching closely as the market appears to be decoupling from it’s …
Insight into the failed Betfair bid
Nice peice yesterday from Alistair Osborne on the failed bid for Betfair. Alistair has an interview with Richard Koch which goes in depth on the process and ultimate failure of the bid. Worth a read: –
The Oaks – Betfair’s first ever market
So today we reach the Oaks and tomorrow the Derby, when the summer racing really starts to step up a gear. The start of June means Royal Ascot is just around the corner.
If you are a Betfair newbie you may not know that the Oaks at Epsom was Betfair’s first market way back when they started in June 2000. But it was a little later that year, on June 11th. Mark Davis reminisced on his blog about it. I …
Betfair add Sportsbook cash out facility
Nipped onto the Betfair site this afternoon to sort out some things on my account only to be re-directed to the sportsbook again, sigh.
I was greeted by a re-designed sportsbook page with the words ‘Cash out – BETA’ appearing right in front of me. It appears this is a new function and replaces the link to the exchange saying ‘cash out – you need to use the exchange’. Anybody visiting the home page would be hard pressed now to …
Betfair find a new home for flutter.com
Remember flutter? I do, I signed up for flutter.com around the same time I signed up for Betfair.
Flutter was one of Betfair’s biggest competitors before spending a lot of money pursuing slightly the wrong angle and falling victim to a Betfair takeover in their infancy.
I’ve been an advocate of Betfair using the Flutter brand to launch their assault on the gaming and sportsbook market while leaving the exchange mechanism to the suitably named Betfair. However it looks like …
Betfair and CVC terminate takeover talks
Full statement here – https://www.betangel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2623&start=266
Looks like I was right to sell into the market. It will be interesting to see what price the shares open at this morning. Highlights of the statement: –
Following the announcement of the trading and strategy update, the Board received a revised proposal from the Co-offerors (the “Revised Proposal”) on the evening of Friday, 10 May 2013. The Revised Proposal valued each Betfair share at 920 pence per share in cash. On the morning …
City awaits CVC Betfair bid, or not
CVC, the private equity group that was revealed as in talks with Betfair about a possible bid, has until 5pm today to put in a bid or walk away.
The city is talking up a bid of £10, or somewhere near that, to get discussions really going. Betfair shares have responded in kind to this potential. But it’s really a case of how much risk CVC wants to take.
At certain prices Betfair would be a slam dunk investment. I …
Betfair test new pricing models
Betfair announced their FY2013 post close trading update today and generally put a positive slant on things. True detail was hard to come by though.
The S word got a lot of mentions today but it was a confusing picture, for me at least. They showed big growth in the sportsbook customer base, but didn’t indicate whether it included the Blue Square stuff or not? So it’s difficult to know if that figure has any relevance. Also last year the …
Strange Betfair error you need to be aware of
While browsing the Betfair site today I spotted an error that could lead to you placing a bet on the sportsbooks rather than the exchange. Even if you are logged into and using the exchange. Please see the following video: –
Betfair wins William Hill Judicial Review
In a unanimous ruling, the Court of Appeal today found in favour of Betfair in the Judicial Review brought by William Hill, which concerned the Horserace Levy Board’s treatment of betting exchange customers.
The High Court had previously ruled in favour of the position of Betfair as supported by the Levy Board in July 2012, confirming the outcome of the extensive Consultation the Board itself undertook in 2010-2011. That Consultation clearly determined that customers of betting exchanges are not liable …
Betfair reject £900m takeover offer
Betfair came out this morning and rejected an offer by CVC of 880p per share. With 103m shares in issue, that values Betfair at roughly £900m. Betfair shares closed at 800p on Friday so expect another jump up today.
Mark Davis had some interesting reflections on the offer on his blog. His comments are always worth a look as he is a big shareholder and obviously an insider on the whole Betfair thing. He has often given insight to …
Private equity firm seeks Betfair buyout
Last last night SKY news broke a story about CVC approaching Betfair: –
https://news.sky.com/story/1077839/exclusive-cvc-mulls-750m-gamble-on-betfair
I think this would make a good target for a firm like CVC, but whether they can pull it off is another thing; they would require the buy in of all major shareholders. The rationale for a private equity buyout would probably be along the following lines. Betfair is cash rich and a private equity firm would probably use that cash as part of the buy …
Betfair acquires customer database of Blue Square
Full the full press release visit here: –
https://corporate.betfair.com/media/press-releases/2013/02-04-2013.aspx
Text reads: –
Betfair Group plc (“Betfair”) today announces that it has acquired certain assets, including the customer database, of online bookmaker Blue Square Bet for £5m. From today, all Blue Square customers will be automatically redirected to Betfair where they can access a full suite of sports betting and gaming products and receive a promotional welcome offer.
The acquisition is consistent with Betfair’s strategy of focusing on regulated markets and …
Betfair rumours
News from the betting industry today that Betfair is alledgedy closing in on an attempt to buy Blue Square.
Little detailed information available at the moment but it is reported that ‘Initial upfront sum will be paid with fee understood to be worth as much as £35m if loss-making sportsbook hits certain targets.’
It’s been an interesting start to the year.
Betfair Q3 results
Betfair announced their Q3 results this morning. Basically flat overall, you can read the full announcement here: –
https://corporate.betfair.com/media/press-releases/2013/07-03-2013.aspx
As normal I participated in the conference call, but there wasn’t much given away at all during the call and very little insight given into the inner workings and trends within Betfair. The introduction took a couple of minutes and the Q&A about twenty.
They were keen to point out that the sportsbook was up 39%, but that was only £7.5m …
Betfair wields the axe
Lots of news stories floating around last week about redundancies at Betfair. Most reports quoted redundancies in the ‘hundreds’. The news first came to light when GamblingCompliance revealed that around 80 jobs had been cut from Betfair’s London headquarters. eGamingReview went on to announce that the total number of redundancies could top 650.
This appears to be part of CEO Breon Corcoran’s attempts to ‘rejuvenate’ the business by cutting £20m in annual expenses as stated in their December analyst call. …
Betfair go back to the future
Some of you may have missed this, but at the turn of the month Betfair quietly slipped in a new home page.
If you are logged into your account on a computer you have previously used all appears normal. But if you log into Betfair on a new computer you are presented with an entirely different look. It’s a strange place……. The main URL appears to be www.befair.com/sport/
It has amazing new innovative features, such as fixed odds betting and …
Bert in £3m Betfair cash out
According to a regulatory filing notice issued on the 24th January; Andrew Black, one of the founders of Betfair, ‘cashed out’ £3m worth of shares on Wednesday.
In my experience there can be any number of reasons to sell shares, but only one reason to buy them. So I’m not sure a sale is that significant. Also, he still has 7,817,390 left! When Bert left the board is was a watershed moment for Betfair. It’s never been the same since.…
Betfair H1 results – Exit LMAX – Rev up, earnings down 25%
A right old mixed bag in Betfair’s results this morning. Official results here: –
https://corporate.betfair.com/media/press-releases/2012/13-12-2012.aspx
If you want the full set of results, regulatory disclosure and detailed extracts, please visit the Bet Angel forum.
As expected Betfair’s new CEO taking the opportunity to hit the reset button on the business. This is a very common practice for incoming CEO’s and will allow better comparitive results this time next year. This set of results you can take in any number …
Now Betfair exit Greece
It was announced at 7:04 this morning that Betfair are now, on top of all the other recent markets, exiting Greece. It’s another blow for the exchange model in Europe.
Full statement is available here: –
https://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/betfair/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=270&newsid=293343
The key part is the following: –
On 5 November 2012, the Greek Gaming Commission issued a Decision that includes provisions for financial penalties and criminal sanctions against gaming operators that continue to operate in the market without a permit. Betfair believes that …
Betfair forced to exit Germany
In another blow for international expansion Betfair has been forced to exit Germany.
In July Germany applied a turnover tax of 5% on stakes which Betfair believed wasn’t applicable to it. Betfair confirmed that discussions are continuing with tax authorities regarding the potential tax liability, if any, arising from bets placed on its exchange since the law came into effect.
Betfair is now reviewing its operations in this market. In FY12, approximately 4% of Core Betfair revenue came from Germany …
Newmarket Cambridgeshire & a bit of a warning
An interesting set up for racing today. It’s a shame Ripon is off and Chester is only 5 minutes in front of Newmarket.
I’ve picked off a few good results from the Cambridgshire in the past but I will remember this race forever for the disaster of last year.
As we approached the key race of the day people started posting in the forum about performance issues with Betfair, we have a specific thread for this. Having done well on …
What changed?
Join the debate on the forum – https://www.betangel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6516&start=10
I’m an avid market watcher and over time you expect all markets to evolve and change, I’ve always been keen to be one step ahead of that. Something that worked well in certain market conditions, sometimes doesn’t work a few months down the line; though some things are unchanging.
When a strategy fails you often have to look at yourself first. I made a cock up on a strategy not so long …
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